2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

At the University of Louisville’s J. B. Speed School of Engineering, all students of each engineering discipline are required to take a two-course introduction to engineering sequence. The first course, Engineering Methods, Tools, & Practice I (ENGR 110), covers basic skills that are fundamental to the engineering profession. The second course, Engineering Methods, Tools, & Practice II (ENGR 111), has students expand on these skills and apply them to a hands-on semester-long project. The second course takes places in a 15,000 square foot makerspace with room for students to work in teams of 3-4 on a project that incorporates many engineering skills, one of which is a basic introduction to circuitry.

While engineering students are first taught programming in ENGR 110, their first exposure to circuitry occurs in the second course in the sequence. In ENGR 111, students first learn about circuitry components before constructing very basic circuits with an Arduino. Then, students learn about circuitry principles such as Ohm’s Law and build more basic circuits with an emphasis on state measurements.

This first exposure to circuitry concepts takes place in the middle of a semester-long project that student teams work to complete. Both projects were introduced to students before the module on circuitry, but the Introduction to Circuitry lab takes place well before the actual integration of the project with course skills. Project 1 took place during the spring of 2022 and was comprised of a windmill generation system. The circuitry utilized in this project includes a basic resistor for the generative load along with a basic voltage measurement of this output. There is also a proximity sensor circuit that is used as a tachometer to measure the rotational speed of the windmill. Project 2 took place during the 2023 spring semester and was comprised of a water filtration system. This project also incorporated measurement circuitry to monitor the system but used an ultrasonic sensor to act as a tank level indicator for measuring tank volume. The large difference in circuitry for this project is the use of a controls circuit in the form of a motor driver used to manage the behavior of a pump and electronic valve.

At the end of the dedicated Introduction to Circuitry module, students were asked to complete a survey regarding their interest in engineering with respect to circuitry. This survey included 6 Likert-scale questions that quantify their situational interest with respect to circuitry. Additionally, students took another survey after completing their final course project, asking about a variety of interest-related topics. One of these questions asks about interest because of becoming more proficient in circuitry.

The purpose of this paper is to assess if students learning the same circuitry skills derive differing levels of interest in circuitry between the two different projects. This will be accomplished by assessing student progression between the situational interest survey and the end of semester survey. If there are significant differences between overall student progression, this indicates that one of these projects provokes more interest than the other. If there is no significant difference, and both results are reasonably high in terms of interest levels, then the choice of project causes no harm on student interest.

While engineering students are first taught programming in ENGR 110, their first exposure to circuitry occurs in the second course in the sequence. In ENGR 111, students first learn about circuitry components before constructing very basic circuits with an Arduino. Then, students learn about circuitry principles such as Ohm’s Law and build more basic circuits with an emphasis on state measurements.

This first exposure to circuitry concepts takes place in the middle of a semester-long project that student teams work to complete. Both projects were introduced to students before the module on circuitry, but the Introduction to Circuitry lab takes place well before the actual integration of the project with course skills. Project 1 took place during the spring of 2022 and was comprised of a windmill generation system. The circuitry utilized in this project includes a basic resistor for the generative load along with a basic voltage measurement of this output. There is also a proximity sensor circuit that is used as a tachometer to measure the rotational speed of the windmill. Project 2 took place during the 2023 spring semester and was comprised of a water filtration system. This project also incorporated measurement circuitry to monitor the system but used an ultrasonic sensor to act as a tank level indicator for measuring tank volume. The large difference in circuitry for this project is the use of a controls circuit in the form of a motor driver used to manage the behavior of a pump and electronic valve.

At the end of the dedicated Introduction to Circuitry module, students were asked to complete a survey regarding their interest in engineering with respect to circuitry. This survey included 6 Likert-scale questions that quantify their situational interest with respect to circuitry. Additionally, students took another survey after completing their final course project, asking about a variety of interest-related topics. One of these questions asks about interest because of becoming more proficient in circuitry.

The purpose of this paper is to assess if students learning the same circuitry skills derive differing levels of interest in circuitry between the two different projects. This will be accomplished by assessing student progression between the situational interest survey and the end of semester survey. If there are significant differences between overall student progression, this indicates that one of these projects provokes more interest than the other. If there is no significant difference, and both results are reasonably high in terms of interest levels, then the choice of project causes no harm on student interest.