A Teaching Model for a Five-week Electric Circuits Course for Engineering Students

Abstract

In this paper we present a teaching model for the course of Electric Circuits for Engineering students of several programs, including Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Electronics and Mechatronics. In this teaching model two main Engineering competencies are developed: A) Fundamentals of Systems and Engineering Devices and b) Problem Solving in Engineering. The model is based on Flipped Learning and it is centered in the solution of a challenge that students have to solve during the five week period of the intense course. The project chosen for this course is the analysis and simulation of a light meter using a photovoltaic cell, diodes, resistors and some light emitting diodes (LED). The project can be changed every year so that new students get a new challenge. The system is analyzed in different phases, as the course advances, more components are added and the number of connections is increased, scaling the complexity of the system and therefore, the direct application of the theoretical topics seen in class. The real-life applications that students have to work during the course by solving the challenge, increase the motivation of a course that is usually considered a difficult course by students. Results show that the use of flipped classroom for some sessions and the solution of a real case scenario (challenge) help students to review and assimilate the concepts seen in these intense five weeks of the course with high levels of motivation. . We present this work so that other universities, particularly those in developing nations, could include this type of challenge-based activities in the teaching of complex courses such as the Electric Circuits one.