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Circuit Troubleshooting Techniques in an Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratory

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

June 26, 2024

Conference Session

Technical Proficiency and Cybersecurity Awareness in ECE Education

Tagged Division

Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--48461

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/48461

Download Count

36

Paper Authors

biography

Michael Kinsel University of Virginia

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Electrical Engineering Student at the University of Virginia

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biography

Caroline Elizabeth Crockett University of Virginia

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Caroline Crockett is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. She received her PhD degree from the University of Michigan in electrical engineering. Her research interests include image processing and conceptual understanding.

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Natasha Smith University of Virginia

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Dr. Smith is a Professor at the University of Virginia

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George Prpich University of Virginia Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-2697-2276

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Professional Skills and Safety are my main pedagogical interests. I use the Chemical Engineering laboratory to implement safety training to improve safety culture, and to adapt assessment methods to enhance development of students’ professional skills. I am an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia and I hold a B.Sc. (University of Saskatchewan) and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (Queen’s University). Complimenting my pedagogical research is an interest in bioprocess engineering, environmental engineering, environmental risk management, and I have authored >40 peer reviewed publications in these fields. I’m also active in developing workforce development initiatives, specifically within the biopharmaceutical manufacturing space. Beyond academia, I have 7+ years of international consulting experience working with the U.K. government, European Union, and the United Nations.

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Abstract

This research investigates troubleshooting methods undergraduate electrical engineering students employ when working with breadboarded circuits. While the literature in computer science clearly lays out many debugging strategies for coding, there are few equivalents in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) for hardware debugging strategies. The purpose of this research is thus to identify troubleshooting methods in ECE, with the goal of helping educators evaluate and eventually improve students’ self-efficacy and troubleshooting ability in an engineering laboratory.

This qualitative, observational study consists of two main phases. First, we develop a codebook of troubleshooting strategies and how they may appear in ECE based on parallels with the well-established corpus of computer science literature. Second, we use this codebook to analyze 53 think-aloud interviews with sophomore-level ECE students. Each student was tasked with debugging a circuit that contained resistors, capacitors, operational amplifiers, and a diode. The circuit contains four intentionally introduced errors of varying difficulties, with the goal of eliciting a range of troubleshooting strategies. We found that there was a 42% rate of completion of this exercise. Many students, who both succeeded and failed the exercise, faced significant difficulties in the pursuit of recognizing the hardware issues on the board; this is most apparently reflected by 38% of the participants employing the Random Tinkering strategy. The most popular strategies were found to be Tracing, Testing, Pattern Matching, and Gaining Domain Knowledge, while the most unpopular strategies were found to be Rebuilding, Chunking, Using Tools, Analytical, and Isolation. Understating the skills and methods that students employ, along with the obstacles they confront, can provide helpful insights for troubleshooting instruction going forward.

Kinsel, M., & Crockett, C. E., & Smith, N., & Prpich, G. (2024, June), Circuit Troubleshooting Techniques in an Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratory Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--48461

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