2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017

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2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017

DESIGNING AND TEACHING ELECTRONICS COURSE Muhibul Haque Bhuyan, PhD Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Southeast University, Tejgaon, Dhaka E-mail: [email protected] Abstract— Electronics fields have been developed and diversified over the years in so many ways that the questions have been arisen that how the Electronics should course should be taught, how many of this course should be in the curriculum and what are the topics that we should cover in various courses as well as how many laboratory courses should be in the curriculum- whether it should be experimental or simulation works. There is also a controversy between the traditional teaching method and modern teaching method. How engineering courses should be taught effectively so that students can apply the knowledge earned from this course to solve their real life problems- is also a big concern. The paper focuses on the issues to be considered in designing the electronics course curriculum, its number, class duration, the course topics, objectives and learning outcomes and will also suggest teaching methods with illustrative example in the cognitive domain. Keywords— Electronics, teaching, course, laboratory, cognitive domain, project work.

I. Introduction Semiconductor devices and integrated circuits are the backbone of modem technology. Without transistor, we cannot think of this every evolving industry. Micro and nano level of transistor fabrication has made it possible to develop the giant electronics industry around the globe. Hence the study of electronics courses have also become vital part and occupied the core position in both the undergraduate and graduate curriculums of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication and Computer and the other Engineering subjects. Mainly this course deals with the construction, operation, characteristics and applications of transistors and other related electronic devices. Traditionally, the basic course in electronics has been a one-year (two-semester) course at most universities and colleges [1]. However, with the emergence of new technologies and university-wide general education requirements, electrical engineering departments are under pressure to reduce basic electronics to a one-semester course. On the other hand, the electronics fields have been developed so much over the years. At present, all offices, industries, educational institutions, business organizations etc. are being digitalized. Therefore, most of the engineering disciplines are compelled to incorporate electronics courses as compulsory courses in its curriculum. Without electronics, it is not possible to design and develop any electronics circuits or systems or any electronic controllers that are controlled or operated, and it is one of the most desired outcomes of engineering education, especially in the 21st century [2]. The questions are raised that should ‗Electronics‘ be a 1-semester or 2-semester course, how many courses should in core course, how many courses should be in elective course, and what topics we should cover in these electronics related courses and also what type of laboratory works should we conduct. This paper addresses these issues and suggests accordingly to full-fill the course requirements.

II. Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes A. Course Objectives: Learning or instructional objectives are statements of what students should be able to do if they have acquired the knowledge and skills from the course. Generally, the course objectives should include the following items [1]: 1. To develop an understanding of the electronic systems and their general specifications and limitations. 2. To develop an understanding of the importance of dc basing and the concept of small-signals device models and circuit analysis. 3. To develop an understanding of the principle of amplification and differential amplifiers to build strong foundations for the internal structures of analog and digital ICs, specially MOS and CMOS ICs. 4. To develop an understanding of the characteristics of semiconductor devices and commonly used ICs. 5. To develop skills in analysis and design of both analog and digital circuits. 6. To develop students‘ understanding with various elements of the engineering design processes including formulation of specifications, giving alternative solutions, analysis, synthesis, decision making, iterations, consideration of cost factors, simulation, and tolerance issues.

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2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 B. Learning Outcomes: Learning or Course Outcomes reflect the degree to which the program has met its objectives; outcome indicators, the assessment instruments and procedures that will be used to determine whether the graduates have achieved the outcomes. After successful completion of the ‗Electronics‘ course, the students will be able to [1] 1. Outline basic analog electronic circuit design techniques and analytical skills using diodes, op-amps, MOSFETs, and BJTs. 2. Describe the characteristics, biasing techniques, and circuit models of semiconductor devices. 3. Apply basic engineering sciences to the design, analyses and operation of electronics devices and circuits. 4. Apply simulation tools, e.g., PSpice for design, analyses and performance evaluations of electronic circuits. 5. Formulate problem solving skills of electronic circuits. 6. Design of electronic circuits to meet desired specifications. 7. Measure various parameters of electronic circuits and systems.

