Influence of the change of methodology in the practical laboratories of the power electronics subject

Abstract

The use of novel didactic approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) academic programs is a relevant topic in current educational research. In this context, Project-Based learning is shown as a promising didactic tool for improving the motivation of engineering students. Objective: To propose an adapted project-based approach for lecturing on Power Electronics. The main objective of the project-based approach is to enhance the attention and motivation of the students in the practical lessons, increasing their knowledge about the subject and, hence, improving results in the theoretical part of the subject. Methods: First, we propose a project which combines all the theoretical aspects related to the subject Power Electronics, namely. “Power, Control, Monitoring and Supervision System of an Electric Motor.” Second, each subsystem of the final project is analyzed during each practical lesson, and simulation environments and real circuit manipulations are used for introducing complex Power Electronics concepts to undergraduate students. Results: This project-based methodology has been compared with the demonstration method followed in the previous course by using the validated Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality survey (SEEQ). Conclusions: The results show that the adopted methodology has clearly improved the SEEQ results with respect to the demonstration method.