Online education is effective in teaching complicated topics like quantum information science (QIS) to high school science teachers, according to a new paper from researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington published in The physics teacher.
“COVID-19 forced educators to adjust their best educational practices to an unfamiliar virtual classroom, and professional development was no different,” said Karen Jo Matsler, UTeach assistant professor in practice at UTA and lead author of the study.
Ramón López, professor of physics, was the co-principal investigator of the project. Chandralekha Singh of the University of Pittsburgh was a co-author.
QIS is a new field of science and technology that combines physical sciences, mathematics, computer science and engineering, and is key to everyday items such as mobile phones and solar technology. However, most high schools do not teach the subject, preventing students from acquiring the skills they need to pursue lucrative jobs.
As part of a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2021, Matsler and his colleagues set out to teach QIS to high school science teachers, who could then take this newly acquired knowledge to their classrooms.
“However, the pandemic caused us to change our original plans for in-person training to an online environment,” Matsler said. “We knew teaching QIS online would be a challenge, but we were pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.”
Matsler, Lopez, and the team found that what worked best for teaching QIS online was to send participants some of the material ahead of time to allow them to familiarize themselves with the topics. Then, during the sessions, educators used Zoom, with features like chat, polls, and breakout rooms, to keep individuals engaged in learning. They also led activities where students had the opportunity to practice teaching the material, another technique that helped people stay engaged.
To avoid cognitive overload, the team found that key discussions should last between 15 and 30 minutes, each with breakout sessions of five to seven minutes, for a total session time of about 90 to 120 minutes.
“This gave participants ample opportunities to discuss quantum concepts in small groups of between two and six participants,” Matsler said. “During these small discussions, leaders entered and left the rooms to check on participants, clarify instructions, and answer questions.”
Instructors also recommend “icebreaker” activities to increase community engagement in virtual learning.
“These icebreakers can easily be used to engage students, take attendance, and assess how much individuals know about the upcoming lesson,” Matsler said. “A key element of all this online learning is making sure students feel like they are in a safe community to learn and exchange ideas.”
The team also found that short, relevant videos helped teach complicated topics. They recommend keeping the chat function operational during the videos to allow participants to ask questions and stay engaged.
“Ideally, QIS would be taught in a classroom with hands-on activities that allow students to see and touch how things like maglev trains and quantum levitation work,” Matsler said. “However, our experiences show that incorporating appropriate pedagogy and content into online learning can be effective in teaching these topics. Understanding that an effective virtual option exists is important as the country steps up its efforts to accelerate quantum research and development.” to remain competitive with other countries in this field.”