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A NanoElectronics Concept Inventory: a tool to assess learning of fundamental concepts

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Conference

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Atlanta, Georgia

Publication Date

June 23, 2013

Start Date

June 23, 2013

End Date

June 26, 2013

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

23.75.1 - 23.75.11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--19089

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/19089

Download Count

490

Paper Authors

biography

Syed Iqbal Omar P.E. Texas A&M University, Kingsville

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Dr. Syed Omar is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. His current areas of research interest are Computational Nanotechnology and NanoElectronics Education.

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Amit Verma Texas A&M University, Kingsville

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Reza Nekovei Texas A&M University, Kingsville

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Abstract

A NanoElectronics Concept Inventory: a tool to assess student learning of fundamental conceptsIt is widely recognized that understanding of fundamental concepts related to the operation ofnanoelectronic devices is essential for their modeling, design, and development. Thesefundamental concepts are from the areas of Hamiltonian Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, SolidState Physics, and Semiconductor Materials. It is very challenging to teach these fundamentalconcepts to undergraduate students in such a way that they not only have a good understandingof the concepts but also are able to apply them to solve problems associated with the design anddevelopment of nanoelectronic devices.We have developed a senior/junior level course to teach these fundamental concepts to studentswith electrical engineering major. It was followed by a design projects course in which studentsdesigned and implemented a nanoelectronic device. We developed the Nanoelectronics ConceptInventory to assess student learning of fundamental concepts in the first course. The assessmentcan be used to improve and enhance pedagogical techniques employed. The assessment can besupplemented by the observation of student performance during the design project course. Aliterature search indicated that ours is the first attempt at the development of a NanoElectronicsConcept Inventory (NCI).The NCI was developed by a process which has been widely used for the development ofconcept inventories for various subjects. In NCI, the concepts were grouped into threecategories: computational nanotechnology, nanoelectronic materials and devices, and nanodevicecharacterization and fabrication. Each multiple-choice question related to a single concept withone correct answer and three incorrect answers (distractors). The NCI has been administered andthe scores have been analyzed using psychometric tools as well as the observed performance ofstudents on the design projects. The results so far have been very encouraging.

Omar, S. I., & Verma, A., & Nekovei, R. (2013, June), A NanoElectronics Concept Inventory: a tool to assess learning of fundamental concepts Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19089

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