Online resources for electronics labs can enhance learning beyond the pandemic

Teachers abruptly switched to online learning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, posing challenges for college classes with laboratory components. Electronics courses, which involve constructing and analyzing different kinds of electronic circuits, were hit hard.

Minjoon Kouh implemented hands-on activities in his virtual classroom using several computational tools for simulating RC circuits. He described multiple options for instructors to try and potentially adopt in their classes.

“Computational tools have become an integral part of doing science research and developing new technologies, so students need to learn how to use them early on, along with other skills and tools,” said Kouh.

Some of the software resources introduced in the article are specialized for simulating an electronic circuit, while others are more versatile and useful for other purposes. Several of the resources require only an internet browser and have an intuitive user interface. Others need to be installed on a computer and programmed, creating entry barriers, such as learning programming basics or oscilloscope operation. However, these are important skills for science and engineering students and will prove useful in other projects and situations.

Kouh believes these resources can supplement and enhance the in-person lab experience, too. He plans to keep some of the computational and simulation activities in his course, so that students become familiar with both hardware and software. He encourages other instructors to explore these free resources.

“There are multi-modal ways of learning and doing physics. We will always need the real experiments, but computational tools can be very helpful,” he said. “Modeling and simulations can complement theoretical and experimental approaches.”

Source: “Free software resources for teaching AC RC circuits,” by Minjoon Kouh, The Physics Teacher (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0038131 .