Increasing the interest in antennas and microwave courses

Subjects related to electromagnetics in undergraduate electrical engineering courses are normally seen as problematic by students, due to the inherent complexity and abstract concepts. The effect is that students are drawn away from related research areas. Some approaches were developed to enhance the motivation and physical insight of the concepts seen in class. