Introducing quantum mechanics in the upper secondary school: a study in Norway

The study reported in this paper is a survey (nˆ 236) that examines how upper secondary students (18–19 years old) in Norway come to terms with the wave-particle duality as presented as part of a short introduction to quantum physics. The main conclusion is that this concept is poorly understood. Some students demonstrate clear and explicitly formulated misconceptions rooted in a classical physics worldview. Scholars in physics have stated that the concept of duality is unnecessary, but still included in school and university physics. It is argued that school physics should give a more explicit focus to the challenge that quantum physics presents to the classical worldview, thus introducing the importance of an affective dimension in the learning and teaching of quantum physics. This study replicates evidence from other studies that wave-particle duality does not introduce such a challenge.