A teacher professional development course on quantum technologies: discussion of results

Abstract

We first present the evaluation of a professional development course for in-service teachers on quantum technologies which was initially presented at the GIREP Malta 2020 webinar about halfway into its development. The primary purpose of the course was to enhance physics teachers’ knowledge and awareness of topics related to quantum computation and quantum information, and of their relevance for technological advancement. However, our choice was not to present such topics as a simple addition to high school physics in the final year, but rather to inspect the whole physics and mathematics curriculum in the search for a longitudinal perspective, roughly based on the relationship between physics and computation, which could culminate in the treatment of quantum information topics. In the present contribution, we will focus on the educational outcomes of the course in terms of teacher appreciation, interest level and judgement of usefulness coming from both a final questionnaire and individual interviews. We will also describe a follow-up course structured to frame the topic from the standpoint of curriculum design and action research projects currently underway.