Abstract:

Direct teaching (teacher talks, students listen) is not enough today, especially in the STEM field. Exercise classes in which students have the opportunity to make a model of the device or test plate, with all necessary components and perform measurements is essential. In this way, they can confirm the theoretical facts that the professor explains to them in the theoretical part of the course.

However, it is not always possible to have enough time or enough components for students to try different variants of each individual solution. This is where the advantage of using simulation tools in teaching comes to the fore, when several electrical circuits are tested in simulations with adjusting the values of individual components, and then the best solution is realized by building an actual device. By comparing the results obtained with the simulation software and measured on the actual electrical circuit, students can fully understand the matter to which that practical exercise refers.

This paper first presents the experiences of professors of the University North (Croatia) in the application of simulation tools with practical exercises in teaching the course Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering, and the course Electronic Circuits. Then, a student from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) presented his experiences with the application of simulation tools in his learning process. Finally, from a comparison of these different experiences, ideas were drawn to further improve the STEM student teaching process.

Keywords:

Simulation, model, teaching tools, electrical circuits.