SIMULATION ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES WEB AS
INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY TO IMPROVE THE
QUALITY OF ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER
ENGINEERING FORMATION
Pilar Martinez Jimenez, Gerardo Pedros Perez, Marta Varo
Department of Applied Physics, Cordoba University, Cordoba, Spain
Mª Carmen Garcia Martinez, David Muñoz Rodriguez, Elena Varo-Martínez
Department of Applied Physics, Cordoba University, Cordoba, Spain
Juan Luna Rodriguez
Department of Computer and Electronic Technology, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain
Keywords: Interactive Simulation, Electromagnetic waves, Tutorial lessons, Educational Technology.
Abstract: In this work an introduction to the main design features of a computer-aided educational package addressed
to students of the final years of Electronic and Computer Engineering is presented. The Software includes
interrelated tutorial, computer simulations and test questions, in which graphical outputs, hypertexts and
animations are widely used. The package is devoted to the simulation study the concepts and propagation
electromagnetic waves. It provides instant numerical evaluation and a graphical display of different studies.
The software presented in this paper has all the following features: an integrative character, personalized
and active learning process, adaptability to teacher’s aims, versatility as a teaching tool, multimedia
resources and simplicity. This study has been carried out with final-year students at the Superior
Polytechnic School of Cordoba (Spain), with highly favourable results when compared with students who
did not use the software.
1 INTRODUCTION
At present, the main objective of many software
systems developed is teaching and the transmission
of knowledge. The use of a computer for this
purpose accelerates the learning process of the
notions provided by the system since interacting
with it helps the contents to be assimilated more
quickly and placidly (Martínez-Jiménez , P., Varo,
M.; García, M. C.; Pedrós Pérez, G.; Martínez-
Jiménez, J. M.; R. Posadillo, R.; Varo-Martínez,
E.P, 2009).
Some published works show the interesting
possibilities offered by computer applications to
promote the comprehension of concepts by means of
the conceptual change process. Both solving
problems and the approximation and performing of
experiments by pupils can be considered guided
activities (Ras E., Carbon R., Decker B., and Rech
J., 2007
). Thus the computer can be used as a
reflection device, in which students are the
protagonists of their own learning process
(Stefanovic M, Matijevic M, Cvijetkovic, 2009).
The creation of a virtual laboratory permits the
dissemination of that information to its final users
and the teaching of theoretical-practical concepts by
experimentation making use of the new technologies
(Romero, C.; Ventura, S.; De Bra, P., 2009
). In
addition, the expansion of the software through
Internet makes it easy for any professional or student
interested in the theme developed to use the
laboratory and benefit from its contents, thus
obtaining a didactic complement to the traditional
theory classes (Avouris, N.M. Tselios, N.; Tatakis,
231
Martinez Jimenez P., Pedros Perez G., Varo M., Garcia Martinez M., Muñoz Rodriguez D., Varo-Martínez E. and Luna Rodriguez J..
SIMULATION ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES WEB AS INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF ELECTRONIC AND
COMPUTER ENGINEERING FORMATION.
DOI: 10.5220/0003292202310236
In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2011), pages 231-236
ISBN: 978-989-8425-50-8
Copyright
c
2011 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
E. C.; 2001).
In order to improve the rate of success and to
adapt the curricula of electronic and computer
engineers to the requirements of new societal and
industrial challenges, a new discipline (subject) in
higher education was introduced at the Superior
Polytechnic School of Cordoba University, Cordoba,
Spain: “Optical Communication Systems”.
The course on Optical Communication Systems
has a total of 45 hours assigned. The main topics
treated are:
1. Electromagnetic waves
2. Optic
3. Electro-optic theory and devices
4. Acousto-optic theory and devices
5. Optic fiber
6. Optic Communication Systems
In the normal course of the subject, throughout the
first and second academic years (2004/2005 and
2006/2007), the teachers in charge noticed that
students had difficulties in understanding
electromagnetic waves thematic units. In order to
improve the level of teaching and encourage self-
learning, it was decided to develop a computer
application (Simulation Laboratory), which would
enable students to study all the basic theoretical
aspects of these disciplines and permit the
simulation and visualization of general problems,
obtaining both numerical and graphic results.
For that reason, the research team carried out an
educational project related to the development,
application and evaluation of an Electromagnetic
waves Multimedia Web Simulation Laboratory
(http://rabfis15.uco.es/espectroscopia/) (OEMSL), in
which a theoretical-practical study was conducted
into basic principles and propagation of
electromagnetic waves.
The general aims intended in this process were:
to relate the theoretical and practical
aspects of teaching.
to ensure that students obtain sufficient
information on the nature and propagation
of electromagnetic waves.
to improve the self-learning process and
induce a critical analysis of the results.
to provide an active and more personalized
education to motivate the student.