III. Course Design One of the desired attributes of an engineer [3]-[5] in the global marketplace in the new knowledge economy is that an engineer should have good understanding of engineering fundamentals and design/manufacturing processes. Therefore, any undergraduate course curriculum should be designed in such a way so that the students are able to design the systems both analytically and numerically. Keeping this in mind, curriculum of the Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering program is designed. Keeping the electronics course objectives in mind, the course contents are designed for the curriculum of the BSc in EEE program. The curriculum has many categories. Of them, Electronics courses are incorporated in two categories, viz. core and elective categories. Number of theory and laboratory courses in the core as well as in the elective categories is shown in Table I. Table I: Number of courses in various categories Category

No. of Theory Courses No. of Laboratory Courses Total Credits

Core Courses

4

3

15

Elective Courses (Electronics Group)

4

-

12

Minimum Requirement with Electronics as Major

8

3

27

A. Core Courses: There are 66 credits of core courses in the curriculum of the Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering program. Of them, 15 credits are electronics courses including four 3-credit theory and three 1-credit laboratory courses. The suggested course sequence has been shown in Table II. In the table, the actual course codes are not given, but the first 2 digits are shown to indicate in which year and trimester a course should be taught.

Course Code EEE 21** EEE 22** EEE 23** EEE 31** EEE 32** EEE 33** EEE 33**

Table II: Number of courses in core course category Course Title Electronics I Electronics II Electrical and Electronic Circuit Simulation Laboratory Electronics Laboratory Solid State Devices Digital Electronics Digital Electronics Laboratory

Credits 3 3 1 1 3 3 1

The course contents give us the complete description of a particular course. The course contents should be designed in such a way so that the students get the necessary knowledge on ‗Electronics‘ subjects, develop their skills to apply the knowledge earned in electronics, get the sufficient background knowledge for the next level courses on ‗Electronics‘ and other relevant subjects in the curriculum, and finally the intended course objectives and student learning outcomes are achieved. Incorporation of too many topics in a particular course may impede the students‘ learning objectives and outcomes. Therefore, the optimal contents for various ‗Electronics‘ courses need to be incorporated in each course very carefully. The detail course contents in the core course category are shown in the following paragraphs:

