A Proposal to Teach Light in a Unified Framework Using the Feynman Method

Abstract

The goal of this proposal is to teach the basic aspects of light from the point of view of quantum mechanics at high school level. To this end, we have adapted Feynman´s Path Integral Method of Quantum Mechanics. This is a continuation of previous works where we considered the quantum behaviour of matter. The situations were to promote the conceptualization of the electron as a quantum system, the probabilistic function and the transition quantum–classic. Now, the goal is to build a new proposal to teach the behaviour of the light from an actual vision and from a unified model: the quantum mechanics, from the reconstruction of a reference that also uses the approach Path Integrals of Richard Feynman. It is adapted for secondary school students using vectors and sums, and it is inserted in a problems context about the light. Careful and accurate language is used, avoiding terms like photon or expressions like particles of light or wave-particle duality, because these ideas could present obstacles to understanding key aspects of quantum theory. This proposal is an alternative to avoid historical approaches commonly used so far and it is being implemented in two groups of students in secondary school (15-16 years old). Key words: Feynman method, light, quantum mechanics, secondary school, teaching.

Teaching and Learning Optics in High School: From Fermat to Feynman

“…The adaptation of Feynman's framework of path integrals, with the entire chain of delicately designed didactic transformations, which were initiated by Feynman himself and continue to this day [25][26][27]29,30,37,38], seem the most satisfactory way to communicate these aspects of light apparently so far away.…”

“…Here, we propose to expose the main ideas of the method, eliminating the mathematical formalism. It is worth mentioning that our group has implemented and analyzed didactic sequences based on Feynman's approach for quantum mechanics oriented to high school, both for the behavior of electrons and light [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. It is important to recall that these works were not based on the wave-particle duality.…”

“…In previous investigations using this approach, we developed a didactic sequence to teach the quantum behavior of matter, focusing on the electron as a quantum system, the probabilistic function, and the quantum-classical transition. This proposal was successfully implemented in two courses of the last year of high school in Argentina [24][25][26][27][28][29][30] and in four courses of high school in Colombia, with 118 students aged 16 to 17 [13].…”

Recent Progress on the Sum over Paths Approach in Quantum Mechanics Education

“…In Ref. [46], which is based on an experimentation with four classes of 16-17-year-old secondary school students, the authors report advantages in helping students form consistent and integrated models of light, by connecting in a unified perspective phenomena related to ray optics, wave optics, and the quantum theory of light. These results, which echo the findings reported in Ref.…”