Promoting in solving electric circuit problems via voltage tracking and division

Aungtinee Kittiravechote 1 *
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1 Program of General Science, Faculty of Education, Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand
* Corresponding Author
EUR J SCI MATH ED, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 149-155. https://doi.org/10.30935/scimath/9540
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ABSTRACT

Despite a tremendous success in boosting students learn electrical analogies for science education, it remains a challenge to extend such strategy for formally constructing equations related to the Ohm’s law in order to solve electrical problems based on series and parallel circuits. Unlike most traditional works of teaching technique that focus mainly on the current, an alternative approach with highlighted voltage is served as a guidance to help students solve the problems and develop a better understanding of direct circuits. To this end, we present a design of teaching method so-called voltage tracking and division. We report results from a study in which we used a set of pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest to evaluate the change in 35 sophomore students, major in general science of education, as a result of their participation in the electricity and energy course that comprised a 4-hours intensive class and 1-month follow-up examination. Through the employment of our method, students showed significant gains from pretest to posttest as well as that on the delayed posttest compared to the pretest. These results suggested that voltage tracking and division method facilitated the development of students’ ability in solving electric circuit problems and also provided the persistence of such understanding. We envisage that our findings would evoke teaching tools that benefit from emphasizing voltage via the voltage tracking and division method to enhance the deepen understanding of students in solving circuit problems.
Keywords: Science teaching, Physics teaching, voltage tracking and division, problem solving, electric circuits

CITATION

Kittiravechote, A. (2019). Promoting in solving electric circuit problems via voltage tracking and division. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7(4), 149-155. https://doi.org/10.30935/scimath/9540

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