• Open Access

Video observation as a tool to analyze and modify an electronics laboratory

Pieter Coppens, Johan Van den Bossche, and Mieke De Cock
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 020121 – Published 2 August 2016

Abstract

Laboratories are an important part of science and engineering education, especially in the field of electronics. Yet very little research into the benefits of such labs to student learning exists. In particular, it is not well known what students do and, even more importantly, think during electronics laboratories. Therefore, we conducted a study based on video observation of second year students at 3 university campuses in Belgium during a traditional lab on first order RC filters. In this laboratory, students spent the majority of their time performing measurements, while very little time was spent processing or discussing the results. This in turn resulted in hardly any time spent talking about content knowledge. Based on those observations, a new laboratory was designed that includes a preparation with a virtual oscilloscope, a black box approach during the lab session itself, and a form of quick reporting at the end of the lab. This adjusted laboratory was evaluated using the same methodology and was more successful in the sense that the students spent less time gathering measurements and more time processing and analyzing them, resulting in more content-based discussion.

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  • Received 8 February 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020121

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics Education Research

Authors & Affiliations

Pieter Coppens*

  • KU Leuven, Faculty of Engineering Technology, 3000 Leuven, Belgium and Leuven Engineering and Science Education Center (LESEC), 3000 Leuven, Belgium

Johan Van den Bossche

  • KU Leuven, Faculty of Engineering Technology, campus Ghent, 9000 Ghent, Belgium and Leuven Engineering and Science Education Center (LESEC), 3000 Leuven, Belgium

Mieke De Cock

  • KU Leuven, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 3000 Leuven, Belgium and Leuven Engineering and Science Education Center (LESEC), 3000 Leuven, Belgium

  • *Corresponding author. pieter.coppens@kuleuven.be

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Issue

Vol. 12, Iss. 2 — July - December 2016

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