  Quantum Computing is an exciting field that draws from information theory,
computer science, mathematics, and quantum physics to process information in
fundamentally new ways. There is an ongoing race to develop practical quantum
computers and increase the quantum workforce. This needs to be accompanied by
the development of quantum computing programs, courses, and curricula coupled
with the development of evidence-based pedagogical materials to support the
education of the next generation of quantum information scientists. We
introduced an introductory course in quantum computing to undergraduate
students and investigated the strengths and difficulties of these students in
quantum computing after taking the introductory course. Our goal is to
contribute to the improvement of quantum computing education while
understanding the topics that the students find easy to comprehend and the
topics that are difficult to comprehend. We conducted a series of interviews to
identify these strengths and difficulties in the students. We report on the
results of these interviews and our initial work on the development of
evidence-based materials for teaching an introductory course in quantum
computing.
