Different Conceptions of Wave-Particle Duality: A didactic proposal built from excerpts from primary sources of Quantum Theory

Abstract

Many researchers argue that it is not possible to teach Quantum Physics without teaching at least a little of history of Quantum Physics. The literature, however, points out that the textbook narratives differ in different directions from the primary sources, and they reduce the complexity of the nature of science to a mythological view of scientific practice. On the other hand, reading the original texts without any direction, or even reading the historiographical books, can be very difficult. We argue that a possibility to enrich the teaching of Quantum Physics is to provide the student with contact with the original works, as long as we do not lose sight of the didactic purpose of such a meeting. Seeking to contribute to this proposal, we present a didactic text, aimed to be presented to undergraduate students, on the wave-particle duality, composed of a selection of excerpts from primary sources of Quantum Physics and a set of questions to guide the reading. Throughout the article, we present the theoretical frameworks that guided the construction of the didactic material and, in the body of the text, we comment on the proposed questions.