A concept inventory for an Electric Circuits course : Rationale and fundamental topics

Abstract

The first Electric Circuits course is a core component of all engineering undergraduate curricula that include not only Electrical but other engineering disciplines such as Computer, Mechanical and Civil Engineering programs worldwide. The Electric Circuits Concept Inventory (ECCI) is a set of multiple choice questions that measures students' understanding of DC Circuit analysis. The topics include (i) fundamental conceptual circuit topics (ii) Circuit laws and (iii) Circuit analysis techniques. In this paper, we develop a rationale for developing a repertoire of classic and representative set of problems that test the major concepts taught in a typical Electric Circuits course. We also present a set of multiple-choice questions suggested for inclusion in the ECCI focusing on the fundamental topics part of DC circuits analysis only. We examine the various concepts tested in each question and relate its importance to an overall course in Electric Circuits. We welcome more additions to this growing repertoire of questions that we plan to build and use in finalizing the ECCI test, especially in AC Circuit analysis topics.