A Proposal to Teach the Light in a Unified Frame Using the Feynman Method

Abstract

The goal of this proposal is to teach the basic aspects of light from the point of view of quantum mechanics at high school level. To this end, we have adapted Feynman´s Path Integral Method of Quantum Mechanics. This is a continuation of previous works where we considered the quantum behaviour of matter. The situations were to promote the conceptualization of the electron as a quantum system, the probabilistic function and the transition quantum–classic. Now, the goal is to build a new proposal to teach the behaviour of the light from an actual vision and from a unified model: the quantum mechanics, from the reconstruction of a reference that also uses the approach Path Integrals of Richard Feynman. It is adapted for secondary school students using vectors and sums, and it is inserted in a problems context about the light. Careful and accurate language is used, avoiding terms like photon or expressions like particles of light or wave-particle duality, because these ideas could present obstacles to understanding key aspects of quantum theory. This proposal is an alternative to avoid historical approaches commonly used so far and it is being implemented in two groups of students in secondary school (15-16 years old). Key words: Feynman method, light, quantum mechanics, secondary school, teaching.