To achieve these ends, the research team has
taken into consideration the results from the
evaluation of work in previous years. The
educational experiment was carried out with the
final year of Electrical and Computer Engineering
students and for two consecutive years.
In this work the design process of a first
program, together with a summary of the results
obtained in its experimentation will be presented.
2 DESCRIPTION OF SOFTWARE
The software used in the experiment was developed
in a Windows environment, using a multimedia web
programming tool (Microsoft .NET).
The virtual laboratory is on-line in the Applied
Physics Department of the University of Cordoba
web page in Internet (http://rabfis15.uco.es/
espectroscopia/) and it is a free access program.
The application consists of three different parts,
but connected to each other: Tutorial, Simulation,
and Help.
Tutorial Module
In this module, different concepts, basic principles
and properties of electromagnetic waves, related
with the topics dealt in the OEMSL are explained in
illustrated and animated tutorials. Their objective is
to expound, clearly and concisely, the principles
ruling the mean concepts and properties, as well as
the basic electromagnetic waves and spectroscopic
theory, with a direct application of these effects.
Help Module
The Help module consists of a series of documents
in a HTML format, which explains the functioning
of each of the sections making up the program.
Simulation Laboratory Module
This module is the most interesting one in the
program from an educational point of view, since it
permits students to perform simulated experiments
following an activity program-guide. In this module
there is a series of options corresponding to each of
the cases to be analyzed: electromagnetic waves,
reflection, refraction, diffraction, interferences,
spectroscopy etc. As a study sample the Laboratory
corresponding to the interference of two coherent
sources (Figure 1) is considered. In Figure 2 the
screen corresponding to the spectroscopy study is
also shown.
These simulation screens have been designed to
include horizontal buttons. In the horizontal quick-
access buttons, there is a direct access a simulation
and representation of phenomena study.
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Figure 1: The Interference of two coherent
sources.Stationary interference pattern.
Figure 2: Spectroscopy Study.
3 WORK METHODOLOGY
WITH OEMSL
The software described above is simple to use and,
additionally, contains a help module, which provides
enough information for the user to handle it
satisfactorily. However, in order to try to improve
this software’s educational effectiveness, a program-
guide of activities is designed, which direct the
students’ interaction work with the computer.
This program-guide can be presented as an
additional document that is available in the web
http://rabfis15.uco.es/deptfisica/eps/ and also
http://www3.uco.es/moodle/.
The overall activity, made up of a large set of
specific tasks, consists of accessing to the simulation
module and performing virtually some simulations
such as the case of the study of the waves, and
different phenomena, following the steps proposed
by the program guide.
Finally, students are asked to meditate on the
results obtained and to formulate their personal
conclusions on the software’s educational value.
For students using this program, the tasks of the
greatest didactic interest correspond to the
development of the third overall activity of the
program-guide, in which students are invited to
reflect on and analyze what they are observing in the
simulation
4 DEVELOPMENT AND
EVALUATION OF
EDUCATIONAL EX PERIMENT
A. Experimental Design of the Research Work
As well as developing didactic software, it is
necessary to apply the programs elaborated in real
educational contexts and to evaluate their influence
on the acquisition of scientific knowledge through
educational research processes, as it has been done
with the pupil "Optic Communications Systems".
With the aim of checking the degree of reliability
of the tool used and its influence on the lecturing
improvement of these subjects, four groups of the
total of students were set up. Two of these groups
following a traditional teaching method {control
groups GC1 (n=14) and GC2 (n=16)}, based on a
theoretical exposition and Classroom practice. The
other two groups had been given the same
theoretical-practical contents using the OEMSL as a
complementary tool in the learning process
{experiment groups GE1 (n=15) and GE2 (n=15)}
The lecturer team has therefore proposed one
main research objective: to contrast the results in
training acquired by students in their knowledge of
the basis and devices when working with the
simulation laboratory, and when they only received
traditional teaching.
In order to make a quantitative assessment of this
main aim the teachers have divided it into three
objectives or specific aims related with the learning
of concept procedures carried out by students when
doing work with or without the aid of the software
described above. These specific objectives are:
1. To learn about the physical basics of the
electromagnetic waves.
2. To acquire the necessary knowledge to determine
the basics of the different phenomena.
3. To relate the theoretical-practical aspects in order
to be able to solve practical problems.
B. Description of the Process followed in the
Experimental Stages
The following is the process followed:
SIMULATION ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES WEB AS INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY TO IMPROVE THE
QUALITY OF ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING FORMATION
233
1st Lecture Section: Common to the four groups,
in which the fundamental concepts are explained.
