Integrating quantum computing representations into secondary education through physical analogies and digital simulations to support the introduction of advanced concepts

Engaging high school students with quantum physics is a significant educational challenge, particularly for concepts associated with Bell's theorem. In line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education), which promotes the development of relevant technological skills among young people, this study explored magnetism as a classical physical analogy for introducing quantum computing representations in secondary education. A convergent mixed-methods design within a positivist paradigm was applied with 200 students aged 14–17 from Ambato ( n = 100) and Tena ( n = 100), Ecuador. Students recorded the orientations of round magnets, encoded them as four-bit binary sequences and discussed their computational representation as state vectors and Bloch spheres generated with Qiskit. Think-aloud responses were analyzed through thematic coding, and the frequencies of orientation patterns were compared between locations using a chi-square test. The distribution of orientation patterns did not differ significantly between Ambato and Tena (χ² = 0.744, p = 0.388, Cramér's V = 0.06). Most coded responses (91.5%) reflected abstract representations linking physical observations with symbolic, binary or computational models, while 8.5% were concrete descriptions of magnetic behavior. These findings suggest that round magnets can provide an intuitive pedagogical analogy for discussing binary states, qubits and computational representations, and that integrating physical analogies with digital simulations may support the teaching of quantum physics and students' engagement with emerging scientific knowledge, contributing to quality science and technology education. The magnetic activity is an educational analogy rather than evidence of quantum phenomena, and further studies with validated pre/post instruments are needed to assess conceptual learning.