Is it possible to promote learning about Quantum Mechanics in science outreach projects? A statistical analysis on the potential of a virtual course

In a scenario characterized by widespread misinformation and escalating assaults on scientific communities, science communication assumes an increasingly vital role. Within the realm of Physics, for instance, concepts from Quantum Mechanics propagate across the internet in a thoroughly distorted manner, entangled with misconceptions and driven by financial interests devoid of any tether to the scientific formulation of the theory. In an effort to counteract this landscape, the present study aims to assess the impact of a science communication course (five hours in duration) on the declarative knowledge of individuals with varying levels of physics education (basic education, undergraduate, and postgraduate) concerning the wave-particle duality and the double-slit experiment. To this end, an instrument was devised and utilized as both a pre-test and a post-test, which underwent content, concurrent, and reliability validation (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.8). The data were analyzed using non-parametric tests, conducted within the RStudio platform. The findings suggest that, although there exists a discrepancy in the number of correct responses between the basic education group and the other educational levels, when measuring learning through normalized gain, there is no statistically significant difference among the groups. On average, participants acquired over 60% of the knowledge they were tasked to learn.

Keywords
Quantum Mechanics; wave-particle duality; Quantum Mechanics teaching; science outreach; quantitative methods