A new pedagogy in electrical and computer engineering: an experiential and conceptual approach

This paper reports on an experimental program for educating high-school and beginning-college students in ubiquitous areas within Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The unique aspect of this program is that it teaches advanced engineering topics using concepts and relevant experience rather than high-level mathematics, thus making many subjects normally reserved for the sophomore and junior year ECE curricula accessible to high-school and beginning-college students. The course has lecture and laboratory components, with topics selected and experiments designed to demonstrate their real-life relevance. Students in the pilot program succeeded in their laboratory work, and approximately 50% demonstrated high proficiency on college-level exam problems. Student evaluations of the program reflected a high level of satisfaction.