Abstract:

The benefits of using simulators in a Learning Experience designed to teach students electric circuits design goes long distance no doubt. However, in some certain situations, there may be still a gap between the skills students acquire from using the simulator and the capability to practice these skills in a real-life application. These situations arise particularly when the simulator utilizes graphical abstraction to represent electric circuit components and/or introduces its convenient reordering of pins numbering of its integrated circuits (ICs).

Designing an Active Learning Experience that relies on the simulator in such cases will inevitably face the following questions: When it would be the best time to augment using the simulator with hands on practice? And what dosage of hands-on practice should be incorporated in. This paper attempts to answer these questions.

Such a design would consider incorporating all activities that are needed to achieve its learning experience’s predetermined Bloom’s level of learning. Streamlining of the design activities, will ensure the students chance to construct their skills according to the constructivism theory for achieving the learning objectives. In some circumstances it is mandated that the students spend some of their time in hands on practice. woven the hands-on practice in the classroom with using the simulator in the learning experiences within the Active learning paradigm offers a solution for these circumstances.

In search of effective augmentation, this paper introduces three scenarios of augmenting using the electric circuit simulator software with hands on practice in a design of Active learning experience that aimed at achieving synthesis level of learning in real life situation.

The implementation was carried out in a college level course that introduces the engineering design process involving electric circuit element to students. The students are provided with electric circuit simulator to achieve comprehension level, then were helped to achieve application and synthesis levels in classroom by the instructor in hands-on practice. Three control groups were selected to the implementation each is 25 students strong. The first group used only the simulator all through the learning experience duration, while the second group was introduced to hands-on practice midway of the learning experience. The last group was introduced to hands-on practice only near the end of the learning experience duration.

The results show that, the second group, utilizing both the electric circuit simulator and considerable hands-on practice was able to gain higher level of synthesis in real-life situation than the other two groups.

Keywords:

Electric circuit simulator, Active Learning, Learning experience Design, Hands-on practice.