It goes without saying that atomic structure, including its dual
wave-particle nature, cannot be demonstrated in the classroom. Thus, for
most science teachers, especially those in physics and chemistry, the
textbook is their key resource and their students' core source of
information. Science education historiography recognizes the role played
by the history and philosophy of science in developing the content of
our textbooks, and with this in mind, the authors analyze more than 120
general chemistry textbooks published in the USA, based on criteria
derived from a historical reconstruction of wave-particle duality.
They come to some revealing conclusions, including the fact that very
few textbooks discussed issues such as the suggestion, by both Einstein
and de Broglie, and before conclusive experimental evidence was
available, that wave-particle duality existed. Other large-scale
omissions included de Broglie's prescription for observing this duality,
and the importance of the Davisson-Germer experiments, as well as the
struggle to interpret the experimental data they were collecting. Also
untouched was the background to the role played by Schrödinger in
developing de Broglie's ideas. The authors argue that rectifying these
deficiencies will arouse students' curiosity by giving them the
opportunity to engage creatively with the content of science curricula.
They also assert that it isn't just the experimental data in science
that matters, but the theoretical insights and unwonted inspirations,
too. In addition, the controversies and discrepancies in the theoretical
and experimental record are key drivers in understanding the development
of science as we know it today.
