Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 184 de 957
A possible resistive electrical circuits learning pathway for engineering students
Mauricio Duque
maduque@uniandes.edu.co
Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá
Colombia
Diana Guayacundo
d-guayac@uniandes.edu.co
Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá
Colombia
Abstract: This paper proposes a learning pathway consisting of four different
stages of electrical circuit understanding levels. This learning pathway is based
on literature and on information collected along this research work. The
information was taken from students’ tests in the course fundamentals of electric
circuits in 2011 and from the literature related with students’ misconceptions.
Introduction – overall layout
Many engineering specialties include, in addition of an electrical physics course, a course
in basic electrical circuits, which further serves as foundation for the career.
Literature also presents extensive research on the meaning of learning some basic
concepts of circuits and, in particular, on incomplete and often erroneous conceptions that
students have (Campos, 2009); errors that remain even after taking university courses on
the subject (Periago & Bohigas, 2005; Smith, 2009). Likewise, specialized literature offers
different types of thoughts regarding the understanding that students have on basic
concepts of electrical circuits (Gonzalez, 2006).
This research attempts to answer the following question: is there a path for learning that
could characterize the evolution of conceptual understanding that engineering students
have about resistive electric circuits? Taking into account the research in the didactic field
on this subject, it is expected that we will be able to propose in the near future appropriate
teaching and learning strategies in the context of didactic of engineering (Getty, 2009).
This paper proposes a learning pathway consisting of four different stages ranging from
local thinking to holistic thinking regarding resistive circuits. The proposal of those stages
is based on literature and on information collected along this research work, and on the
use of an evidence-based evaluation framework using both multiple-choice tests as well as
performance tests.
The research is conducted within the framework of a basic course dealing with
fundamentals of electrical circuits during the years 2010 and 2011, wherein two teaching
strategies are used: inquirybased learning and learning focused on conceptual change.
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011