Introducing Hypermedia Learning Resources in a Physics Course on Semiconductor Devices for Electronic Engineering Students

Matter constitute the basis of the main concept that supports a Physics Course on Semiconductor Devices for Electronic engineering students. Discrete energy levels, stationary electronic states, absorption and emission of quantum energy, generation, recombination and diffusion of charge carriers, are some of the most important concepts in the course. Such concepts aren’t easy enough for our students. The construction of the associated scientific frameworks requires high cognitive demands. The non intuitive character of the concepts involved in Quantum Mechanics is one of the main obstacles for the learning processes. In addition, since the entire Electronic Engineer program was changed, the curriculum has been altered. The reduction of time of the previous Physics Courses constituted new problems we had to face. While the traditional course content remained almost identical we had to incorporate the basis content of Quantum Mechanics. In order to improve the learning processes the authors developed a hypermedia assisted self study system called “Del átomo al sólido”. It was used as a teaching resource during three academic courses, performing three different research situations. In this paper we describe the hypermedia system and examine learning outcomes and students satisfaction. 1 INTRODUCTION: QUANTUM MECHANICS AS A CURRICULAR PROBLE