<p>Undergraduate engineering
students usually face difficulties understanding electric circuit concepts.
Some of those difficulties regard with misconceptions students bring into the
classroom and develop during the learning process. Additionally, the increasing
complexity of the topics along the fundamental electric circuits course
constitutes another factor to those difficulties students experience. Another
component we can add to this equation consists of the need of modernize and
actualize the curriculum to meet the society’s demands of the next taskforce.
Therefore, it is important to investigate the conceptual difficulties students
experience when they analyze complex electric circuits. In this dissertation, I
identify what those conceptual difficulties are when undergraduate sophomore
engineering students attempt to analyze solid-state device circuits. The
context of this research comprises a modernized version of the traditional
fundamental electric circuits course. This modernized version includes DC
analysis, 1<sup>st</sup> order transient analysis, AC, and solid-state device
analysis. </p>
<p>This dissertation took the form
of three individual but complementary studies. Each study contributes to
partially answer the overall research question. However, each study answered
its own research problem. The first study attempted for identifying what
concepts beginning students find challenging regarding semiconductors physics,
diodes, and transistors. The second study identified student’s misconceptions
when they analyze two solid-state device circuits, one with a diode, and the
other with a transistor. The final study looked for determining what
misconceptions students use at both earlier and more advances stages along the
course. This study also searched for understanding how students move through
conceptual changes along the semester. </p>
<p>The general findings comprise
three main points. First, students bring misconceptions into the classroom
probably built from their previous experiences. Second, they also can develop
those misconceptions through the learning process. This is particularly key
regarding the relatively new and complex topics from student’s perspectives.
Finally, language plays an important role on the kind of misconceptions
students develop. How students perceive the professional community use language
contributes to either consolidate or modify old misconceptions or develop new ones.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/15082686 |
| Date | 30 July 2021 |
| Creators | Rene Alexander A Soto Perez (11210097) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Undergraduate_engineering_student_misconception_regarding_complex_circuits_The_case_with_solid-state_device_circuits/15082686 |
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