scholarly journals Conceptual Understanding of Electrical Phenomena: Patterns of Error in Senior Electrical Engineering Students' Problem Solving

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Carnes ◽  
Ruth Streveler
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Electrical Engineering

Learning by Immersion: Developing Virtual reality Labs for Engineering Courses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Ilie ◽  
Eric Shaffer ◽  
Cynthia D’Angelo ◽  
Erhan Kudeki ◽  
Olivia Coiado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Electrical Engineering ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Knowledge Gain ◽  
Vector Calculus

<p>A solid understanding of electromagnetic theory is key to the education of electrical engineering students. However, concepts in electricity and magnetism (E&M) are notoriously challenging for students to learn, due to the difficulty in grasping abstract concepts such as the electric force as an invisible force that is acting at a distance, or how electromagnetic radiation is permeating and propagating in physical space. Building physical intuition to manipulate these abstractions requires means to visualize electromagnetism concepts in a three-dimensional space. This project involves the development of 3D visualizations of abstract E&M concepts in Virtual Reality (VR), in an immersive, exploratory, and engaging environment, with the potential to be adopted by Engineering, Science, Mathematics and Medical college curricula across the country.</p><p>VR provides a disruptive platform for teaching and learning, in a realistic and most importantly, interactive three-dimensional environment. There are many advantages for using VR as a teaching tool, as it has the potential of addressing many challenges traditional teaching usually faces, and can lead to increased student engagement while removing some of the anxiety student experience while in active learning environments. Virtual Reality provides the means of exploration, to construct visuals and manipulable objects to represent knowledge, which in turns leads to a constructivist way of learning, in the sense that students are allowed to build their own knowledge from meaningful experiences.</p><p>The VR labs for E&M courses in the ECE department are generated by Electrical Engineering and Computer Science students enrolled in the “Virtual Reality" course at the same university, as part of the course term projects. This reflects the strong educational impact of this project, as it allows students to contribute to the educational experiences of their peers.  Student competencies around conceptual understanding of electromagnetism topics, as well as their understanding of mathematical concepts, are measured via formative and summative assessments. To evaluate the effectiveness of VR learning, each VR experience is followed by a short 10-minute multiple choice test, designed to primarily measure conceptual understanding of the various topics, rather than measuring the ability to simply manipulate equations, and will be tied to the specific contexts and topics of that lab's instruction.</p><p>This paper discusses the implementation and the pedagogy of the Virtual Reality laboratory experiences to visualize concepts in E&M, with examples for specific labs, as well as challenges, and student feedback with the new approach. We will also discuss the integration of the 3D visualizations into lab exercises and the design of the student assessment tools used to assess the knowledge gain when the VR technology is employed. In addition, we discuss the development of VR labs to visualize concepts pertaining to elements vector calculus, designed to enhance student understanding of the nature of operators such the gradient, curl and divergence, as well as the development of VR labs to visualize concepts pertaining to spatial geometry and coordinate transformations. </p><p> </p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Impact of Community Service Activities on the Soft Skills Development of Polytechnic Engineering Students Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Masfizaizan Binti Manaf ◽  
Emilawati Binti Othman ◽  
Noorashikin Binti Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Electrical Engineering ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Service Activities ◽  
The Impact

Community service activities are one of the activities most recently announced by all communities, government and private institutions as well as higher education centers. This activity has a positive impact on all societies, individuals and students involved in their success. Among the significant impacts of the students involved in this activity is to enhance the generic skills development of the team in terms of teamwork and problem solving skills in any field. In this study, the data were collected using a questionnaire distributed to 217 Electrical Engineering students from two to four semester at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Polytechnic (PSMZA) to obtain information about the impact of teamwork and problem solving skills. The raw data obtained was processed using the SPSS version 23 software and used the Likert scale 4 for each question chosen. Data analysis showed that the mean value of the impact of community service activities on teamwork skills was 3.26 and problem solving skills (3.68) where it was stand in high level for two to four semester electrical engineering students. The results of the t-test experiments found that there was no significant difference between male and female students on the impact of community activities on the components of teamwork skills where p> 0.05 and there is little difference between male and female students for problem solving skills where p <0.05. It is thus envisaged that this community service activity is crucial to be applied to all polytechnic students as a condition of awarding diploma and in line with the requirement of the National Education Philosophy to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced.

scholarly journals Five-Tier Diagnostic Test to Reveal Conceptual Understanding of Electrical Engineering Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 326
Author(s):  
Doni Setiawan ◽  
Jaelani Jaelani
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
False Positive ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Electrical Engineering ◽  
False Negative ◽  
Diagnostic Assessment ◽  
Voltage Source ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Assessment Development ◽  
Student Misconceptions

