We propose to educate quantum concepts through the analogous classical light context. An optics platform has the advantage of being stable, controllable, visualizable, as well as accessible to pre-college students.
Teaching key concepts in quantum information science and technology benefits from hands-on activities that can engage students at all levels, especially high-school and undergraduate students. In this paper, we report on an educational kit for student exploration of quantum key distribution (QKD) via optical analogies that provides an affordable and highly interactive role-playing experience for students with minimal abstraction and direct connections to applications, key quantum concepts like superposition and measurement uncertainty, and student's pre-existing knowledge like light polarization. Manual and automated versions of the kit are detailed, as well as feedback from workshops with high-school students, undergraduates, and educators.
Abstract Physics education research has revealed that students have multiple ways of understanding the concept of the photon and that students’ use of it is often incoherent and incomplete. In this study, we explore what kinds of statements pre-service physics teachers and university physics students choose on a multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to reveal students’ stances on three conceptual views of the photon (quantum state, quantum realistic, and naïve dualistic) in the context of quantum optical experiments. The questionnaire was conducted in a pre-post manner. The test group (pre-service physics teachers N = 13) attended an introductory quantum physics course which emphasised coherent use of natural language, and the control group (university physics students pre N = 33, post N = 25) attended a standard introductory course in quantum physics. Pre-test results show that both groups expressed incoherent use of the concept of the photon. The post-test results reveal that after teaching intervention, the test group showed significant improvement in the coherent use of the concept of the photon as a quantum state. The post-test results of the control group remained incoherent. The results show that paying attention to the coherent use of natural language in teaching quantum physics helps pre-service physics teachers to recognise and choose coherent expressions about the photon.