Promoting Engineering Students' Learning: An Interdisciplinary Teaching Approach of Electronic Circuits

Interdisciplinarity, namely, combining two or more fields of knowledge around a central theme, allows students to observe the topic from several viewpoints and may foster their cognitive skills. Therefore, the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) developed and implemented an interdisciplinary teaching approach of electronic circuits. This approach integrates the two main branches of electronics, i.e., analog electronics and digital electronics, which are traditionally taught separately in academia. The research described here examined whether this interdisciplinary approach has advanced learning compared to the traditional disciplinary way. The study, which used quantitative and qualitative tools, involved 156 junior electrical and computer engineering students. According to the findings, the analytical skills of students taught via the interdisciplinary approach were significantly higher than those of their peers who studied in the disciplinary way. Students who experienced interdisciplinary learning argued that it was interesting and natural, improved comprehension and analytic capabilities, but was also characterized by a high cognitive load. The preference for interdisciplinary learning was significantly higher among students who experienced it compared to their peers who were exposed to traditional learning.