Smith, J. A. (2014, June), Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation Course  Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20631

\bibitem{asee_peer_20631}
  Smith, J. A. (2014, June), \emph{Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation Course}
  Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana.
  10.18260/1-2--20631

James Andrew Smith P.Eng..  "Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation Course".  2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2014.  https://strategy.asee.org/20631 Internet.  08 Jun, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_20631}
  James Andrew Smith P.Eng..
  "Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation Course".
  \emph{2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2014.
  https://strategy.asee.org/20631 Internet.  08 Jun, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_20631
author = "James Andrew Smith P.Eng."
title = "Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation Course"
booktitle = "2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2014"
month = "June"
address = "Indianapolis, Indiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://strategy.asee.org/20631}
number = {10.18260/1-2--20631}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -     Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation CourseEngineering instructors are typically restricted to a narrow range of simplifiedmodels that apply to both white-board lectures and hands-on labs. This is as truein a mechanical vibrations course as it is in an electrical circuits or biomedicalinstrumentation courses. More complex systems, which are more representativeof reality, require more time or more advanced tools for derivation orunderstanding than is often available in an undergraduate curriculum.Furthermore most subject-specific simulation products do not provide a methodfor linking the GUI-based model’s dynamics with the fundamental equations usedto model the simpler examples in class.In 2011 we addressed this disconnect by introducing our students to Maplesoft’sMapleSim multi-domain simulation software in an instrumentation course. Likeits competitors, MapleSim permits students to schematically represent electricaland mechanical systems and simulates their changes over time. It can alsoproduce the analytical equations which underlie the model in a form that is similarto what is shown to the students in class or in their textbooks. Students canexamine these equations to derive further insight into the dynamics of theirsystems. This process can be self-directed and can occur even if students don’thave advanced skills in the mathematics required to derive the equations by hand.This tool, used in conjunction with traditional hands-on electronics lab activitiespermits the students to explore the behaviour of the systems of interest in aninductive learning manner more representative of natural everyday learning.End-of-semester student evaluations have shown a quantifiable improvement inthe course since the introduction of the inductive approach. As MapleSim hasbecome more integrated into the course question categories such as “The way thiscourse is taught helps me to learn” and “Concepts are clearly explained withappropriate use of examples” have seen quantifiable improvements over the pastthree years. The positive response of students to the use of MapleSim hasencouraged us to use it as the core of a new distance education course inembedded systems architecture.
AU  - James Andrew Smith P.Eng.
CY  - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA  - 2014/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Inductive Learning Tool Improves Instrumentation Course
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/20631
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--20631
ER  -