3D visualization assisted electromagnetic theory teaching

Abstract

Electromagnetic (EM) theory education is based on an understanding of numerous mathematical/geometrical operations and their relationships with the physical phenomena. Student success rates in EM education typically get impacted negatively due to a) lack of understanding in the mathematical/geometrical operations and b) establishing the link between mathematical/geometrical operations and the physical phenomena. This paper describes a new teaching technique applied at the University of South Florida (USF) for EM theory education. The technique relies on 3D visualizations presented to students at the Advanced Visualization Center (AVC) at USF that demonstrate the link between the mathematical/geometrical operations and the physical phenomena. Different visualization types such as various coordinates system, vector algebra and calculus, electrostatics and time varying EM fields are presented. Different assessments of student perception regarding the 3D visualizations are carried out by distributing anonymous survey tools throughout three different semester periods. Initial results demonstrate that the surveyed undergraduate population indicates a desire to see more of this type of tools in additional engineering courses and have an overall highly positive perception of the technique.