Teaching Electronics to First-year Engineering Students

Abstract

Abstract Teaching Electronics to First Year Engineering StudentsTo decrease attrition in engineering, researchers recommend the use of in class activities aimedat engaging students in the classroom. However, it can be difficult to incorporate engineeringprojects and activities in first year engineering courses due to the lack of engineering knowledgein first year students. For first year engineering students, projects needs to contain basicengineering concepts and simple math.This paper describes a module developed to teach electronics to first year engineering studentsenrolled at a large land grant university in the mid-Atlantic region. The module was integratedin a first year engineering problem solving course and was merged with fundamental conceptstaught using excel. In this module, students learned about the basic components of an electroniccircuit, and were engaged in hands on activities using resistors, breadboards, and other circuitcomponents. The module contained three main activities that involved the design of anautomatic street light control system, a clap switch, and a water level indicator. Ohms andKirchoff’s laws were introduced and students practiced the use of these laws in homework and inclass activities.Students were surveyed before and after the module was completed to understand how muchinformation they learned from the module, and to assess if the module had an influence instudents’ engineering identity and their perception of engineering as a career choice.This paper provides a detailed explanation on projects and hands on activities completed in themodule. Data on student learning and satisfaction is discussed. Any engineering programinterested in incorporating electronics into their first year course will benefit from this work.