A Quantum Computing Concept Inventory is needed for the acceleration of uptake of best practice in quantum computing education required to support the quantum computing workforce for the next two decades. Eight experts in quantum computing, quantum communication or quantum sensing were interviewed to determine if there is substantial nonmathematical content to warrant such an inventory and determine a preliminary list of key concepts that should be included in such an inventory. Developing such an inventory is a challenging task requiring significant international ‘buy-in’ and creativity to produce jargon-free valid questions which are accessible to students who are yet to study quantum mechanics.
A Quantum Computing Concept Inventory is needed for the acceleration of uptake of best practice in quantum computing education required to support the quantum computing workforce for the next two decades. Eight experts in quantum computing, quantum communication or quantum sensing were interviewed to determine if there is substantial nonmathematical content to warrant such an inventory and determine a preliminary list of key concepts that should be included in such an inventory. Developing such an inventory is a challenging task requiring significant international ‘buy-in’ and creativity to produce jargon-free valid questions which are accessible to students who are yet to study quantum mechanics.
A Quantum Computing Concept Inventory is needed for the acceleration of uptake of best practice in quantum computing education required to support the quantum computing workforce for the next two decades. Eight experts in quantum computing, quantum ommunication or quantum sensing were interviewed to determine if there is substantial non-mathematical content to warrant such an inventory and determine a preliminary list of key concepts that should be included in such an inventory. Developing such an inventory is a challenging task requiring significant international 'buy-in' and creativity to produce jargon-free valid questions which are accessible to students who are yet to study quantum mechanics.
Quantum Computing is an exciting field that draws from information theory, computer science, mathematics, and quantum physics to process information in fundamentally new ways. There is an ongoing race to develop practical/reliable quantum computers and increase the quantum workforce. This needs to be accompanied by the development of quantum computing programs, courses and curricula coupled with the development and adoption of evidence-based materials and pedagogies to support the education of the next generation of quantum information scientists and workforce. At our university, we introduced an introductory course in Quantum Computing to undergraduate students and conducted a case study to investigate the strengths and difficulties of these students in quantum computing after taking the introductory course. Our goal is to contribute to the improvement of quantum computing education while understanding the topics that the students find easy to comprehend and topics that are difficult to comprehend. We conducted a series of interviews to identify these strengths and difficulties. This investigation is essential to help train the next generation of quantum scientists and researchers because it gives information and direction to quantum computing education, and it also helps us to develop research-based teaching and learning materials. We report on the results of these interviews and our initial work on the development of evidence-based materials for teaching an introductory course in Quantum Computing.
The rapid growth of quantum information science and technology (QIST) in the 21st century has created both excitement and uncertainty about the field's trajectory. This qualitative study presents perspectives from leading quantum researchers, who are educators, on fundamental questions frequently posed by students, the public, and the media regarding QIST. Through in-depth interviews, we explored several issues related to QIST including the following key areas: the current state of quantum computing in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era and timelines for fault-tolerant quantum computers, the feasibility of personal quantum computers in our pockets, and promising qubit architectures for future development. Our findings reveal diverse yet convergent perspectives on these issues. While experts agree that the current machines with physical qubits that are being built currently should be called quantum computers, most estimated that it will take a decade to build a small fault-tolerant quantum computer, and several decades to achieve scalable systems capable of running Shor's factoring algorithm with quantum advantage. Regarding carrying a quantum computer in the pocket, experts viewed quantum computers as specialized tools that will remain in central locations such as data centers and can be accessed remotely for applications for which they are particularly effective compared to classical computers. Quantum researchers suggested that multiple platforms show promise, with no clear winner emerging. These insights provide valuable guidance for educators, policymakers, and the broader community in establishing realistic expectations for developments in this exciting field. Our findings can provide valuable information for educators to clarify student doubts about these important yet confusing issues related to quantum technologies.
Quantum information science (QIS) is a critical interdisciplinary field, deeply rooted in physics, that requires a well-educated workforce in the near future. Numerous researchers and educators have been actively investigating how to best educate and prepare such a workforce. An open issue has been the lack of a tool with a strong validation argument to assess QIS understanding without requiring college-level math. In this paper, we present the systematic development of and content validation argument for a new assessment instrument called the Quantum Information Science Concept Introductory Test (QISCIT). With feedback from 11 QIS experts, we have developed a 31-item version of QISCIT that covers concepts like quantum states, quantum measurement, qubits, entanglement, coherence and decoherence, quantum gates and computing, and quantum teleportation.
Quantum technologies are currently among the most promising technological developments, with quantum computing, in particular, playing a crucial role. This is accompanied by promising opportunities, but also new challenges for our society. However, quantum computing as a subject of computer science education is still at the very beginning. This paper aims to discuss quantum computing as a topic in computer science education and to make a first approach to central terms and ideas as well as their explanatory approaches. With the help of an explorative focus group interview with experts, five core ideas of quantum computer science are identified in this study. A literature review is then used to identify, categorize, and contrast different explanatory approaches for these ideas. The results thus contribute to making quantum computer science accessible for computing education and raise further questions for the computing education research community.
Quantum information science (QIS) is a critical interdisciplinary field that requires a well-educated workforce in the near future. Numerous researchers and educators have been actively investigating how to best educate and prepare such a workforce. An open issue has been the lack of a validated tool to asses QIS understanding without requiring college-level math. In this paper, we present the systematic development and content validation of a new assessment instrument called the Quantum Information Science Concept Introductory Test (QISCIT). With feedback from 11 QIS experts, we have developed and validated a 31-item version of QISCIT that covers concepts like quantum states, quantum measurement, qubits, entanglement, coherence and decoherence, quantum gates and computing, and quantum communication. In addition to openly sharing our new concept inventory, we discuss how introductory QIS instructors can use it in their courses.