Quantum Physics Literacy Aimed at K12 and General Public

Teaching quantum physics to K12 students and the general public represents an inevitable must, while quantum technologies revolutionize our lives. Quantum literacy is a formidable challenge and an extraordinary opportunity for a massive cultural uplift, where citizens learn how to engender creativity and practice a new way of thinking, essential for smart community building. Scientific thinking hinges on analyzing facts and creating understanding, then formulating these with dense mathematical language for later fact checking. Within classical physics, learners’ intuition can be educated via classroom demonstrations of everyday life phenomena. Their understanding can even be framed with the mathematics suited to their instruction degree. For quantum physics instead, we have no experience of quantum phenomena, and the required mathematics is beyond non-expert reach. Therefore, educating intuition needs imagination. Without resorting to experiments and some degree of formal framing, educators face the risk of providing only evanescent tales, often misled, while resorting to familiar analogies. Here, we report on the realization of QPlayLearn, an online platform conceived to explicitly address challenges and opportunities of massive quantum literacy. QPlayLearn’s mission is to provide multilevel education on quantum science and technologies to anyone, regardless of age and background. To this aim, innovative interactive tools enhance the learning process effectiveness, fun, and accessibility, while remaining grounded in scientific correctness. Examples are games for basic quantum physics teaching, on-purpose designed animations, and easy-to-understand explanations on terminology and concepts by global experts. As a strategy for massive cultural change, QPlayLearn offers diversified content for different target groups, from primary school all the way to university physics students. It is also addressed to companies wishing to understand the potential of the emergent quantum industry, journalists, and policy makers who need to quickly to understand what quantum technologies are about, and all quantum science enthusiasts.Peer reviewe

Games for Quantum Physics Education

As the second quantum revolution comes to pass with its potential to revolutionize our lives, it becomes increasingly relevant to educate the public about quantum mechanics. Quantum literacy is also a formidable challenge and opportunity for a massive cultural uplift, since it fosters the possibility for citizens to engender their creativity and practice a new way of thinking. However, quantum theory is highly counterintuitive, manifesting in a reality we have no direct experience of, and represented by mathematically difficult formalisms. Here, we propose that games can provide a playground for engaging forms of experimental and symbolic literacy accessible to anyone. We discuss the theoretical foundations underlying this idea in the framework of a global educational strategy, illustrate existing examples of its implementation along different dimensions related to educational, citizen-science, and age-related contexts, and envision future challenges

The core of secondary level quantum education: a multi-stakeholder perspective

Quantum physics (QP) education at the secondary school level is still in its infancy. Not only is there ongoing discussion about how to teach this subject, but there is also a lack of coherence in the selection of concepts to be taught, both across countries and over time. To contribute to this discussion, we investigated the perspectives of N = 39 high school teachers, university-level physics educators, and physics education researchers regarding the essential concepts in QP and the corresponding illustrations that should be introduced at the secondary school level. We examined the prominence of different key concepts and illustrations, as well as the level of consensus among the various professional groups. Our analysis revealed that certain key concepts are universally valued across all professional groups, while others are specific to particular groups. Additionally, we explored the relationships between these key concepts and their corresponding illustrations. Overall, our study offers valuable insights into the perspectives of different stakeholders, emphasizing the essential concepts and visualizations that should be considered whe

Quantum Physics Literacy Aimed at K12 and General Public

Teaching quantum physics to K12 students and the general public represents an inevitable must, while quantum technologies revolutionize our lives. Quantum literacy is a formidable challenge and an extraordinary opportunity for a massive cultural uplift, where citizens learn how to engender creativity and practice a new way of thinking, essential for smart community building. Scientific thinking hinges on analyzing facts and creating understanding, then formulating these with dense mathematical language for later fact checking. Within classical physics, learners’ intuition can be educated via classroom demonstrations of everyday life phenomena. Their understanding can even be framed with the mathematics suited to their instruction degree. For quantum physics instead, we have no experience of quantum phenomena, and the required mathematics is beyond non-expert reach. Therefore, educating intuition needs imagination. Without resorting to experiments and some degree of formal framing, educators face the risk of providing only evanescent tales, often misled, while resorting to familiar analogies. Here, we report on the realization of QPlayLearn, an online platform conceived to explicitly address challenges and opportunities of massive quantum literacy. QPlayLearn’s mission is to provide multilevel education on quantum science and technologies to anyone, regardless of age and background. To this aim, innovative interactive tools enhance the learning process effectiveness, fun, and accessibility, while remaining grounded in scientific correctness. Examples are games for basic quantum physics teaching, on-purpose designed animations, and easy-to-understand explanations on terminology and concepts by global experts. As a strategy for massive cultural change, QPlayLearn offers diversified content for different target groups, from primary school all the way to university physics students. It is also addressed to companies wishing to understand the potential of the emergent quantum industry, journalists, and policy makers who need to quickly to understand what quantum technologies are about, and all quantum science enthusiasts.Peer reviewe

Community-based development of the Quantum Concept Inventory: in: Contributions from Pilot Projects in Quantum Technology Education as Support Action to Quantum Flagship

For the improvement of quantum physics education at the secondary level, it is important to develop a flexible assessment tool, which is suitable for evaluating the numerous existing teaching concepts that have emerged from physics education research over the last decades. We therefore give an overview of the plans of the QTEdu pilot project ‘Community-based development of the Quantum Concept Inventory’ to create such an assessment tool. Additionally, we will present the results of a Delphi study aiming to identify the community’s perspective on key topics for teaching quantum physics at the secondary school level

Community-based development of the Quantum Concept Inventory: in: Contributions from Pilot Projects in Quantum Technology Education as Support Action to Quantum Flagship

For the improvement of quantum physics education at the secondary level, it is important to develop a flexible assessment tool, which is suitable for evaluating the numerous existing teaching concepts that have emerged from physics education research over the last decades. We therefore give an overview of the plans of the QTEdu pilot project ‘Community-based development of the Quantum Concept Inventory’ to create such an assessment tool. Additionally, we will present the results of a Delphi study aiming to identify the community’s perspective on key topics for teaching quantum physics at the secondary school level