Abstract:

Throughout the Physics degree at the University of Zaragoza, students are required to take several subjects related to electronics. A phenomenon that is observed with some frequency is that students approach these subjects with reluctance, as they feel a certain disconnect between the rest of the degree subjects and electronics, which they feel as more oriented towards engineering.

In order to strengthen the study of electronics in this context, a laboratory practice has been designed in which an electronic implementation of chaotic systems is carried out, one of the phenomena that is of most interest and exciting to physics students.

Firstly, students are given a script containing instructions so that, divided into pairs, they can implement a chaotic system using discrete circuit elements as well as more complex blocks provided to them. In this way, students can see that, thanks to electronics, they can build and observe the behavior of these systems, which they have only studied theoretically up to this point.

Next, the phenomenon of synchronization is analyzed, through which it is possible to achieve that two chaotic systems behave in exactly the same way. To do this, the implementations of two different groups are taken, which promotes the exchange of knowledge and cooperation among peers.

Finally, to demonstrate a practical application example of these systems, students are asked to build a complete system using the chaotic circuits they have implemented themselves, capable of “encrypting” and “decrypting” audio signals obtained from their mobile phones.

Following the inclusion of this practice in the subject Physical Techniques III, a mandatory subject in the fourth year of the Physics degree at the University of Zaragoza, a great interest and enthusiasm has been observed among students for this application as well as a better understanding of the synchronization phenomenon, which in other subjects, is only seen theoretically.

Keywords:

Gamification, Laboratory Experience, Problem-Based Learning.