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Enhancing Student Engagement in Electrical Engineering: The Impact of Hands-On Learning Tools on Student Engagement

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Conference

2025 ASEE Southeast Conference

Location

Mississippi State University, Mississippi

Publication Date

March 9, 2025

Start Date

March 9, 2025

End Date

March 11, 2025

Conference Session

Professional Papers

Tagged Topic

Professional Papers

Page Count

13

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/54163

Download Count

3

Paper Authors

biography

Shobhit Aggarwal The Citadel Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-0911-0631

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Dr. Aggarwal earned his Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication from Kurukshetra University, India in 2014, a Masters of Science and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2018 and 2023 respectively. After graduation, he served as an Embedded Firmware Engineer in an IoT-based Engineering organization in Charlotte and held a position as a Senior Embedded Software Engineer at a Fortune 500 electrical sector corporation in Raleigh. In Fall of 2024, Dr. Aggarwal joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The Citadel. There, he is the primary instructor for Computer Architecture, Embedded Systems, Data Communication and Networking, and Electrical Lab. His research interests span a wide range of topics, including IoT, Wireless Communication, Embedded Systems, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.

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biography

Gregory J. Mazzaro The Citadel Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5814-7425

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Dr. Mazzaro earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2004, a Master of Science from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 2006, and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in 2009. From 2009 to 2013, he worked as an Electronics Engineer for the United States Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland. For his technical research, Dr. Mazzaro studies the unintended behaviors of radio frequency electronics illuminated by electromagnetic waves and he develops radars for the remote detection and characterization of those electronics. In the Fall of 2013, Dr. Mazzaro joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The Citadel. There, he is the primary instructor for Electromagnetic Fields, Interference Control in Electronics, Antennas & Propagation, and Electrical Laboratory courses.

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Abstract

In the evolving landscape of engineering education, engaging students and maintaining their interest is a persistent challenge. Traditional lecture-based teaching methods often fail to capture the attention of students, particularly those with demanding schedules, such as ROTC cadets. This study explores innovative pedagogical approach of using hands-on evaluation kit to address this issue.

This work studies the impact of the Sparkfun Inventor’s Kit, on student engagement and interest in electrical engineering courses. The kit is simple to use, comes with a starter kit and has multiple example codes pre-coded which are freely available. The code itself is very easy to understand even for the students that do not have an electrical and computer engineering background. This research aims to determine if by providing students with opportunities to physically interact with electrical components and equipment, can foster a more stimulating and effective learning environment. The findings of this study will contribute to a better understanding of pedagogical strategies that can motivate students and improve their learning outcomes in the field of electrical and computer engineering.

The participants of this study are about 60 freshman engineering students from different majors. Preliminary results indicate that students show significantly higher interest and energy levels during sessions involving hands-on tools, compared to traditional lecture-based classes where they often appear bored and sleepy.

Aggarwal, S., & Mazzaro, G. J. (2025, March), Enhancing Student Engagement in Electrical Engineering: The Impact of Hands-On Learning Tools on Student Engagement Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Southeast Conference , Mississippi State University, Mississippi. https://peer.asee.org/54163

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