How to Teach Quantum Physics to Littles (and Older Students Too)

Quantum mechanics for littles. Yes, you heard that right. Littles. Yes. Littles. Just two weeks ago we talked about space with Mark Wagner and what we can be teaching about it. Now, we’re talking quantum physics. Nneka McGee specializes in how to teach concepts relating to quantum mechanics to littles. No, she’s not teaching algebra and advanced mathematics, but an understanding that is needed to move forward, yes.

This doesn’t mean we stop teaching reading or writing or math. And you don’t even need screens to teach this. Quite the opposite. You can use these concepts to promote conversation about future trends without a screen at all.

In today’s show, Nneka will share examples of why quantum physics is important to all of us, the future of passwords, and security and some practical ideas we can use now. I’ll be sharing lots of resources in these show notes so that you can bring some mini lessons to your classroom. Let’s learn about quantum physics and how we can bring it into schools.

Listen to the Show

Ideas for Applying These Concepts in Your Classroom

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Muon Global — Dr. McGee’s advisory firm, focused on emerging technology and access in education.
• AI for Young Learners: Balancing Tech Use with Authentic, Off-Screen Experiences — Dr. McGee’s Jump Start Guide from ISTE (January 2026). This is the “AI for littles” work she describes in the show.
• AI + Learning Differences: Designing a Future with No Boundaries — the Stanford Accelerator for Learning white paper, released July 21, 2025. Dr. McGee was project lead and a principal co-author, alongside Elizabeth Kozleski, Christopher J. Lemons, and Isabelle C. Hau. Free PDF.
• Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education by Isabelle C. Hau (PublicAffairs, 2025) — the book Nneka recommends for the early-childhood foundation. Isabelle is executive director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning and a co-author on Nneka’s white paper above, so that one link is doing three jobs.
• Quantum Computing for Babies by Chris Ferrie and whurley (William Hurley) — part of the Baby University board-book series. Ages 0–4, and yes, it is real.
• National Q-12 Education Partnership — this is the federal quantum education site Nneka mentions. It was launched in August 2020 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation, so it is further along than she recalls on tape. Everything on it is free.
• QuanTime — free K-12 quantum activities from Q-12, each designed to fit in a single 45–60 minute class period. Hands-on, online, and printable options. No background in quantum required.
• QISE K-12 Framework — the federal Key Concepts for Future Quantum Information Science Learners. Superposition, entanglement, and coherence — the three terms Nneka teaches — map almost exactly onto it.
• QCaMP (Quantum Computing, Mathematics and Physics) — the program Nneka calls out, co-founded in 2022 at Sandia National Laboratories by Megan Ivory and Jake Douglass. Teachers are paid a $1,000 stipend for the week. Students get $250.
• Dr. Nneka McGee on LinkedIn

Fact Check Notes

A note on two numbers from the conversation. Nneka cites brain development as “about 80% before kindergarten” and hedges it herself on tape — the figure researchers actually report is roughly 90% of adult brain volume by age five, which measures physical growth rather than learning capacity. Her underlying point stands either way. She also credits New York with “over $100 million” in quantum investment; the real commitment is $300 million to a quantum hub at Stony Brook, announced September 17, 2025, plus $60 million more for additional sites. She understated it.

And a word for my ninth grader. What she described on that presentation — attackers capturing encrypted traffic today so they can decrypt it years from now once quantum computers arrive — is a real, named threat. It’s called harvest-now-decrypt-later, and NSA, CISA, and NIST all treat it as active. NIST finalized the first post-quantum cryptography standards on August 13, 2024, specifically because of it. She was right.

About Dr. Nneka McGee

Dr. Nneka J. McGee is an educator, researcher, and advocate dedicated to providing access and opportunities for learners exploring emerging technologies. As part of her doctoral studies, she researched the experiences of K-12 teachers implementing or planning to implement artificial intelligence in classroom learning environments. Since 2024, she has presented “AI for Littles,” focused on early childhood and elementary learners, to thousands of educators, providing practical strategies to introduce AI in age-appropriate, engaging ways. Dr. McGee recently served as project lead and principal co-author of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning white paper, “AI + Learning Differences: Designing a Future with No Boundaries.” She has served on multiple AI advisory boards and committees, including National AI Literacy Day, EngageAI Institute, and Foundations, Inc. She was named a 2024 K-12 IT Influencer to Follow by EdTech Magazine and was recognized as a 2024 and 2025 ASU+GSV Woman Leading in AI. Before founding her advisory firm, Muon Global, Dr. McGee taught middle school mathematics and served as chief academic officer at a public school district in south Texas.

