Pilot Testing for a Mentoring Program: Teaching Quantum Basics to Industry Employees and School Students

Inhalt:
This paper describes the pilot testing of the content and interactive activities on Quantum communication and computing for a mentoring program which is aimed at school students grade 10 to 12 and industry employees. The objective of this mentoring program is to increase participants’ informedness of quantum technologies as well as their knowledge and, at best, interest in the topics. To test whether the previous considerations match the characteristics and needs of the target groups, namely school students and industry employees, initial program content was tested in extracts with representatives from both target groups. The results show, that despite varied prior knowledge and interest levels, participants responded positively to the workshop’s structure, content, and interactive tools. The latter were highlighted as effective for facilitating understanding. However, generalizability of results is limited through the small sample and lack of objective assessments.