The design and construction of a PhET-based inquiry learning worksheet to develop understanding of the particle-in-a-box model

We report on the design and construction of a worksheet to develop upper secondary school students’ understanding of the particle-in-a-box model. We designed a worksheet that guided students’ structured-inquiry learning through peer discussion using the PhET simulation ‘Quantum Bound States’. The worksheet was improved in three iterative cycles of (re)designing, testing and evaluating, leading to a validated design and tentative design principles. Students’ discourse was recorded whilst they were using the worksheet and the PhET simulation in the test phase of each cycle. Analyses of students’ discourse informed the redesign of the worksheet for each subsequent cycle, until the design was finalised. The results showed the potential of the simulation to introduce upper secondary school students to the particle-in-a-box model, provided care is taken to accompany student inquiry with a well-developed worksheet as learning support during the lesson.