Session: |
Scientific Visualization in
Upper-Division Courses |
Meeting: |
123rd AAPT National Meeting:
Rochester, NY |
Location: |
Highland B, Convention Ctr. |
Date: |
7/24/01 |
Time: |
11:00 a.m. |
Author: |
Wally Axmann, Kansas State
Univ.
785-532-7167,
wjaxmann@excite.com |
Co-Author(s): |
Dean A. Zollman |
Abstract:
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In 1936, Max Born made, what
was perhaps, the first attempt to create a quantum visualization for a
general audience by putting a flipbook animation in The Restless
Universe. Gigaflop desktop computers, for under $2000, have brought
us a long way in interactive visualization for quantum mechanics since
1936. In Advanced Visual Quantum Mechanics (AVQM), interactive computer
visualizations are married with physics education research and an
active-learning environment. The aim is to increase upper-level physics
students' conceptual learning and intuition in this abstract field,
while still honing their fundamental analytic problem-solving skills.
This outgrowth of the Visual Quantum Mechanics (VQM) instructional
materials for secondary students began when we heard upper-level
undergraduates and even graduate students saying things like, "I wish I
had seen this stuff [VQM] when I was taking quantum." An overview of the
AVQM materials will be given along with results from the initial field
test and information about availability for future field tests.
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Footnotes:
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*Supported by NSF grants
#ESI-945782 and #DUE-965288. |
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