Simulated Interactive Research Experiments - Quantum@School

Quantum@School has been conducted as a science communication project by the Quantum Nanophysics research group at the University of Vienna. It was designed to guide students at secondary schools or freshman university classes to familiarize with recent research results. As of today, advanced topics of fundamental research still receive too little attention at schools in Austria. Even though some basic phenomena of modern quantum physics are already represented in second level text books - in texts, illustrations or elementary equations - these means do not yet provide any intuitive access to current research. High equipment costs also generally forbid the reproduction of advanced research experiments in school labs. The project Quantum@School was designed to build a Simulated Research Experiment (SIRE) on the basis of an experiment on the diffraction of complex molecules that has been performed at the University of Vienna with financial support by the FWF. Meanwhile this experiment has entered the textbooks for secondary education in several countries, in particular in the German speaking area. The level of complexity in Quantum@School was designed to be adapted to that level of complexity, too. The challenge consisted in building a bridge between a motivating photo-realistic 3D visualization, the implementation of many complex user interactions and a scientifically correct simulation of all possible observations that should run on any flash-compatible computer platform via a web browser. Control and parameters in Quantum@School are bound to what is also possible in the lab. This allows to approximate the 'touch and feel' of reality to a much higher degree than most of all previous educational resources of modern physics. The detailed presentation avoids misunderstandings which may occur through abstract sketches and oversimplifications. A simulated interactive research experiment can be embedded in a new type of learning platform which provides authentic insight into current technology and into practical procedures in modern science. Quantum@School can therefore be easily integrated into learning at school. The project reached out to several thousand persons in Austria and Germany. This was realized through a diverse range of public events, particularly also addressing pupils and teachers. The results of Quantum@School are sustainable, as they can be used for free and anytime by everyone - pupils, students or the general public - everywhere in the world. For that purpose we have implemented a dual-language learning platform, in German and in English. The combination of all these factors allowed us to reach out to many young people, motivate them to get to know modern research to stay engaged in the simulation and to familiarize themselves in a game-like fashion with modern quantum physics. Quantum@School shows that even complex interactive research simulations can be realized and used as an attractive tool for teaching and learning.