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2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 EEE 21** Electronics I 3 credits, 3 hours/week P-N junction as a circuit element: Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, operational principle of p-n junction diode, contact potential, current-voltage characteristics of a diode, simplified DC and AC diode models, dynamic resistance and capacitance. Diode circuits: Half wave and full wave rectifiers, rectifiers with filter capacitor, characteristics of a Zener diode, Zener shunt regulator, clamping and clipping circuits. Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) as a circuit element: current components, BJT characteristics and regions of operation, BJT as an amplifier, biasing the BJT for discrete circuits, small signal equivalent circuit models, BJT as a switch. Single stage mid-band frequency BJT amplifier circuits: Voltage and current gain, input and output impedance of a common base, common emitter and common collector amplifier circuits. Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) as circuit element: structure and physical operation of an enhancement MOSFET, threshold voltage, Body effect, currentvoltage characteristics of an enhancement MOSFET, biasing discrete and integrated MOS amplifier circuits, singlestage MOS amplifiers, MOSFET as a switch, CMOS inverter. EEE 22** Electronics II 3 credits, 3 hours/week Frequency response of amplifiers: Poles, zeros and Bode plots, amplifier transfer function, techniques of determining 3 dB frequencies of amplifier circuits, frequency response of single-stage and cascade amplifiers, frequency response of differential amplifiers. Operational amplifiers (Op-Amp): Properties of ideal Op-Amps, noninverting and inverting amplifiers, inverting integrators, differentiator, weighted summer and other applications of Op-Amp circuits, effects of finite open loop gain and bandwidth on circuit performance, logic signal operation of Op-Amp, DC imperfections. General purpose Op-Amp: DC analysis, small-signal analysis of different stages, gain and frequency response of 741 Op-Amp. Negative feedback: properties, basic topologies, feedback amplifiers with different topologies, stability, frequency compensation. Active filters: Different types of filters and specifications, transfer functions, realization of first and second order low, high and bandpass filters using Op-Amps. Signal generators: Basic principle of sinusoidal oscillation, Op-Amp RC oscillators, LC and crystal oscillators. Power Amplifiers: Classification of output stages, class A, B and AB output stages. EEE 23** Electrical and Electronic Circuit Simulation Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week Simulation laboratory based on Electrical Circuit I, Electrical Circuit II, Electronics I and Electronics II courses. Students will verify the theories and concepts learned in Electrical Circuit I, Electrical Circuit II, Electronics I and Electronics II using simulation software like PSpice and MATLAB. Students will also perform specific design of electrical and electronic circuits theoretically and by simulation. EEE 31** Electronics Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week In this course, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in Electronics I and Electronics II. EEE 32** Solid State Devices 3 credits, 3 hours/week Semiconductors in equilibrium: Energy bands, intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, Fermi levels, electron and hole concentrations, temperature dependence of carrier concentrations and invariance of Fermi level. Carrier transport processes and excess carriers: Drift and diffusion, generation and recombination of excess carriers, builtin-field, Einstein relations, continuity and diffusion equations for holes and electrons and quasi-Fermi level. PN junction: Basic structure, equilibrium conditions, contact potential, equilibrium Fermi level, space charge, nonequilibrium condition, forward and reverse bias, carrier injection, minority and majority carrier currents, transient and AC conditions, time variation of stored charge, reverse recovery transient and capacitance. Bipolar Junction Transistor: Basic principle of pnp and npn transistors, emitter efficiency, base transport factor and current gain, diffusion equation in the base, terminal currents, coupled-diode model and charge control analysis, Ebers-Moll equations and circuit synthesis. Metal-semiconductor junction: Energy band diagram of metal semiconductor junctions, rectifying and ohmic contacts. MOS structure: MOS capacitor, energy band diagrams and flat band voltage, threshold voltage and control of threshold voltage, static C-V characteristics, qualitative theory of MOSFET operation, body effect and current-voltage relationship of a MOSFET. Junction Field-Effect-Transistor: Introduction, qualitative theory of operation, pinch-off voltage and current-voltage relationship. Page 7


2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 EEE 32** Digital Electronics 3 credits, 3 hours/week Introduction to number systems and codes. Analysis and synthesis of digital logic circuits: Basic logic functions, Boolean algebra, combinational logic design, minimization of combinational logic. Implementation of basic static logic gates in CMOS and BiCMOS: DC characteristics, noise margin and power dissipation. Power optimization of basic gates and combinational logic circuits. Modular combinational circuit design: pass transistor, pass gates, multiplexer, demultiplexer and their implementation in CMOS, decoder, encoder, comparators, binary arithmetic elements and ALU design. Programmable logic devices: logic arrays, field programmable logic arrays and programmable read only memory. Sequential circuits: different types of latches, flip-flops and their design using ASM approach, timing analysis and power optimization of sequential circuits. Modular sequential logic circuit design: shift registers, counters and their applications. EEE 32** Digital Electronics Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week This course consists of two parts. In the first part, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in Digital Electronics. In the second part, students will design simple systems using the principles learned in the same course.

B. Elective Courses: There can several groups for the students intending to do their majors. Usually, in BSc in EEE program there are 4 groups, viz., power, electronics, communication and computer. To full-fill the minimum course requirements for the degree of BSc in EEE, a student must take only theory courses. If he/she wants to take laboratory based courses then his/her credit requirements will increase accordingly. The suggested course sequence has been shown in Table III without the actual course codes, but the first digit indicates that from the 4th year elective courses should be offered.

