Hands-On and Virtual Laboratories in Electronic Circuits Learning—Knowledge and Skills Acquisition

• Published in: Information (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 11; p. 672
• Main Authors: Tokatlidis, Christos, Tselegkaridis, Sokratis, Rapti, Sophia, Sapounidis, Theodosios, Papakostas, Dimitrios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2024
• Subjects: Amplifiers (Electronics); Analysis; Blooms taxonomy; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive development; conceptual knowledge; Educational objectives; Electronic circuits; Experiments; Group dynamics; hands-on laboratory; Inquiry method; inquiry skills; Knowledge; Laboratories; Learning; measurement skills; Operational amplifiers; physical laboratory; Science education; Skills; Students; Undergraduate study; Virtual environments; virtual laboratory
• ISSN: 2078-2489; 2078-2489
• DOI: 10.3390/info15110672

Hands-on and virtual laboratory-based learning has been integrated into science education due to its potential positive impact on students’ knowledge and skills development. In this study, we explore the effect of the hands-on and virtual laboratories on 152 undergraduate students’ conceptual knowledge, inquiry, and measurement skills acquisition in the domain of operational amplifiers (op-amps) circuit learning. Students were divided into two groups and performed individually three experimental exercises involving basic op-amps electronic circuits: students in the Hands-On group performed the exercises in a physical laboratory environment, while students in the Virtual group performed the exercises in a virtual environment with TINA-TI (v9) software. Pre-post tests were used to quantify student performance progress stemming from their laboratory-type activities. Based on our findings, knowledge was developed the most, followed by inquiry skills, and finally, skills related to measuring electronic current quantities in a circuit, F(2,456) = 44.183, p = 0.000. Additionally, an ANCOVA analysis comparing the means of the three exercises revealed that the group participating in hands-on activities outperformed the group engaged in virtual activities, F(1,152) = 9.039, p = 0.003. Finally, we recommend designing a curriculum that focuses on both cognitive growth and skills development in the domain of op-amps.