Impact of Hands-On Training Aids on Student Understanding and Perception of Electrical Theory at McHenry County College

Plan BThe purpose of this study is to determine the impact the XYZ Training Aid had on student understanding and perception of electrical theory in the Electrical Fundamentals course taught by the automotive department at McHenry County College. An understanding of electrical theory is an increasingly important skill for professional automotive technicians. This makes quality training equipment of great value to not only automotive instructors, but all who teach electrical theory. A mixed methods approach was taken to study both the impact on student’s ability to diagnose basic electrical circuits, as well as their perception of the process of learning electrical theory. An experimental group was provided an electrical theory education that utilized the XYZ Training Aid, and a control group utilized other training devices used previously to the invention of the XYZ Training Aid. Both groups were scored on electrical diagnostic abilities and mean scores were compared. Students were also provided a survey intended to understand their perception of the process of learning electrical theory. The students who used the XYZ Training Aid showed increased performance on an electrical circuit diagnosis assessment and showed better results for interest and engagement throughout the learning process as reported on a student survey