Course Code EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4*** EEE 4***

Table III: Number of courses in elective course category Course Title Analog Integrated Circuits VLSI I VLSI I Laboratory Compound Semiconductor and Hetero Junction Device Semiconductor Processing and Fabrication Technology VLSI II VLSI II Laboratory Optoelectronics Optoelectronics Laboratory Semiconductor Device Theory Green Electronics Nano Electronic Devices Nano Electronic Devices Laboratory Hardware Design with VHDL Hardware Design with VHDL Laboratory

Credits 3 3 1 3 3 3 1 3 1 3 3 3 1 3 1

The detail course contents are shown in the following paragraphs: EEE 4*** Analog Integrated Circuits 3 credits, 3 hours/week Review of FET amplifiers: Passive and active loads and frequency limitation. Current mirror: Basic, cascode and active current mirror. Differential Amplifier: Introduction, large and small signal analysis, common mode analysis and differential amplifier with active load. Noise: Introduction to noise, types, representation in circuits, noise in single stage and differential amplifiers and bandwidth. Band-gap references: Supply voltage independent biasing, temperature independent biasing, proportional to absolute temperature current generation and constant transconductance biasing. Switch capacitor circuits: Sampling switches, switched capacitor circuits including unity gain buffer, amplifier and integrator. Phase Locked Loop (PLL): Introduction, basic PLL and charge pumped PLL. Page 8


2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 EEE 4*** VLSI I 3 credits, 3 hours/week VLSI technology: Top down design approach, technology trends and design styles. Review of MOS transistor theory: Threshold voltage, body effect, I-V equations and characteristics, latch-up problems, NMOS inverter, CMOS inverter, pass-transistor and transmission gates. CMOS circuit characteristics and performance estimation: Resistance, capacitance, rise and fall times, delay, gate transistor sizing and power consumption. CMOS circuit and logic design: Layout design rules and physical design of simple logic gates. CMOS subsystem design: Adders, multiplier and memory system, arithmetic logic unit. Programmable logic arrays. I/O systems. VLSI testing. EEE 4*** VLSI I Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week This course consists of two parts. In the first part, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in VLSI I. In the second part, students will design simple systems using the principles learned in the same course. EEE 4*** Compound Semiconductor and Hetero-Junction Devices 3 credits, 3 hours/week Compound semiconductor: Zinc-blend crystal structures, growth techniques, alloys, band gap, density of carriers in intrinsic and doped compound semiconductors. Hetero-Junctions: Band alignment, band offset, Anderson's rule, single and double sided hetero-junctions, quantum wells and quantization effects, lattice mismatch and strain and common hetero-structure material systems. Hetero-Junction diode: Band banding, carrier transport and I-V characteristics. Hetero-junction field effect transistor: Structure and principle, band structure, carrier transport and IV characteristics. Hetero-structure bipolar transistor (HBT): Structure and operating principle, quasi-static analysis, extended Gummel-Poon model, Ebers-Moll model, secondary effects and band diagram of a graded alloy base HBT. EEE 4*** Semiconductor Processing and Fabrication Technology 3 credits, 3 hours/week Substrate materials: Crystal growth and wafer preparation, epitaxial growth technique, molecular beam epitaxy, chemical vapor phase epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Doping techniques: Diffusion and ion implantation. Growth and deposition of dielectric layers: Thermal oxidation, CVD, plasma CVD, sputtering and silicon-nitride growth. Etching: Wet chemical etching, silicon and GaAs etching, anisotropic etching, selective etching, dry physical etching, ion beam etching, sputtering etching and reactive ion etching. Cleaning: Surface cleaning, organic cleaning and RCA cleaning. Lithography: Photo-reactive materials, pattern generation, pattern transfer and metalization. Discrete device fabrication: Diode, transistor, resistor and capacitor. Integrated circuit fabrication: Isolation - pn junction isolation, mesa isolation and oxide isolation. BJT based microcircuits, p-channel and n-channel MOSFETs, CMOS and SOI devices. Testing, bonding and packaging. EEE 4*** VLSI II 3 credits, 3 hours/week VLSI MOS system design: Layout extraction and verification, full and semi-full custom design styles and logical and physical positioning. Design entry tools: Schematic capture and HDL. Logic and switch level simulation. Static timing. Concepts and tools of analysis, solution techniques for floor planning, placement, global routing and detailed routing. Application specific integrated circuit design including FPGA. EEE 4*** VLSI II Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week This course consists of two parts. In the first part, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in VLSI II. In the second part, students will design simple systems using the principles learned. EEE 4*** Optoelectronics 3 credits, 3 hours/week Optical properties in semiconductor: Direct and indirect band-gap materials, radiative and non-radiative recombination, optical absorption, photo-generated excess carriers, minority carrier life time, luminescence and quantum efficiency in radiation. Properties of light: Particle and wave nature of light, polarization, interference, diffraction and blackbody radiation. Light emitting diode (LED): Principles, materials for visible and infrared LED, internal and external efficiency, loss mechanism, structure and coupling to optical fibers. Stimulated emission and light amplification: Spontaneous and stimulated emission, Einstein relations, population inversion, absorption of Page 9


