autoresearch-quantum/notebooks/learning_objectives.md

Learning Objectives --- Per Notebook, Per Section

Each objective has a Bloom level and a matched assessment type. All four plans teach the same core material; the pedagogical approach differs.

Entry point: Open 00_START_HERE.ipynb to choose your plan. Every content notebook links back to Start Here and forward to the next notebook in the plan.

Assessment types:

• MCQ (quiz()) --- multiple-choice with immediate feedback
• Predict (predict_choice()) --- predict an outcome before running code
• Reflect (reflect()) --- open-ended reflection graded by keywords
• Order (order()) --- rank or sequence items

All assessments are tracked by LearningTracker with Bloom's taxonomy levels.

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Plan A — Bottom-Up (3 Sequential Notebooks)

Notebook 01: What Is an Encoded Magic State?

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. The T-state	State the T-state formula and its phase (π/4)	Remember	MCQ
1. The T-state	Locate the T-state on the Bloch sphere	Understand	Predict
1. The T-state	Explain why Clifford-only circuits are classically simulable	Understand	MCQ
2. Seed styles	Recognise that different gate sequences produce the same state	Remember	MCQ
2. Seed styles	Explain why global phase is unphysical	Understand	MCQ
3. Why encode	State the no-cloning theorem and its consequence	Understand	MCQ
3. Why encode	State the 4,2,2 code parameters (4 physical, 2 logical, distance 2)	Remember	MCQ
4. Encoder circuit	Count 2-qubit gates in the cx_chain encoder	Apply	MCQ
5. Full preparation	Predict how many basis states have non-zero amplitude	Understand	Predict
6. Stabilisers	State the eigenvalue condition for the codespace	Remember	MCQ
6. Stabilisers	Identify which stabiliser detects which error type	Apply	MCQ
7. Error detection	Predict how many stabilisers a Y error triggers	Understand	Predict
7. Error detection	Rank error types by number of triggered stabilisers	Analyse	Order
8. Encoder comparison	Evaluate depth vs noise trade-offs between encoders	Evaluate	Reflect
9. Ancilla qubits	Explain why direct measurement destroys the state	Understand	MCQ
9. Ancilla qubits	Explain why three separate witness circuits are needed	Analyse	MCQ
10. Ideal simulation	Predict that 100% of ideal shots pass syndrome check	Understand	MCQ
11. Postselection	Identify the fundamental cost of postselection	Understand	MCQ

Notebook 02: How Do You Know If It Worked?

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Recap	State the stabiliser eigenvalue condition	Remember	MCQ
2. Noise	Predict how noise affects the syndrome distribution	Understand	Predict
3. Acceptance	Compute the shot overhead from a given acceptance rate	Apply	MCQ
4. Logical operators	Explain why operators require separate circuits	Analyse	MCQ
5. Magic witness	State the ideal witness value (W = 1.0)	Remember	MCQ
5. Magic witness	Distinguish witness from fidelity	Understand	MCQ
7. Scoring	Predict the net effect of stricter verification on score	Analyse	Predict
8. Parameter sweep	Identify which parameter dominates score variation	Analyse	Reflect
9. Failure modes	Rank failure modes by severity	Analyse	Order
10. Factory throughput	Identify when factory scoring beats WAC	Evaluate	MCQ

Notebook 03: The Ratchet Learns For You

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Incumbent model	State the ratchet monotonicity guarantee	Understand	MCQ
2. NeighborWalk	Describe how NeighborWalk generates challengers	Understand	MCQ
3. Evaluation	Predict whether a challenger beats the incumbent	Understand	Predict
4. Ratchet step	State what happens when no challenger wins	Understand	MCQ
5. Lessons	Evaluate the quality of a lesson narrative	Evaluate	Reflect
7. Strategies	Rank strategies from narrowest to broadest exploration	Analyse	Order
8. Fix vs avoid	Distinguish 'fix' and 'avoid' search rules	Remember	MCQ
9. Propagation	Explain why the winner propagates to the next rung	Understand	MCQ
10. Transfer	Define what makes a transfer score 'good'	Evaluate	MCQ

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Plan B — Spiral (1 Notebook, 3 Passes)

Pass 1: The 5-Minute Demo (Remember + Understand)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1.3 Key numbers	Interpret winning margin = 0 (incumbent stays)	Remember	MCQ
1.6 Score landscape	Judge whether parameter choice matters from a bar chart	Understand	Predict

Pass 2: Opening the Black Box (Apply + Analyse)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
2.1 T-state	State the T-state phase (π/4)	Remember	MCQ
2.3 Stabiliser check	Interpret stabiliser eigenvalue +1 as codespace confirmation	Understand	MCQ
2.5 Postselection	Identify the cost of postselection (lost shots)	Understand	MCQ
2.9 Scoring	Explain how score balances quality and cost	Apply	Predict
2.10 Challengers	State that NeighborWalk changes exactly 1 parameter	Apply	MCQ

Pass 3: Making It Your Own (Evaluate + Create)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
3.2 Scoring comparison	Justify when to choose factory throughput over WAC	Evaluate	Reflect
3.5 Strategies	Rank strategies by ability to find multi-parameter interactions	Analyse	Order
3.8 Transfer	Diagnose overfitting from a transfer score drop	Evaluate	MCQ

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Plan C — Parallel Tracks (4 Notebooks)

Dashboard (00_dashboard.ipynb)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Setup	Explain why the dashboard uses a rung-1 config as baseline	Understand	MCQ
2. Exploration	Predict acceptance rate when verification = 'none'	Apply	Predict
2. Exploration	Describe the quality–acceptance trade-off from exploration	Analyse	Reflect

Track A: Physics (track_a_physics.ipynb)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Why magic states	State the Eastin-Knill theorem	Remember	MCQ
2. T-state	State the T-state phase (π/4)	Remember	MCQ
3. Preparations	Explain why fidelity = 1.0 despite different amplitudes	Understand	MCQ
4. 4,2,2 code	Derive eigenvalue constraints from S² = I	Understand	MCQ
5. Logical operators	Explain why logical Y acts on 3 physical qubits	Understand	MCQ
8. Error detection	Identify which stabiliser detects a Z error	Apply	Predict
8. Error detection	Rank error types by stabilisers triggered	Analyse	Order
9. Witness formula	State the ideal witness value (W = 1.0)	Apply	MCQ
10. Witness degradation	Explain why a sharp witness peak is useful	Evaluate	Reflect

Track B: Engineering (track_b_engineering.ipynb)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Ideal vs noisy	Describe the visual signature of noise in a histogram	Understand	Predict
2. Backend	Explain the role of the transpiler for non-native gates	Understand	MCQ
3. Transpilation	Evaluate whether higher optimisation is always better	Analyse	Predict
4. Cost model	Identify the dominant cost driver (2-qubit gates)	Apply	MCQ
5. Acceptance	Interpret acceptance rate as fraction of passed shots	Apply	MCQ
7. Failure modes	Rank failure modes by severity	Analyse	Order
8. Scoring	Identify which scoring component dominates in a given regime	Evaluate	Reflect
9. Factory throughput	Distinguish WAC and factory throughput by operational goal	Evaluate	MCQ

Track C: Search (track_c_search.ipynb)

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Parameter space	Explain why exhaustive search is impractical	Understand	MCQ
2. Incumbent	Define the bootstrap incumbent	Remember	MCQ
3. NeighborWalk	State that NeighborWalk changes exactly 1 parameter	Understand	MCQ
4. RandomCombo	Rank strategies by interaction-finding ability	Analyse	Order
6. Ratchet step	State what happens when no challenger wins	Understand	MCQ
7. Patience	Explain the purpose of the patience parameter	Evaluate	MCQ
8. Lessons	Evaluate the actionable insight in a lesson narrative	Evaluate	Reflect
8. Rules	Distinguish 'fix' and 'avoid' search rules	Remember	MCQ
10. Narrowing	Explain what search space narrowing accomplishes	Understand	MCQ
12. Transfer	Diagnose overfitting from a transfer score drop	Evaluate	MCQ

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Plan D — Three Claim-Driven Experiments (3 Notebooks)

Experiment 1: Can Quantum Error Detection Protect a Magic State?

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. T-state	State the T-state phase (π/4)	Remember	MCQ
2. Encoding	Predict how many basis states have non-zero amplitude	Understand	Predict
3. Stabilisers	State what ⟨ZZZZ⟩ = +1 tells us (no X-type error)	Understand	MCQ
4. Error detection	Identify which stabiliser detects a Z error	Apply	MCQ
4. Error detection	Rank error types by stabilisers triggered	Analyse	Order
5. Witness	State the ideal witness value (W = 1.0)	Apply	MCQ
6. Postselection	Predict acceptance rate on ideal simulator	Understand	MCQ

Experiment 2: How Much Magic Survives Real-World Noise?

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Noise	Predict how noise affects the syndrome distribution	Understand	Predict
2. Scoring	Explain the score tension between quality and acceptance	Analyse	MCQ
3. Parameter sweep	Evaluate which optimisation level gives best score	Evaluate	Reflect

Experiment 3: Can a Machine Learn to Optimise?

Section	Learning Objective	Bloom	Assessment
1. Ratchet	State the ratchet monotonicity guarantee	Understand	MCQ
2. Challengers	State that NeighborWalk changes exactly 1 parameter	Understand	MCQ
3. Ratchet step	Predict whether a challenger beats the incumbent	Understand	Predict
4. Lessons	Distinguish 'fix' and 'avoid' search rules	Remember	MCQ
4. Lessons	Evaluate the actionable insight in a lesson narrative	Evaluate	Reflect
5. Transfer	Diagnose overfitting from a transfer score drop	Evaluate	MCQ