The QuVis Quantum Mechanics Visualization Project provides freely available research-based interactive simulations with accompanying activities for the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics across a wide range of topics and levels. This article gives an overview of some of the simulations and describes their use in an introductory physical…

We have designed an exercise suitable for a lab or project in an undergraduate physical chemistry course that creates a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to calculate the energy of the S[subscript 0] ground electronic state and the S[subscript 1] and T[subscript 1] excited states of H[subscript 2]. The spreadsheet calculations circumvent the…

An applied computational chemistry laboratory exercise is described in which students use modern quantum chemical calculations of chemical shifts to assign the structure of a recently isolated natural product. A pre/post assessment was used to measure student learning gains and verify that students demonstrated proficiency of key learning…

In this paper, we describe animations and animated visualizations for introductory and intermediate-level quantum mechanics instruction developed at the University of St Andrews. The animations aim to help students build mental representations of quantum mechanics concepts. They focus on known areas of student difficulty and misconceptions by…

Mainly used in the 1960s, bubble chambers played a major role in particle physics. Now replaced with modern electronic detectors, we believe they remain an important didactic tool to introduce particle physics as they provide visual, appealing and insightful pictures. Sadly, this rare type of detector is mostly accessible through open-door events…

For many students, the conceptual learning of quantum mechanics can be rather painful owing to the counter-intuitive nature of quantum phenomena. In order to enhance students' understanding of the odd behaviour of photons and electrons, we introduce a computational simulation of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, developed by our research group. An…

Various modern electronic structure methods are now days used to teach computational chemistry to undergraduate students. Such quantum calculations can now be easily used even for large size molecules.

We introduce a computer exercise that bridges spectroscopy and thermodynamics using statistical mechanics and the experimental data taken from the commonly used laboratory exercise involving the rotational-vibrational spectrum of HCl. Based on the results from the analysis of their HCl spectrum, students calculate bulk thermodynamic properties…

Describes eight applications of the use of computers in teaching chemistry. Includes discussions of audio frequency measurements of heat capacity ratios, quantum mechanics, ab initio calculations, problem solving using spreadsheets, simplex optimization, faradaic impedance diagrams, and the recording and tabulation of student laboratory data. (TW)