UNDERSTANDING THE PHOTON CONCEPT AND THE QUANTUM NATURE OF LIGHT: A CASE STUDY OF LEARNING DURING AN INSTRUCTIONAL UNIT DESIGNED FOR STUDENT TEACHERS

Many teachers in upper secondary school find that teaching about the quantum nature of light and the photon concept is a demanding and difficult task, and that the university level instruction gives little if any support to overcome these difficulties. An instructional unit, which uses classical analogies in supporting the formation of new concepts and ideas, has been developed in order to help student teachers to acquire better qualitative understanding about the quantum nature of light and the photon concept. It is shown, that by using this approach, good learning results are obtained and student teachers develop physically sound conceptions of the quantum nature of light and the photon concept.