Learning to Read “Quantum”: Pseudoscientific Appropriation of Quantum Vocabulary and the Case for Boundary Work in Science Education

Quantum physics has entered the secondary curricula of many countries, and quantum technologies attract unprecedented public investment. In the same period, “quantum” has become one of the most productive vocabularies for pseudoscientific claims, yet the two developments are discussed by different communities. This paper argues that quantum education should teach the boundary between legitimate and usurped uses of quantum vocabulary. I make three claims: the appropriation has a stable, teachable structure; the “mysterious quantum” framing that communicators use supplies the resource that appropriation exploits; and identifying a misused term is not the same as making a nature-of-science judgement.