in quantum physics

We report on specific actions undertaken to promote active learning in an introductory course on quantum physics that presented the following challenges: (1) quantum ideas surprise and contradict common sense beliefs and background knowledge; (2) it is hard to study the interactions of matter and radiation with an appropriate balance of the phenomenology and the formalism; (3) nowadays understanding a huge diversity of systems such as atoms, molecules, solids, nuclei and particles has attained extraordinary results but also addresses very difficult questions, and (4) modern physics can be studied from very different perspectives: the mathematical treatment, the history and epistemology of the evolution of concepts, models and theories, as well as the interconnections between the experimental devices and procedures, the representation of measurement of strange properties, their important technological applications, and the implications of the scientific enterprise in economic, social, political, environmental and cultural aspects. As a reaction to traditional teaching, we focused on the following objectives: to promote and ensure active learning, to prepare and make available appropriate learning materials, and to assess the student performance with a rewarding but strict system. We implemented a teaching strategy that changed the role of the teacher from a transmitter of information to a guide of learning actions. In order to support such a strategy we created an integrated system for active learning containing the following components: The syllabus, the calendar, the notes, the home works, the questionnaires, the tests, the we