Chapter 27 Conclusions
A lab at home kit has been described here. This kit is part of the curriculum for Instrumentation and Experimental Methods and uses the CircuitPlayground Express (CPX) from Adafruit as well as other electronic components. The CPX uses CircuitPython, a derivative of Python. Python like all scripting languages allows students to focus on writing concise code to use the CPX as a tool rather than getting bogged down in syntax, compilation and runtime errors. All software is free, open source and has numerous examples on the Adafruit Learn page as well as the internet at large and Github [33].
As with all other courses in engineering it is possible to teach this course without any hands on material. Instead, a project based learning (PBL) style is utilized where students use the CPX and other components of the lab at home kit to complete guided projects requiring data acquisition, analysis and post-processing all geared towards enhancing learning of course objectives. The final project in the class allows the students to be creative, take ownership, collaborate with others, and use critical thinking to develop something new.
The responses from the students is positive with a 22% increase over the department average over 7 semesters. The qualitative survey responses from students are also positive and show that the kit is effective in enhancing student satisfaction through interaction of tangible objects. Student satisfaction correlates to student performance as shown in the literature. Hopefully, similar kits can be created for other classes at USA as well as other universities in STEM across the world.
