Bridging Gaps in Electronic Circuit Design Education: An Action Research Study

Abstract

This paper presents an action research project aimed at improving the performance of second-year students in electronic circuit design, as part of their practice in the undergraduate module MEC104 at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Several issues have been identified through observations by module leaders and feedback from students, including gaps between lectures and lab sessions, safety concerns, and lengthy debugging periods. To address these challenges, this study proposed integrating the TinkerCAD simulation tool into the module, outlining a three-step action research plan. The results and analysis indicate a positive impact of the simulation-based approach on student learning and performance in electronic circuit design. The paper concludes with a discussion of future work in this area.