Students have previous written information on them.
2nd Classroom practice: Here the problems
proposed and later solved by students are
commented and discussed, the class being given to
each group individually. The control groups have
two hours per week.
The experiment groups have 1 hour weekly of
problems and 2 hours every two weeks of laboratory
simulation. On average, they receive the same
number on hours, the difference is that the
experimental groups solve the problems with the
simulation software and the control groups don’t use
the virtual programm. The students are provided
with a program-guide, in which the process to follow
is indicated, as well as the problems to be solved
through a Simulation. All the questions they may
have are resolved by the lecturer giving the
simulation laboratory practice.
The students in the control groups are given the
same practical cases as the experiment group ones,
and they can solve them in small groups in the
practice class under the supervision of the lecturer in
charge of it.
After working with the software, the students
from the experiment groups did the same practice
works as the control group students. On finalizing
this process, each student gives in a written report in
which they show and analyze the results obtained,
reach conclusions, and answer diverse questions
related to their interpretation of the proposed
problems.
To carry out the study made with the control and
experimental groups, a set of questions and exercises
that students must resolve individually completes the
instruction. These exercises are practical problems
that require the revision of prior theoretical
information.
The time devoted to the study of these themes
was similar in all the groups since the experiment
group students substituted 1 hour of Classroom
practice for the Laboratory Simulation. The
experiment groups had the advantage of, when
carrying out the practice exercise, being able to
consult at any moment any question they had on the
theory since, in each simulation screen, there was a
link to the theme in the tutorial related to that
specific simulation. Other advantages shown in
using the software are the ability to rapidly repeat an
experiment simulation however many times it is
required and the possibility of receiving a diagnosis
on the level of learning at each moment by accessing
to the Tutorial questionnaire.
C. Evaluation of the experiment
In order to make an evaluation of the development
of this educational experiment, i.e., to study the
degree of satisfaction in the achievements of the
educational objectives proposed, an evaluation was
made of the learning acquired by each of the
students of control groups GC1 and GC2 and of
those in the experiment groups GE1 and GE2,
account being taken of the following aspects:
a) The quality of the work reports drafted by
students at the end of the virtual laboratories
(Experiment Groups) and the work presented by
control group students concerning the practical
cases resolved in the practice classes (between 0
and 10 points).
b) The results of a set of questions and exercises
that students had to resolve individually
(between 0 and 10 points).
c) The results of a written test made up of several
questions, in which students had to demonstrate
that they can relate the theoretical-practical
aspects involved in the study (between 0 and 10
points: 1 point/1 true question, 0 point/ no
answered question and (-1)/ wrong question ).
d) The results of an exam in which a practical
problem was proposed (between 0 and 10
points).
5 ANALISYS OF RESULTS
For the study of the evaluation results for each of the
objectives, the partial marks assigned to the students
in the different groups is taken and, for each one,
four categories or levels of learning were established
according to the following classification: category I
corresponded to very low marks (deficient learning:
between 0-5 points), category II to average marks
(fair or semi-acceptable learning: between 6-7
points), category III to high marks (good learning
level: between 8-9 points) and category IV
corresponded to very high marks (very good
learning level between 9-10 points).
Figure 3 shows the results obtained by the
students in the control groups GC1 and GC2,
corresponding to the evaluation of the three
objectives (1
st
, 2
nd
, and 3
rd
), allocated to categories
(I, II, III and IV). The relative frequencies or
percentages corresponding to each of the four levels
established for each objective and group are shown
in columns, those on the left being for group GC1
and on the right those for group GC2. It can be seen
that the results obtained by both groups are fairly
similar. On comparing the results from GC1 and
GC2 in each of the three objectives, it was observed
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0
10
20
30
40
50
I
38 29 36 42 22 30
II
40 46 47 33 34 43
III
14 1 5 9, 7 2 1 2 7 18
IV
8,3 9 ,7 6,9 4,5 16 9
.1º2º3º.1º2º3º.
Figure 3: Results of learning objective evaluation in the
control groups.
that there were some differences in the different
categories, but in the statistical contrast study made
between the average marks of each group no
statistically significant differences in any of the
objectives were noted. This means that both groups
had developed a similar learning process and had
reached a similar performance level.
In the experiment groups, the same evaluation
process was followed as in the control groups.
Figure 4 shows the results obtained by the students
in these groups, on the left are the GE1 group data
and on the right those of group GE2. This figure
shows that the results obtained by both groups also
present a similar allocation of percentages to the
different categories of the objectives evaluated.
Moreover, in the statistical contrast study made
between the average marks of each group, no
statistically significant differences were noticed in
any of the objectives, which were logical because
both groups had the same initial characteristics, had
carried out a similar study process and had reached a
similar performance level.