Connect: muonglobal.com · LinkedIn

Quantum and AI Resources for Teachers and Administrators

You do not need a physics degree to do any of this. You need a penny, a paper plate, and about fifteen minutes. Everything linked below is free. Use school-approved tools for anything that touches a device.

UNPLUGGED ACTIVITY 1: The Penny (Superposition)

Lesson plans for grades K-12 teachers

One class period. Materials: one penny per student.

Spin the penny. Cover it before it lands. While it is spinning and hidden, it is not heads and it is not tails — it is both at once. That is superposition. Uncover it and it collapses into one answer.

For littles, stop there.

For middle and high school, push on the part that matters: a classical bit is only ever a 0 or a 1. A qubit holds both possibilities until you measure it — and the measurement is what forces the choice. Ask them what information disappeared the moment they looked.

Nneka is careful about this and so am I: the penny is a representation, not a qubit. It is an access point for someone who thinks this topic is closed to them. Say that out loud to your students.

UNPLUGGED ACTIVITY 2: The Plate With No Nose (Human in the Loop)

Grades K–5, adaptable up.

One class period. Materials: paper plates, markers, one image generator on the teacher’s screen only.

Ask an image generator for a smiley face on a plate. Show the class what comes back. When it gets something wrong — a missing nose, three eyes, a mouth in the wrong place — that is your lesson, not your failure.

Then hand out the plates. Every student draws the correct one. The takeaway lands by itself: the tool is useful, the tool is wrong sometimes, and a person has to check it.

What she did: Nneka built this out of an actual mistake she made while preparing a session. She kept the mistake and built the lesson around it. That is worth modeling for your students too.

TERMS TO KNOW

The terms in the show also line up with the QISE K-12 Framework.

• Superposition — a qubit holds more than one state at the same time until it is measured. The spinning penny.
• Entanglement — two qubits become linked, so measuring one tells you about the other no matter how far apart they are. Two coins that always agree.
• Coherence — how long a qubit can hold its quantum state before the environment knocks it out. The reason quantum computers are hard to build, in one word.
• Qubit — the quantum version of a bit. A bit is a 0 or a 1. A qubit is both until you look.
• Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) — new encryption designed to survive quantum computers. NIST finalized the first standards in August 2024.
• Harvest-now-decrypt-later — capturing encrypted data today to crack it years from now. The thing my ninth grader figured out.

For AI vocabulary, here is my full AI Vocab list, and my Spy the AI game for practicing vocabulary.

MORE Free Resources on Quantum for K-12

Ready to teach tomorrow

Go deeper

For your summer, and paid

• QCaMP — three-day teacher camp, $1,000 stipend, travel funds available if you are more than 50 miles out. Nneka is right that this matters: it means you do not have to choose between a summer job and learning this.

Other Shows for K-12 Teachers Teaching STEM and AI

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If a teacher in your building has ever said quantum is over their head, send them this one — it takes a penny to prove otherwise.

Episode Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki
Click to read the full transcript

Vicki Davis: How to Teach Quantum Physics to Littles and Older Students, too, with Dr. Nneka McGee. You can grab a single penny and teach superposition.

Announcer: This is the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis: Today, we’re talking with Dr. Nneka McGee, founder of Muon Global and one of the most fascinating voices in both AI education and quantum computing for kids. She led a Stanford white paper on AI and learning differences, wrote an ISTE guide for AI for littles, and her FETC session on Quantum 101 for educators blew my mind. So I had to get her on the show. Whether you’re teaching kindergarten or high school, you’re going to want to hear what Nneka has to say about preparing students for an AI and a quantum world.

So, Nneka, thanks for agreeing after our session to come on the show today.

Nneka McGee: Thank you for having me, Vicki. I’m excited to be here and excited to talk emerging technologies such as quantum and AI today.

Vicki Davis: So let me just ask you this. Some people would say… AI, quantum computing, like, okay, help me understand. Are they related? Are they not related? Why are you going from one to the other? Talk about it.

Nneka McGee: We’ve all heard at this point of artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence related systems. And I want to focus squarely on education. That’s my world. The technical part is another show. It’s focused on how we can help kids learn and grow about the technologies that will impact them in society. For me, the primary connection for artificial intelligence and now quantum computing are that these are technologies that will impact our students who are going through pre-K through 12 systems and even college.

And it is important to prepare our students because, for example, I’m an educator. Chances of me going into another career at this stage in my life is minimal. But for a student, a young student who is interested in the world, their pathways are limitless. And so we have to give them the tools that are necessary. And I believe that gaining an understanding in the foundational principles of first artificial intelligence and now quantum computing will help.