2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 radiation, optical feedback and threshold conditions. Semiconductor Lasers: Population inversion in degenerate semiconductors, laser cavity, operating wavelength, threshold current density, power output, hetero-junction lasers, optical and electrical confinement. Introduction to quantum well lasers. Photo-detectors: Photoconductors, junction photo-detectors, PIN detectors, avalanche photodiodes and phototransistors. Solar cells: Solar energy and spectrum, silicon and Schottkey solar cells. Modulation of light: Phase and amplitude modulation, electro-optic effect, acoustooptic effect and magneto-optic devices. Introduction to integrated optics. EEE 4*** Optoelectronics Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week This course consists of two parts. In the first part, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in Optoelectronics. In the second part, students will design simple systems using the principles learned in the same course. EEE 4*** Semiconductor Device Theory 3 credits, 3 hours/week Lattice vibration: Simple harmonic model, dispersion relation, acoustic and optical phonons. Band structure: Isotropic and anisotropic crystals, band diagrams and effective masses of different semiconductors and alloys. Scattering theory: Review of classical theory, Fermi-Golden rule, scattering rates of different processes, scattering mechanisms in different semiconductors, mobility. Different carrier transport models: Drift-diffusion theory, ambipolar transport, hydrodynamic model, Boltzman transport equations, QM model, simple applications. EEE 4*** Green Electronics 3 credits, 3 hours/week Introduction: technology scaling and major bottlenecks for digital and mixed signal design: power dissipation, parameter variations, reliability (NBTI, HCI, TDDB), transistor basics and short channel effects, leakage power, dynamic power, and parameter variations; leakage tolerant design - logic and memory, design of ultra-low power digital CMOs circuits, including near-threshold and sub-threshold logic, low-power DSP; memory design in scaled technologies - parameter variations and memory stability, low voltage and low power memories, new bit-cells, array architecture, parameter variations and low-voltage and low power design - voltage over-scaling and variation tolerance, application to general purpose computing and DSP systems, emerging technologies- FinFETs and variants, Tunnel FETs, III-V devices, Spin-torque transfer based logic and memories; power and performance implications. Quality of Service Constraints: energy resource efficiency, product longevity and lifecycle extension, sustainable, safe and benign materials, corporate transparency and supply chain management, optimization of product lifecycle resource management. EEE 4*** Nano Electronic Devices 3 credits, 3 hours/week Basic concepts: 3D, 2D, 1D carriers, DOS, carrier densities, directed moments, quantized conductance, semiclassical carrier transport, ballistic transport (classical and quantum). The MOSFET: MOS electronics: the MOS capacitor, MOSFET energy bands vs. bias, 2D electrostatics (the geometrical scaling factor). MOSFET current-voltage characteristics: General expression, linear region current, saturation region current (long channel), saturation region current (velocity saturated), full-range (above threshold and sub-threshold). The bipolar transistor: Device structure, I-V characteristics, MOSFET as a bipolar transistor. CMOS technology: the CMOS inverter and digital gates, device, circuit and system, figures of merit, MOSFET scaling, system considerations. The Ballistic MOSFET: the mean-free paths and L, ballistic I-V (T > 0 non-degenerate, T = 0 degenerate and T > 0), numerical simulation of the ballistic MOSFET. Scattering theory of the MOSFET: I-V in terms of the transmission coefficient, the transmission coefficient (low and high), the mean-free path for backscattering. Beyond the silicon MOSFET (the Carbon Nano Tube FET): carbon nanotubes, band-structure basics, MIS electrostatics of carbon nanotube capacitors, theory of the ballistic CNTFET, CNTFETs vs. MOSFETs, discussion. EEE 4*** Nano Electronic Devices Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week This course consists of two parts. In the first part, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in Nano Electronic Devices. In the second part, students will design simple systems using the principles learned in the same course. Page 10


