21–26 Jun 2026
U. Ottawa - Learning Crossroads (CRX) Building
America/Toronto timezone
Welcome to the 2026 CAP Congress Program website! / Bienvenue au siteweb du programme du Congrès de l'ACP 2026!

Quantum for Educators and Young Students

22 Jun 2026, 09:00
45m
U. Ottawa - Learning Crossroads (CRX) Building

U. Ottawa - Learning Crossroads (CRX) Building

100 Louis-Pasteur Private, Ottawa, ON K1N 9N3
Plenary Speaker / Conférencier(ère) plénier(ère) Herzberg Public and Plenary Talks / Conférenciers des sessions Herzberg et plénières M-PLEN1 Plenary Session | Session plénière - John Donohue, IQC/U.Waterloo

Speaker

John Donohue

Description

The explosion of public interest in quantum information technologies has provided an opportunity to interest more students in the ideas and applications of quantum mechanics. As research programs and institutes have grown in Canada, so have efforts to reach new communities and teach concepts in new and tactile ways. To allow high-school students to engage with quantum information science on a broad scale, it is essential to provide educators with the resources needed to understand and effectively communicate the topic to students. We have run the Quantum for Educators (QEd) workshop for ten years to address this need, providing hands-on activities and lesson plans designed for the classroom. To ensure broad and equitable access to introductory QIS education, such activities should be low-cost, easy to replicate, and intuitive, as well as connect to material present in the curriculum. In this talk, we will outline the QEd workshop and its approach to topics including quantum communication, quantum algorithms, and uncertainty, sharing survey feedback and lessons-learned from many iterations. We will also explore how enrichment programs can be developed for keen high-school students both in-person and virtually, as in the Quantum School for Young Students (QSYS) summer school which has run for 18 years, and how these connect to undergraduate-level programming like the 16-year-running Undergraduate School on Experimental Quantum Information Processing (USEQIP).

Keyword-1 quantum
Keyword-2 education

Author

John Donohue

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.