Vicki Davis: I don’t think anybody would debate you on the importance of AI, at least not now, maybe three or four years ago. But quantum computing, give us an overview of what will quantum computing mean to our world. Getting into the details might be a bit, but why is quantum computing important?

Nneka McGee: When we think about quantum computing and then we think about classical computing, I want to make a distinction here. Quantum computing will not replace classical computing. Right. Quantum computing, at its heart, is designed to solve problems that are different and novel. And I’m going to give you a very specific example of quantum computing and what can happen. There is an encryption technology that we use that governs the Internet, governs all of these things that help us run banking technologies.

Because they use prime numbers and semi-primes and it’s really technical, it takes classical computing millions of years. A quantum computer would be able to crack this encryption in a very short amount of time. Can you imagine what that would mean for every sector of our society to have this type of computing power? It’s not there yet, but I can tell you that many companies, they’re trying to get ahead. Of this eventuality that’s going to happen once quantum computers have this capacity.

So that’s just a stark example of something that can shake every aspect of our security in digital spaces and that they’re working on it now. They’re not waiting until it comes online. They’re doing it now. That’s a stark example of why it’s important.

Vicki Davis: We’re looking at basically none of our passwords really being truly secure.

Nneka McGee: Not only passwords, the mechanisms behind what makes passwords work in every aspect. Once you can crack those large prime numbers in the semi-primes that brought those prime numbers together, it’s kind of like with the pennies in the activity we described. It’s not exact, but it’ll tell you basically at its heart. What happens is that it really takes computers a long time to factor. These are huge, huge, huge numbers. And so that’s why it’s difficult for a classical computer to factor these numbers.

Vicki Davis: So I’m going to check out something one of my ninth graders said. It just presented on quantum computing in my class. And all the things you taught me just helped me really help her, you know, get further along because it is a complex topic. The S in HTTPS, that secure piece, will be able to be cracked. And so all these people who are using something called packet sniffers today, so they’re grabbing all these packets of data off the Internet.

And just putting it somewhere. People who are joining all this free Wi-Fi, like say you go to Starbucks and you join the free Wi-Fi, and yeah, you’ve got your encryption and you’re using all the latest stuff and you’ve got your current operating system, but somebody’s just grabbing that encrypted stuff out of the air. She said that basically when quantum computing comes along, it could be even possible to decrypt things that they captured back here in our current time.

Nneka McGee: She’s correct in the sense that, yes, we will get to a point, particularly with quantum computing. And I don’t know a better way to put it other than the security of the Internet and our digital world will be crackable at every level. It just will be. And there will be a point once quantum computers get to, you know, a state in which they can crack those codes where it’ll be useless.

Vicki Davis: So we were talking before the show and you said working with teaching AI to kids and teachers for eight or nine years. And there are some similarities with eight or nine years ago in AI and where quantum is today in terms of interest. How do you kind of compare the two and where people are in terms of what they’re ready to learn about?

Nneka McGee: Right. Well, even before, so, you know, before ChatGPT came online, and it’s so interesting because in June of 22, I was part of an ISTE panel, about artificial intelligence and its future implications. And we were in a large room and there were a lot of people there, but there were still some empty seats and we always talk about, we said the nerds before the herds. We’re thinking we’re part of this amazing kind of emerging technology and we didn’t know anything.

You think you know something and you don’t know anything. For example, when I tell people. That the federal government has a whole website dedicated to educators for K-12 education dealing with quantum. People are like, really? So you’re seeing that things are happening, but the awareness level needs to grow. So we need to get more people on board with understanding that this is emerging technology that people are working on and we need our kids to be prepared.

People can say what they want to say, but when you hear the word quantum physics, yeah, people are like, that’s not a place I want to go again. You see the government investing funds. You see states, New York, invested over $100 million in quantum technologies. Places like Colorado states are starting to invest heavily in quantum technologies and preparing at the college level for people to enter the workforce or build careers in quantum and quantum-related technologies.

And you can do a lot at the college level, but if you haven’t prepared kids, how are they going to succeed? Yeah. I mean, because if they don’t have strong grounding in mathematics and physics, some understanding of those topics, where are we? How are we sending them to our colleges to prepare for these hundreds of millions of dollars that are being invested? And there will be a breakthrough technology similar to mark this, tag it, do whatever you need to do.

There will be a breakthrough technology like ChatGPT or generative. AI in quantum at some point. And where will we be as educators if we didn’t do what was necessary to help prepare our kids for that eventuality?

Vicki Davis: So you’re talking quantum, Nneka, but you also talk AI for littles. Now, some people would say, hey, okay, quantum, no, and AI for littles, like, why? So what do you do with littles? Because typically littles is like kindergarten, right?

