Q2Work: Supporting learners and educators to develop a competitive workforce in quantum information science and technology

非技术摘要：在对量子信息科学与工程(QISE)的兴趣和投资迅速扩大的时代，相关的教育和劳动力发展努力正变得至关重要。这个为期三年的项目旨在通过传播、凝聚力和合作来扩大量子教育界的努力，从而加快整个量子教育界的进步。该项目还将扩展K-12教育的主要概念，使社区能够努力将QISE融入早期教育。活动包括一个网站，作为更广泛的QISE教育生态系统的中心，并计划举办一系列有凝聚力的研讨会，以进一步开发适合年龄的K-12 QISE教育资源。跨越K-12、学术界、政府、行业、专业协会和非正式教育组织的QISE教育生态系统的跨学科和融合联系是这一努力的核心要素。QISE从代表不足的少数民族和女性学生比例最低的领域中挑选出来，该方案涉及增加QISE中代表不足群体的参与的机制。技术摘要：QISE教育及其相关研究不同于量子力学、数学或计算机科学，但它不是自己的领域。这一活动引导了一个由教育工作者、教育研究人员和QIS专业人员组成的社区，以进一步发展QISE教育，传播新的努力，并扩大这一关键领域的研究。QISE的核心研究和技术进步依赖于对这个社区的支持。此外，有计划的活动使教育界能够采取具体的合作步骤，以改变课程和实施工具，以提高对K-12级并最终跨越所有年龄和学习环境的量子信息科学的认识、直觉和识字能力。计划的活动和产出旨在具有包容性，并与科学、技术、工程和数学领域中代表性不足的群体建立联系。这项工作的目标也是扩大不同背景的学生进入QISE的机会，以及增加女性和少数族裔在大学一级的代表性。评估员将使用调查、焦点小组和从网络日志收集的数据分析等方法来评估项目活动和交付成果。鉴于强调促进QIS教育生态系统之间的联系，将在评估协作社区属性的框架基础上制定评估协议。该项目由美国国家科学基金会通过多学科活动办公室(OMA)、材料研究部(DMR)和物理部(DMR)在教育和人力资源局以及数学和物理科学局(MPS)的发现研究预科-12(DRK-12)计划部分支持。DRK-12旨在通过研究和开发创新的资源、模式和工具，显著提高K-12学前班学生和教师的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical Abstract:In the time of rapidly expanding interest and investment in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE), relevant education and workforce development efforts are becoming critical. This three-year project is designed to accelerate progress across the quantum education community by amplifying its efforts through dissemination, cohesion, and collaboration. The project will also allow expansion of the Key Concepts for K-12 education, so that the community can work towards integrating QISE into early education. Activities include a website that serves as a hub for the wider QISE education ecosystem, and a plan for a cohesive set of workshops to further the development of age-appropriate K-12 QISE education resources. Transdisciplinary and convergent connections across the QISE education ecosystem spanning K-12, academia, government, industry, professional societies, and informal education organizations are a central element of this effort. QISE draws from the fields with some of the lowest percentages of underrepresented minority and female students, and this program involves mechanisms to increase participation of underrepresented groups in QISE. Technical Abstract:QISE education and the associated research is distinct from quantum mechanics, mathematics, or computer science, but it is not its own field. This activity bootstraps a community of educators, education researchers, and QIS professionals to further develop QISE education, seed new efforts and magnify research in this critical area. Core research and technological progress in QISE depends on supporting this community. Moreover, planned activities enable the education community to take concrete collaborative steps towards making changes to curricula and implementing tools that increase awareness, intuition, and literacy in quantum information science at the K-12 level and ultimately across all ages and learning environments. Planned activities and outputs are designed to be inclusive, and to build connections with underrepresented groups in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Broadening access to QISE for students of different backgrounds, and increased female and minority representation at the college level are also the goals of this work. An evaluator will assess the project activities and deliverables using methods such as surveys, focus groups, and data analytics collected from web logs. Given the emphasis on facilitating connections across QIS education ecosystem, evaluation protocols will be developed based on a framework for assessing the attributes of collaborative communities. This project is partially supported by NSF's Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) program, in the Directorate for Education & Human Resources and Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) through the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA), Division of Materials Research (DMR) and Division of Physics. DRK-12 seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.