Abstract

This work presents a research about the degree of assimilation of the concept of the uncertainty principle by Physics Engineering students at a private Mexican university. They have been previously exposed to this concept in non-active learning traditional courses. Some of them were interviewed to establish a taxonomic table of their conceptual errors about the uncertainty principle. The results presented serve as a base for the design of units of active learning that integrates the use of interactive applets made by the PhET Team of the University of Colorado. The course learning units cover the concepts related to the uncertainty principle and the activities emphasize collaborative work, discussion, prediction, as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis. Achievement for active learning versus traditional education is compared using demonstrative interviews after the new activities were applied in class.