![]() ![]() The heavy reliance of the students in thisstudy on mathematical equations without well developed conceptual models of the physicalphenomena involved raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of this method of teaching.ĪB - Conceptual Understanding of Electrical Phenomena: Patterns of Error in Senior Electrical Engineering Students Problem SolvingThis paper describes a study that investigates electrical engineering students’ understanding offundamental concepts in their discipline. There is a widespreadand pervasive belief that the proper way to teach basic electric circuits is by equationmanipulation, essentially mathematical modeling. ![]() This raisesthe question of how well students are really learning the fundamental concepts needed to be ableto address and solve problems in the discipline of electrical engineering. Fewer than 20% of the problems attempted were solved correctly. Having thus chosenthe wrong path, they tended to continue along it without recognizing their error and looking for abetter alternative. Students tended to make the novice mistake of determining the problem typebased on the structure of the problem, rather than on the concepts involved. The second framework was novice-expert differences in problemcategorization. ![]() Very little attention was paid to the physical principles on which a solutionshould be based. ![]() The students’overwhelming choice in solving the problems was to look for an equation that they could applyto the situation. The first framework,mental modeling, identified the types of models that the students used to understand and explainelectrical phenomena: mathematical models, physical models, or analogies. Five students were asked to think aloud as theyattempted to solve several simple problems involving concepts in low voltage electrical circuits.Participants’ solutions were analyzed using two conceptual frameworks. Conceptual Understanding of Electrical Phenomena: Patterns of Error in Senior Electrical Engineering Students Problem SolvingThis paper describes a study that investigates electrical engineering students’ understanding offundamental concepts in their discipline. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |