The Quantum Mechanics Visualisation Project
QuVis is a collection of research-based interactive simulations for the learning and teaching of quantum mechanics concepts ranging from the advanced high school level to advanced undergraduate university level. Simulations build on existing education research and target areas of difficulty in quantum mechanics. Development is informed by student input, and simulations and activities are iteratively refined using student feedback from individual student observation sessions and in-class trials to optimize their educational effectiveness. Simulations are designed to help students make connections between multiple representations, explore relationships between quantities and compare and contrast different situations. Suggestions for further simulations are always welcome; please email Antje Kohnle, ak81@st-andrews.ac.uk.
The simulations can be run and downloaded from the website. The HTML5 simulations run on both desktop computers and tablet-based devices.
QuVis gratefully acknowledges funding from the UK Institute of Physics, the UK Higher Education Academy and the University of St Andrews for the development of these resources.
The QuVis project is led by Antje Kohnle. The following academic staff members are or have been involved in QuVis: Shaaron Ainsworth, Charles Baily, Donatella Cassettari, Margaret Douglass, Tom Edwards, Alastair Gillies, Georg Haehner, Christopher Hooley, Friedrich Koenig, Natalia Korolkova, Brendon Lovett, Mark Paetkau, Gina Passante and Bruce Sinclair. Torsten Franz of the Technical University of Braunschweig developed the German translations of the simulation texts for the HTML5 simulations available in German.
The following students have been involved in the coding of the simulations:
2024: Elliot Cocks, Donald Pirie
2023: Alexandre Kings
2022: Charles Watson
2021: Nick Lightfoot, Robyn Smith
2018: Ian McKenzie, Amir Emami
2016: Samuel Lloyd
2015: Tomi Baikie, Nicola Pinzani and Aluna Rizzoli
2014 - 2016: Alexander Jamieson-Binnie
2014 - 2015: Felix Kress
2014: Paul Sinclair
2013 - 2015: JiaHeng Eik
2013: Gytis Kulaitis and Maya Petkova
2012 - 2014: Martynas Prokopas
2012 - 2013: Inna Bozhinova
2012: Chris Carroll
2011 - 2012: Aleksejs Fomins
2011: David Canning
2009-2010: Joe Llama
2009: Liam Atkinson
The following undergraduate physics students have completed final year or summer research projects working on QuVis evaluation studies:
2022: Peilun He, Charles Watson
2021: Nick Lightfoot, Robyn Smith
2018: Ridwan Pfluger, Holly Scott-Riddell and Duncan Swan
2017: Chao Dun Tan and Michael Williams
2016: Alexander Jackson and Holly Scott-Riddell
2015: Erica Deffebach and Carl Humphreys
2014: Anna Campbell and Scott Ruby
2013: Bruce Torrance
2012: Cory Benfield
2011: Callum Ferguson
The QuVis simulation development would not be possible without the support of student volunteers giving feedback on simulations in individual sessions and in-class trials. We are very grateful to the thousands of students that have provided feedback informing the iterative refinement of the simulations!
QuVis received the 2015 Physics Classics award of the Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT, www.merlot.org ). Every year each of the MERLOT Editorial Boards selects an outstanding resource from its discipline to receive the MERLOT Classics Award. MERLOT considers this learning material an exemplary online learning resource and recognises it as such on its website.
QuVis received the 2014 Excellence Award of the Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL). The MPTL group conducts annual reviews of state-of-the-art multimedia-based teaching and learning resources. The topic for 2014 was
Multimedia Materials for Teaching and Learning Quantum Physics.