The purpose of this research was to produce a valid five-tiered misconception diagnostic assessment product and reveal the understanding of electrical engineering students' concepts on the subject of simple electrical circuits. Assessment development consisted of defining, designing, developing, and disseminating stages. Data collection techniques were online questionnaire methods, online tests, and online interviews. Construct validity was obtained that the assessment was valid and reliable. A total of 19 questions were categorized as medium and one easy question. The analysis of the conceptual understanding test obtained results 29.98% of students who understood the concept, 31.4% did not understand the concept, 2.82% of false positive, 3.38% of false negative, and 31.12% with misconception. There were 26 kinds of student misconceptions identified. The dominant misconception identified in the concept of circuit resistance arrangement was 40.2%. Students assumed that electrons flow from high to low potential in a closed circuit with a DC voltage source. The research results in a five-tier diagnostic assessment can be used in vocational colleges in general. The results of data analysis show that the five-tier format of the assessment can reveal students' misconceptions in detail and, more specifically, distinguish students who have misconceptions from students who are false positive and false negative to reveal students who have misconceptions better. The researcher's development procedure can be used as an example for other researchers to develop a five-tier format diagnostic assessment on other basic concepts.  

First-Year Engineering Computing Courses in Canadian Engineering Programs

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Maw ◽  
Janice Miller Young ◽  
Alexis Morris
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
First Year ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Digital Computation ◽  
Pedagogical Philosophies ◽  
Introductory Computing

Most Canadian engineering students take a computing course in their first year that introduces them to digital computation. The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board does not specify the language(s) that can or should be used for instruction. As a result, a variety of languages are used across Canada. This study examines which languages are used in degree-granting institutions, currently and in the recent past. It also examines why institutions have chosen the languages that they currently use. In addition to the language used in instruction, the types and hours of instruction are also analyzed. Methods of instruction and evaluation are compared, as well as the pedagogical philosophies of the different programs with respect to introductory computing. Finally, a comparison of the expected value of this course to graduates is also presented. We found a more diverse landscape for introductory computing courses than anticipated, in most respects. The guiding ethos at most institutions is skill and knowledge development, especially around problem solving in an engineering context. The methods to achieve this are quite varied, and so are the languages employed in such courses. Most programs currently use C/C++, Matlab, VB and/or Python.

Explicit teaching of problem categorization using concept mapping, and an exploratory study of its effect on student achievement and on conceptual understanding – the case of chemical equilibrium problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Bakolis ◽  
Dimitrios Stamovlasis ◽  
Georgios Tsaparlis
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Concept Mapping ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Chemical Equilibrium ◽  
Concept Maps ◽  
Equilibrium Problems ◽  
Solution Process ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Long Term Memory

Abstract A crucial step in problem solving is the retrieval of already learned schemata from long-term memory, a process which may be facilitated by categorization of the problem. The way knowledge is organized affects its availability, and, at the same time, it constitutes the important difference between experts and novices. The present study employed concept maps in a novel way, as a categorization tool for chemical equilibrium problems. The objective was to determine whether providing specific practice in problem categorization improves student achievement in problem solving and in conceptual understanding. Two groups of eleventh-grade students from two special private seminars in Corfu island, Greece, were used: the treatment group (N = 19) and the control group (N = 21). Results showed that the categorization helped students to improve their achievement, but the improvement was not always statistically significant. Students at lower (Piagetian) developmental level (in our sample, students at the transitional stage) had a larger improvement, which was statistically significant with a high effect size. Finally, Nakhleh’s categorization scheme, distinguishing algorithmic versus conceptual subproblems in the solution process, was studied. Dependency of problem solving on an organized knowledge base and the significance of concept mapping on student achievement were the conclusion.

Making sense of sensemaking: using the sensemaking epistemic game to investigate student discourse during a collaborative gas law activity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin H. Hunter ◽  
Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez ◽  
Nicole M. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Ideal Gas ◽  
Interactive Simulation ◽  
Structural Components ◽  
Student Discourse ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Ideal Gas Law ◽  
The Ideal

Beyond students’ ability to manipulate variables and solve problems, chemistry instructors are also interested in students developing a deeper conceptual understanding of chemistry, that is, engaging in the process of sensemaking. The concept of sensemaking transcends problem-solving and focuses on students recognizing a gap in knowledge and working to construct an explanation that resolves this gap, leading them to “make sense” of a concept. Here, we focus on adapting and applying sensemaking as a framework to analyze three groups of students working through a collaborative gas law activity. The activity was designed around the learning cycle to aid students in constructing the ideal gas law using an interactive simulation. For this analysis, we characterized student discourse using the structural components of the sensemaking epistemic game using a deductive coding scheme. Next, we further analyzed students’ epistemic form by assessing features of the activity and student discourse related to sensemaking: whether the question was framed in a real-world context, the extent of student engagement in robust explanation building, and analysis of written scientific explanations. Our work provides further insight regarding the application and use of the sensemaking framework for analyzing students’ problem solving by providing a framework for inferring the depth with which students engage in the process of sensemaking.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document