2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 EEE 4*** Hardware Design with VHDL 3 credits, 3 hours/week VHDL: meaning, history and reasons for studying hardware design, design hierarchy. VHDL design example: Behavioral, Data flow and Structural descriptions. Introduction to PLD, PLA, PAL, CPLDs and FPGA technology and implementation of various logic functions using these technologies. Basic VHDL constructs, coding styles and synthesis. Design of various combinational and sequential logic circuits using VHDL. Bus Architecture, ALU, RAM, simple processor, CPU and various controller circuit design using VHDL. Pipelining. Implementation of FSM and ASM based design in VHDL. Writing VHDL test benches. EEE 4*** Hardware Design with VHDL Laboratory 1 credit, 2 hours/week This course consists of two parts. In the first part, students will perform experiments to verify practically the theories and concepts learned in Hardware Design with VHDL. In the second part, students will design simple systems using the principles learned in the same course.

IV. Bloom’s Taxonomy The idea for this classification system was formed at an informal meeting of the college examiners attending the 1948 American Psychological Association Convention in Boston. At this meeting, interest was expressed in a theoretical framework which could be used to facilitate communication among examiners. This group felt that such a framework could do much to promote the exchange of test materials and ideas about testing. In addition, it could be helpful in stimulating research on examining and on the relations between examining and education. After considerable discussion, there was agreement that such a theoretical framework might best be obtained through a system of classifying the goals of the educational process, since educational objectives provide the basis for building curricula and tests and represent the starting point for much of our educational research [6]. Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives within education proposed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin S. Bloom. Although named after Bloom, the publication followed a series of conferences from 1949 to 1953, which were designed to improve communication between educators on the design of curricula and examinations [7]. It refers to a classification of the different objectives that educators set for the students, i.e. the learning objectives. Bloom's Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three domains: Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor (sometimes loosely described as knowing/head, feeling/heart and doing/hands respectively). Within the domains, learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels [8]. A goal of Bloom's Taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education. A revised version of the taxonomy was created in 2000 [9]. Bloom also considered the initial effort to be a starting point, as evidenced in a memorandum from 1971 in which he said, ―Ideally each major field should have its own taxonomy in its own language - more detailed, closer to the special language and thinking of its experts, reflecting its own appropriate sub-divisions and levels of education, with possible new categories, combinations of categories and omitting categories as appropriate‖ [9]. Currently, the education system is undergoing rapid changes. Various new methods are introduced and used. Further, it makes teaching more effective and learning highly significant. An important goal of the undergraduate curriculum in engineering is to develop the integration, design, and evaluation capabilities of the student. As shown in Fig. 1, B. S. Bloom, in 1956, characterized the six cognitive levels in the hierarchy. The highest level of cognitive skills, synthesis and evaluation, rely on comprehension, application, and analysis capabilities in the knowledge domain, and are consequently the most difficult and challenging to teach. However, to prepare undergraduate courses to be effective in designing engineering systems in the industry, it is important to ensure an adequate coverage of these higher-level skills, rather than limiting their education to one based on just lower order skills [10].

