TEACHING THE TEACHING THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF

CIRUITSCIRUITS

ROBERT SHAWROBERT SHAWVERNY THURAIRAJAH

INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRICITY INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONIC CIRCUITSAND ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge.

If electricity is the flow of charge then electronics would be the applications of that flow.

Electronics is the science and technology concerned with the understanding of electronic devices, circuits, and components.

To perform Quantitative analysis of circuits one needs to understand electricity and electronics.

LESSON SEQUENCELESSON SEQUENCE

Lesson 1: Introduction to Electricity Define electricity, electrical components, Ohm’s Law, breadboard

Lesson 2: Conversions and Resistance Conversion units in Electronics, Digital Multi-meter, Resistor

Colour Code chart, breadboard design and measurement.

Lesson 3: Parallel and Serial Circuits Series and Parallel circuit equations, breadboard circuit planning,

design, and layout, QUCs simulator.

Lesson 4: Kirchoff’s Voltage Law Kirchoff’s Current Law and Kirchhoff's Voltage Law, QUCs

Simulator.

Lesson 5: Summary Of Concepts Review of lessons 1 to 4, Jigsaw Group exercise, Review Test

format

Lesson 6: Electrical Circuits Test Summative Assessment test

CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONSCURRICULUM EXPECTATIONSD2.1 use appropriate terminology related to electricity and magnetism, including, but not limited to: direct current, alternating current, electrical potential difference, resistance, power, energy, permanent magnet, electromagnet, magnetic field, motor principle, and electric motor. D2.2 construct real and simulated mixed direct current (DC) circuits (i.e., parallel, series, and mixed circuits), and analyse them in quantitative terms to test Kirchhoff’s laws.

 D2.3 analyse, in quantitative terms, real or simulated DC circuits and circuit diagrams, using Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s laws.

OHMS LAWOHMS LAW Video demonstration of Ohms Law

RESISTOR COLOUR CODE RESISTOR COLOUR CODE CHARTCHART

Resitance conversions Students use an inquiry-based approach to

determine that resistance values of physical resistors and its units.

PARALLEL AND SERIAL CIRCUITS PARALLEL AND SERIAL CIRCUITS

TEACHING APPROACH:TEACHING APPROACH:Teacher reviews on smartboard interactively Series and Parallel circuit examples

and equations. Series Circuits

Resistance equation Capacitance equation Voltage equation

Parallel Circuits Resistance equation Capacitance equation Voltage equation

Circuits Demonstration Demonstrate voltage measurement with a DMM on example breadboard

circuit. Demonstrate voltage measurement with QUCS simulator.

Lab Work: Lab to measure parallel and serial circuits on QUCS simulator.

THE QUCS SIMULATORTHE QUCS SIMULATORTEACHING APPROACH:TEACHING APPROACH:

QUCS Circuit Simulator Students today are

technology natives. They enjoy working with technology.

Teacher demonstrates to build a QUCS circuit, and how to run a simulation for measurement, analysis, resultant graphs and tables.

The simulator will be used for Parallel and Serial Circuits and Kirchoff Voltage laws.

KIRCHOFF VOLTAGE LAWS KIRCHOFF VOLTAGE LAWS TEACHING APPROACH:TEACHING APPROACH:

Teacher reviews on smartboard interactively circuit examples and equations.

First Law – Conservation of Current video on Kirchoff’s laws Demonstrate current measurement

with a DMM on example circuit. Demonstrate current measurement

with QUCS simulator. Second Law – Conservation of Voltage at

Nodes Interactive demonstration on

smartboard. Demonstrate voltage measurement

with a DMM on example circuit. Demonstrate current measurement

with QUCS simulator. Lab Work:

Solve Kirchoff’s circuit problems on QUCS simulator.

POTENTIAL STUDENT POTENTIAL STUDENT DIFFICULTIESDIFFICULTIES

• Abstract concepts of voltage, current, and power – may be hard for students to differentiate with clarity.• Units of measurement are varied from Tera to nano. Conversions are needed frequently.• Terminology is dense. Embracing many concepts Polarity, DC/AC, resistance and capacitance.• Distinguishing between electron flow (negative to positive), and a a purely figurative positive unit of charge flow (positive to negative). • Distinguishing between parallel and serial circuits. When a circuit loop has few components its easy to get confused.• For complex circuits it can be challenging to find the nodes and the current loops. Both are needed to apply Kirchoff’s voltage laws.• Breadboard work is not as simple and quick as simulator, and it requires dexterity, planning, and debug skills.

SOLUTIONS TO STUDENT SOLUTIONS TO STUDENT DIFFICULTIESDIFFICULTIES• Interactive videos and power points cover the abstract concepts, this will be online for reference and self paced learning.

• Conversion of units can be done with teams and groups on flipcharts and on the board in class summary and recaps.

• During jigsaw group activity system experts can collaboratively teach the denser concepts.

• Create diagrams of individual components to illustrate the physics and flow of electronics. Only use flow of positive charge on circuits. The seperation of component versus circuit helps students to grasp the different polarity flows.

•Have students work in groups with circuits in a pictionary style activity to differentiate between parallel and serial circuits, nodes and current loops. Students thrive on gaming.

• Demonstrate good breadboard planning, design, and wiring. The biggest problems are with unplanned disorganized circuits. Collect and diagnostically evaluate each groups performance.

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONSSAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

•A DC circuit lab concern is short circuits overheating. Checking voltages, and a sense of smell avoids this.

•Cutting of wire needs to be done pulling outwards from the body.

•Clean up to prevent tripping hazards.

Practical ApplicationsPractical Applications

The Flasher Circuit • A multi loop circuit, that varies flashing with resistance, used with Kirchoff’s laws.Tesla CoilA cool voltage device that creates lightning strikes, used in fundamentals of electricity.•Capacitor Charge Dissipation• discuss the rate of charge dissipation for electric plates.

DIFFERENTIATED ASSESSMENTDIFFERENTIATED ASSESSMENT

• Students would have been assessed in the labs in a number of applied means:

Group work drawing parallel, serial circuits (Visual)A set of labs building circuits using components and a breadboard (Kinesthetic)A set of labs building circuits, adding tools, running simulations, generating graphs, data tables (Virtual, Analytical, Visual) Video about the Ohms Law, and Kirchoff’s Law’s (Linguistic) Group work conducting jigsaw expert training (Intrapersonal) Lessons on terminology, laws, charts and conversions taught to the class (Interpersonal) Demonstration of the DMM and measurements made on the bread boards. Demonstration of simulator tool. (Visual, Kinesthetic) Exemplar of circuit planning, design, layout, and wiring techniques. (Visual)

• Students’ understanding of the concepts evaluated on unit test, exercises, and lab questions (Logic)

•Formative assessment based on lab work and unit test. (Summative/Formative)