bridging physics to electronics engineering – an outreach...

RCEE & RHEd2010Kuching,Sarawak7 – 9 June 2010

Bridging Physics to Electronics Engineering – an Outreach Effort targeted atTertiary Institution

Arthur Tay*, Kok-Kiong Tan, Kok-Zuea Tang, Vivian Ng, Shih-Cheng Yen, Tong-Heng Lee

Department of Electrical & Computer EngineeringNational University of Singapore

4 Engineering Drive 3*Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Physics is one of the key subjects in the science curriculum in high schools. A good understanding of manyconcepts in physics is essential to comprehend the materials covered for students pursuing an electronicsengineering program in the university. Unfortunately, a trend observed in today’s high schools is a cleardiminution of student interest in physics, leading to dwindling physics class sizes compared to a decadeago. The lack of interest and passion for physics at the high school level ultimately leads to smaller intakesat the university level for electronics engineering courses, and/or lower qualification cut-offs for studentsentering the programs. This lack of interest in electronics subjects is apparent in other science,engineering degrees with lower intakes in their electronics related modules. This results in a significantreduction in good students graduating from engineering programs. This paper will first share surveyresults that reveal possible reasons behind the decreasing number of students entering engineeringprograms. Two concerted efforts launched from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering atthe National University of Singapore (NUS) to halt the declining interest in high schools will then bepresented.

Keywords: Electronics engineering education, physics

1. Introduction

The modern world without electronics engineers isunimaginable, and it is not an overstatement to claimthat these engineers helped to shape that world. Thecontributions from these engineers have been verybroad-based and are evident in all aspects of dailylife. As we move into the future, the continueddemand for engineers will be correlated with theworld’s need for technology, and statistics haveclearly shown that the world today is experiencing anaccelerating need for technology in diverse areas. Inboth the local and global contexts, the continueddemand for electronics engineers is clear and certain.The uncertainty lies mainly with the supply line ofgood engineers to meet these demands.

Despite these favorable data and forecasts, Singaporeis not immune from the worldwide phenomenon ofdiminishing interest in engineering. The number ofstudents opting for an engineering education has beendecreasing, with many young students now opting forother programs in the universities. In the universitiesand higher institutes of learning, explicit andextensive efforts in outreach have been initiated toarrest this trend and to reinvigorate enthusiasm forthis field among prospective students. Some

institutions hold the view that out-of-date programsmay be putting off students and have designed newand more enticing engineering programs. Someinstitutions incorporate links with industry in theirprograms to show students the industrial relevance oftheir education. Other institutions are inculcating newteaching methods to train and educate prospectiveengineers. Complementing these initiatives areoutreach efforts, which aim to inject practical aspectsof theoretical engineering lessons at the beginningstages of tertiary education.

At the Department of Electrical and ComputerEngineering (ECE) of the National University ofSingapore, a comprehensive series of outreach effortshas been aimed at addressing this issue from a veryearly stage, by improving the education of students inhigh schools. This paper presents attempts to create abridge between physics and electrical and computerengineering, in ways that will interest students, andbroaden their perspective on what they learn in class.The motivation for these efforts stem from surveyresults that were collated over the course of 20 careertalks in high schools from 2006-2008. The reasonsbehind the declining interest in electronicsengineering as revealed by the survey results will firstbe discussed. Next, two special programs that have

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been initiated will be elaborated in full. Both sharethe common objective of connecting the students’understanding of physics in the schools to realengineering achievements and applications. The firstprogram is focused on the setup of thematicelectronics “learning corners” in the schools. A“learning corner” is a dedicated area of a classroomoffering practical activities that introduce students toelectronics. The second program is focused on thecollaboration with the schools to enhance the Higher3 (H3) physics program through a vacation internshipprogram at the university. (H3 subjects are meant toallow exceptionally strong high students to pursue asubject or area in which they have the interest andaptitude. The results of the H3 subjects can be usedfor entry applications to tertiary institutions). Theinternship is specially designed with respect to thephysics syllabus to broaden the students’ studies withpractical hands-on sessions.

