Engineering Students’ Misconceptions About Electronic Circuits: Faculty Members’ Viewpoint

A misconception is a perception or opinion that does not match the accepted scientific view. While engineering students’ misconceptions have been systematically analyzed in the case of electrical circuits, this is not the case for electronic circuits, both analog and digital. However, the latter play a major role in the training of electrical engineers, and the research literature indicates the possible existence of misconceptions on this subject. In light of the above, the study aimed to identify, from the faculty members’ perspective, engineering students’ misconceptions about electronic circuits. Ten faculty members from four Israeli institutions of higher education took part in the study. Data were collected through interviews and document analysis. The research reveals that at the circuit level, students have misconceptions regarding the interrelations between the analog and digital viewpoints. Moreover, students hold misconceptions at a lower level of abstraction, namely, the device level. Some of the misconceptions at the higher level of abstraction (circuit level) may result from misconceptions at the lower level of abstraction (device level).