Fig. 1 Levels in Cognitive Domain

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2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 In engineering education there is a shift in emphasis from professional skills to process skills [11]. These skills include problem analysis and problem solving, project management and leadership, analytical skills and critical thinking, dissemination and communication, interdisciplinary competencies, intercultural communication, innovation and creativity, and social abilities [12]. Critical thinking is a crucial skill that the engineering students need to develop in order to deal with real-life and authentic electrical and electronic engineering problems [13]-[14]. Traditional education tends to emphasize the skills in this domain, particularly the lower-order objectives. According to the taxonomy, moving through the lowest order processes to the highest, a student gains knowledge and skills and is able to solve real life problems of their fields of interest [15-18]. Therefore, to teach the ‗Electronics‘ course for the undergraduate engineering students, cognitive domain has been selected for effective teaching and learning process.

V. Teaching Method in Cognitive Domain Traditional teaching methods either start by explaining a theory and showing few examples or giving an example to introduce a theory. However, one of the both methods is chosen and fixed by the teacher independently. In a traditional classroom, students are passive listeners most of the time. They come to the classroom unprepared and just listen to the instructor and take notes. This classroom environment lacks interactions between faculty and students, and between students themselves. If students actively participate in the classroom learning activities, they will be more cognitively engaged and as a result be able to achieve a better understanding of new materials [19]. Thus, there exist problems in teaching methods of ‗Electronics‘ course and hence it needs improvement. To illustrate the teaching and learning method of ‗Electronics‘ course in cognitive an example, from an earlier paper [17], of ‗An electronic bipolar transistor amplifier circuit‘ has been selected [20] from the course content of this course. The student will first learn about bipolar junction transistor‘s construction and working principle and then bias the transistor to find the operating point of the transistor. Then the student will design the amplifier circuit and apply the appropriate ac signal to the base of the transistor to get the amplified ac output at its collector terminal. One such circuit is shown in Fig. 2 where two dc and one ac voltage sources have been used. Then they will draw the hybrid h-model circuit and derive the expression of amplifier‘s gain. Finally, the gain of the amplifier needs to be calculated from the expression they derived [20]. When it is done, students will be asked to design similar circuit using one dc voltage source for biasing and thus they need to modify the circuit by themselves. How the educational objectives are achieved for this particular problem of solving the ‗Electronics‘ at six different cognitive levels is assessed in the following sub-sections to demonstrate the student‘s learning processes and skills upon the course contents. To get the student feedback about their learning, several questions will be asked to them and answer has to be taken and recorded in their work book so that the actual learning objectives and outcomes are achieved.

VCC = 10 V

RC = 3 k

RBB = 100 k

vi(t)

VBB = 3 V

Fig. 2 An electronic bipolar transistor amplifier circuit with bias voltages.

