Retaining STEM students, especially from underrepresented groups, can be bolstered through positive mentorship programs where students have the opportunity for authentic research experiences. Quantum Engineering Research and You (QuERY) is a program jointly run by graduate students at MIT and Harvard working with public high school science teachers. It uses mentorship to teach students quantum science, engineering, and computing research skills. Students work in small groups over a semester with their graduate student mentor via videoconferencing to produce an authentic research project, culminating in an end-of-program research symposium where all mentors and students meet in person to share their work. Topics related to quantum science and engineering attract much interest and enthusiasm from student researchers. Some preliminary results of a study of student self-efficacy will be shared. Graduate students interested in mentorship are encouraged to attend.

We developed a quantum version of the board game Chutes and Ladders, to be played with a standard Chutes and Ladders board.  The quantum version of the game illustrates concepts of superposition, probability, measurement, and (in the more advanced version) entanglement.  We have run this activity with multiple groups who are new to quantum concepts including middle school students, high school students, undergraduates, and K-12 teachers.  With some of the groups, Some of the groups designed their own quantum tabletop games after they learned about quantum concepts and played quantum Chutes and Ladders as an example. We present the evolution of the game as it has been adapted over time.  We also present initial research results based on video data from students playing (and designing) these games, and identify conceptual themes that emerge from the interactions among students around this activity.

The Pathways to Quantum Summer Immersion Program introduces high school students to key quantum concepts and the jobs in quantum. The program has been run twice with a total of 37 participants. The program includes: (1) a two-week virtual program focused on helping students understand basic quantum concepts, (2) a one-week in-person experience in which students build on their understanding of the quantum key concepts and visit research labs, companies engaged in quantum, and an organization focused on quantum policy, (3) an optional follow-up in which students create a poster on their vision of future uses for quantum, and (4) an optional (application required) extended research experience in quantum. We examine survey responses and focus group interviews with participants to understand what students know about quantum careers and how understanding of their options and interactions with peers and experts through this program impacts their thinking.

We have developed "Quantum Journey in a Box", a unique offering to broaden access to quantum physics for secondary students. The "Box" contains several activities that allow the students to discover and interact with some of the key ideas from quantum information. The activities consist of card games, detective work, optical investigations, and shape matching. They illustrate the quantum concepts behind cloning, cryptography, polarization, and teleportation. An accompanying interactive workbook provides additional information and support. In this talk we will describe the activities behind the concepts and report on the actual use of the quantum box by students in a high school context.

We present the design and implementation of a summer workshop on quantum information science for all STEM majors. The five-week summer session is designed for students from two-year or four-year colleges who are interested in quantum computing and quantum information topics but have no background in the field. The workshop outcomes are to offer students the opportunity to build the experimental and theoretical skills used in the quantum workforce as well as to implement a quantum computing algorithm. During the session students learn the basic principles of quantum computing, learn experimental techniques used in single-photon quantum experiments, and perform quantum mechanics algorithms. In this presentation we will describe the instructional design of the workshop and student reflections on their preparation for quantum information science work.