2. Survey of Prospective Students

From 2006 to 2008, more than 20 career talks androad-shows were delivered at various local highschools showcasing the Electrical and ComputerEngineering (ECE) program offered at NUS. Surveyswere conducted at most of these activities, to providethe outreach team with feedback on the rationalebehind the students’ subsequent selection of thevarious programs at the universities. This wasundertaken with the hope that the team would then beable to respond with appropriate outreach programs.The sample size over the two years totaled over 2000students. However, it should be noted that the surveyparticipants were students who were currentlyenrolled in high-school physics programs and werethus eligible to apply for admission to an ECEprogram in a tertiary institution. These studentsrepresented only a fraction of the overall studentcohort. Incidentally, in most of these schools, thephysics classes were the smallest among the scienceclasses, a vastly different scenario from that a decadeago.

Fig. 1 shows the proportion of students surveyed whointended to enroll in an ECE program. Only about37% of this group of eligible students expressed clearinterest in ECE. Again, it is necessary to clarify thatthe pool of students surveyed were those who wereenrolled in physics programs. The rest of the studentsin the same cohort were not eligible, and thus if thosewere viewed as also falling into the category of “NotPlanning for ECE”, the actual percentage of studentswith an interest in ECE would be much smaller.

The next step is to understand the broad reasons whystudents were not keen on ECE, or not sure if itwould be an option in their selection of universityprograms. The great majority (57%) of the studentswho were not keen to pursue a degree in ECE had no

interest in ECE, nor other fields in engineering.From the reasons cited by these students, many wereinterested in more “trendy” courses in the medialimelight at the moment, such as finance or businessadministration. It is highly possible that this groupmight have reached that conclusion with only a verycursory understanding of what ECE entails. Highschool physics students at this stage would have onlycovered some basic electronics in their physicsclasses, so their impressions of ECE were possiblyshaped inappropriately by their limited exposure.

Fig. 1: Declared interest in ECE.

Fig. 2: Main reasons for not having ECE as a choicein mind.

A notable proportion (11%) of these students citedphysics as a deterrent towards pursuing anengineering or ECE degree. This suggests thatimprovements in the teaching of physics mightpossibly change some of the mindset of thesestudents. Table 1 shows some of the reasons givenby the students for not selecting ECE as one of theirchoices.

Table 1: Some frequently cited reasons for notselecting ECE as one of their choices of universityprograms.

I was never interested in engineeringI do not like electronics. Though very interesting, it seems like a sunset industryI still don’t know anything about electronics engineering I'm not good in physics I don't like physics Physics is difficult

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I don’t think I will do well in engineering as I am poor in physicsPhysics is not as fun as the other subjectsPhysics is tough

From the survey results, it was clear that outreachefforts must be geared towards enhancing the level ofinterest in physics. The study of this important subjectmust be made more interesting and motivating bybringing new perspectives of the subject to theschool. Two special programs were thus setup for thispurpose, they will be detailed in Sections 3 and 4.

3. ECE Learning Corners in the Schools

The first program was aimed at establishing ECELearning Corners at strategic high schools. With sucha localized corner within the school itself, studentswere able to engage in the various activities set upthere without having to leave school. They were alsofree to explore the activities whenever their individualschedules permitted. Much of engineering educationis built on concepts and theories taught in physicslessons in the high schools. These concepts andtheories form the main foundation of many of theinteresting and ground-breaking developments inengineering-related topics. The ECE LearningCorners provide links to connect the physics conceptsthat the students learnt in class to electronics-relatedengineering topics. In Singapore, schools areclassified into clusters according to their geographicallocations, and schools within the same cluster oftenshare their resources. With cost and time constraints,it was not viable to establish ECE Corners in everyschool. Thus, the outreach team identified aprominent school in each cluster in which theyestablished the ECE Corners. Efforts were first spentconvincing schools to set aside space for the cornersby showing them the activities that the outreach teamenvisioned, and the complementary benefits that theactivities would bring to the school curriculum.