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2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 A. Knowledge At this level, students are provided with sufficient knowledge so that they can list or state the problems and also exhibit memory of previously learned materials by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers. Knowledge may be of different categories, such as, Knowledge of specifics- terminology, specific facts Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics- conventions, trends and sequences, classifications and categories, criteria, methodology Knowledge of the universals and abstractions in a field- principles and generalizations, theories and structures Question: Describe the working principle of bipolar junction transistor with its schematic constructional diagram. B. Comprehension At this level, students demonstrate understanding of terms and concepts and explain the concept in their own words and also interpret the results. Here, students demonstrate the understanding of the facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions and stating main ideas and also by extrapolation. Question: Explain how transistor can amplify an ac signal. C. Application At this level, students apply the learned information to solve a problem, to calculate or to solve for the required value. The students also solve problems to new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way. Question: Calculate the bias currents and the operating point of the amplifier circuit. Or draw the hybrid h-model of the amplifier circuit. D. Analysis At this level, students break things down into their elements, formulate theoretical explanations or mathematical or logical models for observed phenomena, derive or explain something by identifying motives or causes. They make inferences and find evidence to support generalizations. They also do analysis of elements, analysis of relationships or analysis of organizational principles. Question: Derive the equation of amplifier‘s gain. E. Synthesis At this level, students create something combining elements in novel ways; formulate an alternative to the existing design. They also compile information together in a new pattern to produce a unique communication or to propose a set of operations or to derive a set of abstract relations. Question: Calculate the amplifier' gain when collector resistance is changed. F. Evaluation At this level, students make and justify the values obtained by judgment or select an appropriate value among the various alternatives and also determine which one is better and explain its reasoning, analyze the values critically for accuracy and precision. They also opine by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria or evidences. Question: Design an amplifier circuit that will use only one dc voltage source and draw the hybrid h-model of the amplifier circuit to find the expression of new gain. Learning achievement reflects the quality of education of an educational institution where teachers are directly involved in achieving it. To determine the achievement of the course outcomes in the cognitive domain it is first necessary to analyze the educational objectives and corresponding learning abilities of the students at different levels of the cognitive domain. These are given in Table III. Classroom based assessment or authentic assessment is considered as many kinds of assessment schemes that can be used to evaluate students learning achievement to cover all levels of cognitive domain. Course outcome achievement is measured through the continuous assessment of all the students in the course. Page 13


2nd BANGLADESH ELECTRONICS OLYMPIAD 2017 Table III: Achievement of Bloom‘s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in Cognitive Domain Cognitive Level

Educational Objectives

Learning Ability

1

Knowledge

List, cite

2

Comprehension

Explain, paraphrase

3

Application

Calculate, solve, determine

4

Analysis

Classify, predict, model, derive, interpret

5

Synthesis

Propose, create, invent, design, improve

6

Evaluation

Judge, select, critique, justify, optimize

VII. Suggestions To have deeper understanding of the course, students must also learn few simulations tools, like PSpice, MATLAB, Proteus, Electronics Workbench etc. for the circuit design and simulation. Besides, for device design and characterization they may learn tools, like COMSOL Multiphysics, MEDICI, SILVACO etc. After that they should go for practical implementation, testing and validation. They must build small capstone project as part of their course work. For laboratory works, all the laboratories must be set-up with necessary equipment and computing machines so that both simulation and experimental works can be conducted. Without verification of simulation results with the practical data, student learning cannot be complete. Detail experiment sheets and laboratory guidelines must be provided to the students, a copy of it must be with the course teacher, in the department and in the laboratory. Laboratory technician should know about all the laboratory manuals, and be able to operate all the instrument and machines. Student must submit laboratory report individually for each experiment at every week. They must submit separate report for the capstone project and must present it to the department.

VIII. Conclusions The engineering graduates must be well prepared in the changing global competitive knowledge-based industry. Therefore, universities are facing challenges as well as opportunities for creating and transferring knowledge to the students to transform them as an efficient and smart engineer. This paper describes the designing the electronics course for the curriculum, teaching and learning processes of ‗Electronics‘ course for engineering students in cognitive domain by giving a practical example. This domain includes the recall of knowledge and cultivation of intellectual skills. Certain cognitive processes, such as, problem solving, critical thinking, reasoning, analysis and evaluations are very important in engineering tasks. Since ‗Electronics‘ is an elementary level as well as advanced level course in the curriculum of undergraduate engineering program, therefore, this course must be taught in such a way so that the students are able to develop their knowledge and skills on design of electronic circuits, systems and controllers, implementation and testing of these things; measurement, interpretations and use of data sheets, etc. in their real life engineering jobs. In future, design, teaching and learning of specific electronics course will be discussed in details with suggested laboratory and project works. Besides, how various laboratories should be set-up, what should be the experiment list, how the classes should be conducted, what capstone projects need to give students for the course/laboratory class- these issues require elaborate discussions and suggestions.

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