0
20
40
60
I
15 9, 2 19 13 14 26
II
23 20 42 23 27 37
III
45 48 29 47 39 24
IV
1
7
2
3
11 17 2
0
1
3
. 3º . .
Figure 4: Results of learning objective evaluation in
experiment groups.
In order to analyze the influence of the
methodology followed in the experiment groups, a
comparison was made of the results of these groups
with those previously obtained by the control
groups.
For instance, on analyzing the data of the first
and second objectives, it was observed that the
percentages of categories I and II were much higher
in the control groups than in the experiment groups,
which suggests a shift in the number of students
from groups GE1 and GE2 who had achieved these
objectives compared to those who had not done so in
groups GC1 and GC2. Likewise, on applying several
statistical contrast tests, significant differences were
noted between the average values of the marks
obtained in objectives 1 and 2 in the experiment
groups. This led the consideration of the use of the
software described, had contributed to improving
knowledge about the physical fundaments in the
experiment group of students.
With regard to the third objective, the
comparative analysis shows that the result was also
better in the experiment groups than in the control
groups, so that it can be said that the use of software
favored the development of the procedures and skills
necessary for the resolution of the questions and the
practical problems.
Finally, the research team proceeded to evaluate
and categorize the general performance of each
student from the different groups, analyzing the set
of data obtained throughout the experiment. To elicit
an overall mark, the marks corresponding to the
three objectives were added up, so that each
individual had a mark of between 0 and 40 points.
With the same procedure as above, four overall
performance levels were established, as follows: L
I
(overall mark between 0 and 10 or deficient learning
capacity), L
II
(overall mark of between 10 and 20 or
semi-acceptable learning capacity), L
III
(overall
mark of between 20 and 30 representing a good level
of learning) and L
IV
(overall mark of between 30 and
40, corresponding to an optimal or very good
learning result).
Figure 5 shows the overall results of the four
groups, with the percentages of the four all-round
performance levels in each group. Firstly, it can be
seen that the control groups GC1 and GC2 gave very
similar results in the four levels. The same happens
in the results of the experiment groups GE1 and
GE2, although these groups present a better overall
performance than the previous ones. Indeed, levels
L
I
and L
II
show a higher percentage in the control
groups with respect to the experiment groups. On the
contrary, in level L
III
, the experiment groups
obtained much better results than the control groups
(with differences of over 20% between these
groups). Finally, in level L
IV
, all the groups reach
similar although low percentages which indicate that
there were difficulties in achieving an optimal
SIMULATION ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES WEB AS INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY TO IMPROVE THE
QUALITY OF ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING FORMATION
235
performance level both for the control groups and
the experiment groups.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
I II III IV
GC1
GC2
GE1
GE2
Figure 5: Comparative study of grade frequency versus the
different marks for each of the groups participating in the
study.
From a statistical processing of the overall marks
of the four groups (with a Kruskal-Wallis test), it
can be deduced that the use of the Simulation
Laboratory favors the training of the average
student, and causes a shift in results from the grades
of “deficient” and “acceptable” to “good” in the
experiment groups.
Finally, the similarity in the results obtained in
level L
IV
was due to the fact that in all the groups
there were a few students with a higher level of
specific knowledge and a greater interest in the
subject, regardless of the teaching methodology.
From these facts, it can be concluded that the
instruction process followed in the experiment
groups enabled students to achieve a higher progress
level than in the control groups and that the program
used is a useful aid for improving the learning
process. These facts would appear to confirm the
results obtained in other studies showing the
favorable influence of the use of simulation
programs in the teaching of physics and of other
sciences (Lee WJ, Gu JC, Li RJ, et al. 2002; Becerra
VM, 2004).
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this article, an empirical educational piece of
research has been described, from which it has been
deduced that the use of an Electromagnetic waves
simulation program can be used by students for a
better comprehension of the main concepts used in
the work of this subject, and can especially
contribute to improve the work of those students
who have the greatest learning deficiencies.
The software described is compact, intuitive and
friendly and constitutes an effective new tool for
introducing students to Electromagnetic waves
Science.
Indeed, after carrying out the study described
here, the teachers have had the satisfaction of
observing the tallying of the results obtained with
other results from previous investigations, in which
it was demonstrated that the use of suitable
educational software helped to improve the learning
achievements of students.
The use of this Simulation Laboratory as a
learning aid which complements the traditional
method has the following advantages:
It permits the reflective self-training of students
through their individual work, either as a
clarification and complement to experiment
laboratories or as a practical task.
It permits teachers to focus on the explanation
of the basic theories and reduces the time that at
present is devoted to introducing the mode of
operation and working.
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