In the ECE Corners, several different types ofactivities were conducted:

3.1 Short-term activities

Short-term hands-on activities centered on ECEthemes were designed for students who were eligibleto apply to the ECE program. The duration for theseactivities ranged from two hours to half a day, andcould be scheduled anytime in the year, including theschool vacations. The outreach team endeavored todesign something suitable for everyone. Each activitywas designed to be concise and focused on oneinteresting area in ECE so that it could be delivered toa large number of keen students. Figs. 3 to 5 showsome thematic setups that encouraged participantexploration in some of the ECE Corners that wereestablished. Another popular project which motivatesstudents is the use of RFID for different applications.

For example, in the thermal setup of Fig. 3, studentswere first introduced to the history and importance ofcontrol theory. They then experienced the difficultiesof manually controlling the temperature in a chamberusing a handheld controller. Next, they wereintroduced to virtual instrumentation and had todesign a simple automatic controller to control thetemperature in the chamber to a desired set-point.These setups were rotated on a periodic basis amongthe Corners at the various schools and new setupswere also introduced periodically. The outreach teamconducted workshops in the Corners with students aswell as with teachers to help them to use theresources more effectively.

Fig. 3: ECE Corner at a junior college, consisting of atemperature control system demonstrating a controland automation theme.

Fig. 4: ECE Corner with an interactive digital mediatheme.

Fig. 5: ECE Corner with an energy harvesting theme.

3.2 Longer-term projects

Longer-term projects (3 to 9 months) were carried outby students mentored by ECE faculty members.

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Equipment was loaned or donated to the Corners sothat students could work on them during their breaksbetween lessons, on days free from lessons, or overthe weekends. The research topics were usuallyrelated to the faculty members’ research. The facultymembers would meet students at the ECE Corners forregular discussions. This arrangement offered a moreconducive and productive environment for thestudents as opposed to having the students come tothe university to work on their projects.

3.3 ECE in-house vacation programs

Week long ECE Vacation Programs were organizedto allow students to have a sample of what is ECE.Students formed teams of about 4-5 in a group andworked on building remotely-controlled vehicles orother interesting electronic gadgets like audioamplifiers or wireless audio-video (AV) transmitters.The students also spend about 1-2 days sampling thevarious types of research work performed in the ECEDepartment laboratories. Students were split intosmall groups that rotated between the five researchgroups in ECE for 1-2 days, during which theyexperienced for themselves the focused activities ineach of these research groups. At the end of theprogram, the students proposed (if they wished)longer term projects in the area of their choice asmentioned in section 3.2.

4. Physics Supplement in ECE, NUS

In Singapore, H3 Physics is offered to high schoolstudents who performed well in Higher 2 (H2 –equivalent ‘A’ level subject) Physics classes.Essentially, these are the top science students whomthe outreach team would particularly like to recruitinto the ECE program. However, the current numberof students enrolled in H3 Physics is generally lowercompared to the other science subjects such asChemistry and Biology, with more dropping outalong the way. This situation motivated the outreachteam to analyze how they could work together withthe schools in a more formal manner to increase theinterest and enthusiasm of students in H3 Physics.

The syllabus of the H3 Physics course includes thefollowing topics: Relativity, Quantum Theory ofLight, Matter Waves, Quantum Mechanics, SolidState Physics and Photonics. One of the majordifficulties in conducting these subjects is that theschool usually lack expertise to mount experiments tocompliments the theory learnt making the learningabstract from student point of view. The schoolsoffering H3 Physics agree that a practical dimensionto the syllabus would be highly useful, but that isdifficult to implement within the schools, as theequipment needed is highly specialized andexpensive, and teachers are not well positioned to

adopt and use such equipment in meaningful practicalsessions.

Thus, an outreach program was developed to offer aH3 Physics-Supplement to the students of H3Physics. Students were invited to spend a week inuniversity laboratories during their vacation toundergo specially designed hands-on sessions toconsolidate the theories that they learnt in class, andalso to learn about application areas. This helped toenhance awareness of the need for H3 Physics andmotivate more good science students to take up thesubject.

