In this paper we introduce the new version of QTris, a board game designed to teach and learn Quantum Mechanics within the framework of Quantum Information and Computation. The key idea behind the game is that every game sequence simulates a process on a system of qubits. Thus, QTris can be effectively integrated as a pedagogical tool to teach Quantum Mechanics at high-school level following a two-state approach. After arguing in support of this latter approach, we describe QTris' basic rules and some of its possible extensions, emphasizing how the game mechanics puts in clear light key quantum concepts such as incompatibility, probabilistic measurement and unitary transformation. Moreover, we report on the results of a QTris-based educational activity which involved about 150 high-school students and provided encouraging preliminary indications that QTris can be a useful pedagogical platform to promote an immediate understanding of some key concepts of Quantum Mechanics.
Education is vital to perpetuating knowledge, assisting in the discovery of innovations that will result in new technologies. As these technologies become more prevalent, so has, and will, the presence of games with the purpose of teaching important concepts, such as STEM, or even technologically, focused ones. In this paper,
Q′Game, a game developed to teach quantum computing basics, encourages learning in a fun and engaging way. Through the introduction of qubits and superposition, as well as the basic essential quantum gates,
Q′Game covers the fundamentals of quantum computing. From this base knowledge, players can explore more complex concepts in the field. Furthermore, this paper describes how
Q′Game can be used as a unique learning tool and experience to create interest in the young generation towards quantum computing.
Quantum computing bases on the exploitation of quantum mechanics to create computation systems. It inherits its benefits from quantum mechanics, but also its difficulties: quantum mechanics are counter-intuitive and hard to learn or even accept, even for its iconic mentors. This makes teaching quantum computing very challenging. Serious games are games with a serious purpose, such as learning, training or social awareness. The present work describes the development of a serious game for the purpose of learning quantum computing concepts. It deals with qubits, qubit states, superposition and the flip and Hadamard gates. The game was made freely available to play with few system requirements to get to a broad audience. Also, its source code was made publicly available to modify and redistribute with no strings attached. The authors feel that the objectives of this work were met, but there is further work to be done regarding the evaluation and improvement of the game.