Computational programming as a tool in the teaching of electromagnetism in engineering courses: Improving the notion of field

Abstract

In this study we have attempted, firstly, to describe programming protocols developed for the teaching of an Electromagnetism course in the university degrees of Electrical Engineering and Energy Engineering, and secondly, to evaluate students’ satisfaction with the simulation practices through MATLAB®programming. The main objective of the protocols is to allow students to model and visualize the electric field and magnetic field (both static) and understand the approximation that is made when considering certain distributions of electric charges and electric currents. To evaluate the usefulness of this computational methodology, eighteen students from the two engineering degrees answered a questionnaire with seven questions related to the Electromagnetism course and to the benefits of using computer programming. Their answers are measured by a Likert scale. From the analysis of the results, we can conclude, in a general way, that the use of this methodology has positive effects in the learning of Electromagnetism in these two degrees.