Opening modern research experiments to undergraduate students with Simulated Interactive Research Experiments (SIRE).
- Author(s)
- Mathias Tomandl, Christiane Maria Losert-Valiente Kroon, Martin Hopf, Markus Arndt
- Abstract
We introduce a new technology-enhanced learning tool for modern experimental physics – the Simulated Interactive Research Experiment (SIRE) – that is used and evaluated in a quantum lab course:
Many physics curricula provide courses on current research topics only in advanced semesters. The SIRE prototype is a complex and interactive simulation of an existing research experiment on matter-wave interference with macromolecules that opens opportunities for active engagement and curiosity-driven learning to undergraduate students.
Similar to a flight simulator, SIREs allow the students to manipulate all the relevant parameters in the experimental setup. They can control and interact with phenomena and experimental equipment that would otherwise be inaccessible outside of specialized research labs. In order to allow an authentic feel, SIREs are driven by extensive and scientifically valid simulations of the experimental results. This even includes measurement artefacts and experimental limitations of the setup to provide the correct physical intuition.- Organisation(s)
- Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information, Basic Experimental Physics Training and University Didactics, Center for Science Education Research (AECCs)
- Publication date
- 2014
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 503013 Subject didactics of natural sciences
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/fa523968-e116-49b5-8fce-756f7b7110aa