The hands-on sessions fell under two themes, eachrelating to a specific industry or application area: a)Modern Physics and Automation and b) ModernPhysics and Optoelectronics. Students carried outsessions under these themes after the relevant topicshad been addressed in their classrooms. In theuniversity laboratories, students were split into groupsof at most 10 students to maximize interaction withthe instructors. They were given some initial briefingsto connect what they had already learnt to theexperiments they were about to conduct. At the endof the sessions, they were required to submit a reportdetailing their observations and a summary of whatthey had learnt. Each of the reports was graded and aconsolidated assessment was performed based on allthe reports.

5. Students and Teachers Feedbacks

At the end of the outreach activities described in thepreceding sections, surveys were conducted to gaugetheir effectiveness, measured against the outreachobjectives set forth. The outreach team undertooksuch a directed and localized feedback approachrather than falling back on the actual student intakenumber as a gauge of the effectiveness of theoutreach effort, since the latter is linked to manyother factors beyond the control of the outreachprogram. Stagnant or decreasing student numberswould not necessarily mean the activities were noteffective; without the outreach efforts, the situationcould well have been much worse.

In addition, in some activities, feedback from theteachers was valued more highly than feedback fromthe students themselves. Students may realize thebenefits of certain parts of the activities only sometime after the survey had been conducted, whereasteachers were better able to appreciate and give moretimely feedback in these instances. For example, inthe H3 physics supplement program, feedback fromthe physics teachers was constantly sought as thesupplementary materials were designed and refined.In addition, teachers were invited to the actualworkshops as observers and thereafter providedfeedback for the next round of workshops.

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As an example, survey results are provided here forthe Immersion Program at the department describedin Section 3. The surveys were designed in the formof questionnaires and interviews. About 230 surveyforms were collected from the students and teachersfrom the various high schools that have participatedin this activity since 2007.

The level of satisfaction of the participants afterattending the activities is shown in Fig. 6. More than80% of the participants expressed positive feedback.Only 2% of the 230 participants were not satisfiedwith the activities organized for them. Fig. 7 displaysthe reasons the participants gave for participating inthis outreach activity. About 44% of the participantswanted to gather more information about the contentsof engineering courses and the tertiary education atNUS. Proper design and implementation of theoutreach activities should be able to have a positiveeffect on this subset of participants. About 7% of theparticipants were attracted to the fun nature of theactivities. To engage them, the organizers injectedfun elements into the activities. These reasons citedby the participants provided some insights into waysto engage young minds while designing outreachactivities. The participants’ comments andsuggestions regarding the outreach activities aresummarized in Fig. 8. These constructive commentsaid in fine-tuning the outreach activities forsubsequent batches of students. Fig. 9 illustrates themain factors that affected the selection of tertiarydegree programs for the participants. A majority ofthe participants provided rational answers forchoosing their ideal degree program in the nearfuture. The outreach team will have to provide anupdated assessment of the job market in order for theparticipants to make informed decisions regardingtheir choices for their tertiary degree programs.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, outreach efforts to stimulate andincrease student interest in studying physics at thehigh school level, with the goal of recruiting betterand more students into electronics engineeringprograms at tertiary institutions, were discussed. Theresults of surveys conducted on high school studentsthat revealed a lack of exposure to and knowledgeabout electronics engineering were presented. Inaddition, the dire need to stimulate student interest inPhysics, which is often a pre-requisite for electronicsengineering programs, was highlighted and discussed.Two outreach programs were designed and launchedto enhance student interest at a young age viastructured and specially-formulated supplementaryhands-on activities and sessions conducted either atthe university, or within learning corners located rightin the high schools.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the staffs andstudents at the Department of Electrical & ComputerEngineering at the National University of Singaporewho helped to implement these outreach programs.

Fig. 6: Level of satisfaction of the participants.

Fig. 7: Reasons for participating in the immersion program

Fig. 8: Comments from participants after attending the immersion program

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Fig. 9: Main factors that affect the choices of theparticipants in the immersion program in theirselection of tertiary degree programs.

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