Evaluation of an Early Three Phase Approach to Electric Circuit Instruction

Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach to the study of electric circuits: utilizing three phase electric power systems to introduce students to the techniques of circuit analysis beyond Kirchhoff’s and Ohm’s Laws. The efficacy of the pedagogy is evaluated by comparison of student performance on DC circuits assessment quiz pre and post intervention and by comparison to circuit analysis methods used by experts. Also discusses is how the curriculum effects students qualitative and quantitative conceptions of the behavior of voltage and current in DC resistive circuits.