Nneka McGee: Yeah, even not. So when we think about, you know, early education, you’re thinking as early as three years old. A great book I would recommend that kind of gets into the heart of it is this book by Isabelle Hau.

Vicki Davis: I’ve had her on the show. She’s amazing.

Nneka McGee: She is amazing. and one of the things that she talks about is how when we look at brain development in our kids, I want to say it’s like 80% occurs before kindergarten, yet we talk about kindergarten readiness, right? And so it doesn’t mean that we’re teaching linear algebra to young kids, but the key is what that tells us about brain science and what Isabelle is talking about in Love to Learn in terms of even with artificial intelligence and relational intelligence is this is a great time through concrete activities, hands-on activities, to give kids understanding and foundational skills with topics where technology and interacting with the technology may not be appropriate or necessary.

I’ve stressed with AI for littles and what I did was gather together different types of hands-on activities that teachers could use with the youngest learners. And one of them, the one that I use the most. It was a mistake. It was early DALL-E, which is the visual. Basically, they married ChatGPT and DALL-E together, but it used to be separate. Right. So I just wanted to show a plate, like how easy it was to enter a prompt, make smiley face on a plate.

So I enter in these instructions and the image that comes back is a plate without a nose. And I said, this is the most I have built a whole lessons. So I do this lesson and basically I say, hey, you can do all of these things. Any kid with a marker, doesn’t matter how long, how big the marker is, they can draw on a paper plate. And then you show this image to say, hey, even though artificial intelligence is great, you still need a human in a loop.

Not only does it make mistakes, but you need somebody to make sure your instructions don’t cause someone not to have a nose, right? I built those series of hands-on lessons. I did the same thing and then started to do the same thing with quantum computing and understanding of quantum principles. And I start with the basic superposition, entanglement, and also with coherence. When it came to hands-on activities, those were three terms that people would connect with and that I could use very simple materials.

Vicki Davis: And you use a penny. I had a student, the one who did the presentation, was struggling with what’s a qubit? How does it even work? And I pulled out Penny and did what you taught me, Nneka. And she was like, oh, I understand. And she even used that in front of the class to explain a little bit about how it works. No computer. Here’s a penny. Let’s explain these terms. These are things that kids can understand. And I know it shocks people.

How young have you taught lessons on quantum?

Nneka McGee: Thank you for sharing the story of your student, because a lot of times people say, well, do people take things back from conferences? It’s so exciting to know that you took something back to a conference and it led your student to gain an extra understanding to a point where, what does she do? Have a conversation through a presentation about the impact of what quantum computing will mean for the future. We’ve worked with kids, when I say four or five, five-year-olds, the same lessons that we go over, we have done with kids.

These are not just pull them out of the air and then present them. There are things that I’ve actually done with kids, and that’s so important. And there are certain things that I stress, and I think that I stress to you. First of all, even with the penny, It is rudimentary. It is a representation that can allow an access point to an individual who may think that quantum mechanics and quantum computing is inaccessible. And that’s the bridge that’s going to be very hard.

My life as an educator to ensuring that students have access and opportunity to math and science is like the core of what I do. That is why it’s important to present accessible activities. There’s a quantum physicist who. And I shout her name, Dr. Megan Ivory. I don’t know if she had co-developers, but she is one of the main point persons for QCaMP. These QCaMPs, not only do they help students, but they help educators. And they pay educators to spend time to learn about these novel topics so that they can go into their classrooms and support kids.

Recently in New Mexico, they had an event where they created activities even for younger kids to be able to explore. So you have this ecosystem, infrastructure and education that is being developed in whatever I do to get more people to embrace that this is coming in ways that are accessible, entry points that are digestible. That is my task.

Vicki Davis: What is the most surprising thing that kindergarten and first, second grade teachers find as they go to your workshops or sessions for either quantum computing or AI?

Nneka McGee: Well, the first thing that surprises them is that they can introduce these topics in a way that is accessible.

Vicki Davis: That is so exciting. We shouldn’t be playing king of the hill. We should make a bigger hill, especially when it concerns the future of children. Dr. Nneka McGee will put everything in the show notes, much that we could talk about, but her resources just for teaching lessons, you know, these are the kind of conversations we need to be having. You can teach quantum computing and teach AI. And yes, you can even teach them to little.

So thank you for the work that you’re doing and the conversations you’re having and for agreeing to come on the show. So this is really exciting. Thanks for tuning in to the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast. Watch the video version of this podcast and catch my new radio and TV show, Cool Cat Teacher Talk, on YouTube and a radio or TV station near you. Join my Cool Cat Teacher Classroom Matters newsletter at coolcatteacher.com forward slash newsletter.

Leave a review if you found this helpful. See you later, educator.

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