What Students' Language Reveals About Conceptual Understanding of Quantum Measurement

Conceptual metaphors are useful for understanding abstract or complex ideas in terms of concrete ideas (e.g. Time as Money: “I spent time writing this abstract.”). How students talk about the highly abstract ideas in quantum mechanics can both shape and reveal aspects of their conceptual understanding. We examine the conceptual metaphors and ontological categorization undergraduate students use in their language about quantum ideas in a spins-first curriculum, particularly quantum measurement or observation. Previous work has identified common student misconceptions and struggles in learning quantum mechanics that may be explained by or connected with the language they use. We find that students use and switch between multiple conceptual domains, using metaphors like Measurement as Getting/Finding, Measurement as Affecting, and Measurement is Resetting. Identifying these metaphors and their limitations can help us assess student understanding, as well as speak about quantum measurement in productive ways for learning.