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Electronics lab instructors’ approaches to troubleshooting instruction

Dimitri R. Dounas-Frazer and H. J. Lewandowski
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13, 010102 – Published 9 January 2017; Erratum Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13, 019902 (2017)

Abstract

In this exploratory qualitative study, we describe instructors’ self-reported practices for teaching and assessing students’ ability to troubleshoot in electronics lab courses. We collected audio data from interviews with 20 electronics instructors from 18 institutions that varied by size, selectivity, and other factors. In addition to describing participants’ instructional practices, we characterize their perceptions about the role of troubleshooting in electronics, the importance of the ability to troubleshoot more generally, and what it means for students to be competent troubleshooters. One major finding of this work is that, while almost all instructors in our study said that troubleshooting is an important learning outcome for students in electronics lab courses, only half of instructors said they directly assessed students’ ability to troubleshoot. Based on our findings, we argue that there is a need for research-based instructional materials that attend to both cognitive and noncognitive aspects of troubleshooting proficiency. We also identify several areas for future investigation related to troubleshooting instruction in electronics lab courses.

  • Received 5 October 2016
  • Publisher error corrected 19 January 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010102

Published by the American Physical Society 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

Corrections

19 January 2017

Erratum

Authors & Affiliations

Dimitri R. Dounas-Frazer1,* and H. J. Lewandowski1,2

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
  • 2JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

  • *dimitri.dounasfrazer@colorado.edu

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Issue

Vol. 13, Iss. 1 — January - June 2017

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