Active Learning for Physics (Electromagnetism) Teachers in an Engineering Course

Abstract

Students of Engineering have difficulties in the assimilation of the concepts explored inElectromagnetism and Waves. These difficulties begin with a lack of abstraction, especially when seeking to understand the Electromagnetism concepts. Many active learning methodologies and cases are presented in the literature for Classical Mechanics, but there are few references to Electromagnetism and Waves. This study presents a PBL-Problem Based Learning and a Project Based Learning-practice which was applied to a large class (25 students) and replicated for a thousand student universe in an annual university physics class.In the Problem Based Learning approach, each semester, four students teams received, contextualized scripts (with problems for which they were required to conduct simulations and provide conceptual analysis) (see example in the Appendix); at the end of each semester, they presented their results in an oral presentation and had an oral evaluation test. In Project Based Learning approach, at the end of the academic year, the same teams worked together on a final open project using electromagnetics concepts (project, construct, and evaluate an electromagnetic crane with open specifications) and participated in a competition. The active learning development pedagogical process was used to allow students to have a better understanding of physical phenomenon, in addition to developing scientific thought to allow for suitable modeling, simulation, and analysis, without only doing mathematical deductions with no understanding of Real Physics. The evaluation of the learning process was done using a close-and open-ended questionnaire survey completed by the students at the end of the semester. Students, using a blind process, had the opportunity to evaluate how the proposed activities allowed them to achieve a better understanding of the physical concepts, such as if this increased their motivation for engineering, if the amount of time available to solve problems was adequate, if the support provided for the development of the work (infrastructure and service teachers) was used, and any suggestions they had for improvement.The survey results revealed that the students' perception of their understanding increased, with approximately 70% of students approving of the new pedagogical proposal. This same Page 26.147.2 idea could be easily applied in other engineering schools by adapting the contextualized scripts.

Projeto Aplicado No Laboratório De Física Ii E Evidências Para Avaliação Por Competências

“…Assim, visando promover o desenvolvimento de competência junto aos estudantes, a disciplina de Física, com base em experiências acadêmicas anteriores (Baracat, et al, 2013), (Cutri, et al, 2015), (Cutri, et al, 2016) e (Cutri, et al, 2019) e numa abordagem de aprendizagem ativa (Dori;Belcher, 2005) (Du. ;De Graaff;Kolmos, 2008), (Frasee;et al 2014), propôs projetos experimentais restritos ao conteúdo do Plano de Ensino da disciplina de Física 2 (Eletromagnetismo e Ondas) aplicada aos estudantes do 2º ano dos cursos de Engenharia.…”

Teaching Physics for Engineers using an Active Learning approach

“…All three projects [5], [10] are open-solution projects guided by the concept of PBL. Learning objectives are:…”

“…PBL has been part of the academic curriculum for sophomore Engineering students of Maua Institute of Technology (an universe of 1000 students -700 Day / Night 300), since 2014 [5], [10], [11]. In PBL approach, each student group (four members) must develop, in extraclassroom work, a project in the academic semester.…”

Using project-based learning to teach electromagnetic and wave concepts

“…Because this benefits, there are many cases where PBL is used in engineering schools, 6 which has been part of the academic curriculum for sophomore engineering students of Maua Institute of Technology, since 2014, 5,18,19 to develop students’ scientific thinking and reflection using physical problems and help students apply the concepts learned to real problems using analytical and modeling skills.…”