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be experienced directly, by sensing that the steer-
ing wheel is easier to move the faster you turn it
and current flows faster, and harder to move and
current flows slower when turned slowly or held
at one position (as in a DC circuit). An inductor
circuit component has the opposite relationship
with frequency as a capacitor, and when combined
with a capacitor may form a tuning circuit, in
which there is one particular resonant frequency
with the lowest resistance, or where the steering
wheel turns the easiest.
Two sets of electricity misconceptions iden-
tified in earlier research also helped lead to the
choice of a joystick or steering wheel for the input
device to use with the circuit simulation. One set
of misconceptions relates to AC circuits. Students
may believe AC voltage varies spatially along a
wire rather than temporally. Also, they may not
understand what happens to current when voltage
is in the negative part of a sinusoidal cycle. Another
set of misconceptions concerns the relationship
between resistance and current. For example,
despite having two resistors instead of one, a par-
allel circuit can have lower total resistance than a
circuit with only one of those resistors in series,
and for many students this is counter-intuitive.
Students may not even distinguish between volt-
age and current, and a constant voltage source
versus constant current.
After a individual tutorial session with the circuit
simulation led by the first author, students took
the same test again as a post-test. This revealed
how students' conceptions may have changed as a
result of instruction. As will be discussed in more
detail below, some students used the simulation
with a joystick interface to control voltage in real-
time, while a second group of students used the
simulation with only an on-screen graphical slider
control to change voltage. The pretest and posttest
measures allow one to quantitatively compare and
contrast these two groups of students, to see what
effects the joystick had. Furthermore, the students
were videotaped during the session while using
the computer simulation, capturing the computer
screen and interface devices, the student, and the
first author (acting as a tutor or guide) for later
qualitative analysis. This allows for exploration
of any potential links between particular events
and actions by the student and myself to specific
learning outcomes as measured by the test. With a
qualitative analysis of the video, one may see if the
students use gestures while using the simulation,
and if there connections between what the students
said or did and their developing understanding of
electrical circuit behavior.
Participants consisted of 40 undergraduate
electrical engineering majors recruited from intro-
ductory courses. Students were asked to volunteer
to try out the animated circuit simulation during
a tutoring session outside of class, and were paid
approximately $15 for participation.
The entire tutoring session with each student
lasted not more than an hour. This is a very short
time for an instructional intervention, however,
there were two factors influencing this time
decision. One is practical. Few students have
volunteered in previous studies even when their
only commitment was to take a couple of short
quizzes online on their own time. Secondly, the
real-time reactive control feature this simulation
has that allows for controlling voltage over time
is most similar in spirit to microcomputer-based
labs (MBL), and research on MBL has shown
Pilot Study with nodicity
A pilot study tested the use of this animated circuit
simulation on individual undergraduate students,
and assessed its effects of students' intuitive con-
ceptions about circuit behavior. The study involved
a mixed methods experimental design employing
both quantitative and qualitative methodologies
and analyses. The quantitative component con-
sisted of a 20 item multiple choice circuit quiz
derived from other quizzes. Students took the test
as a pretest and posttest. The pretest helped show
what preconceptions individual students had about
electrical circuit behavior coming into the study.
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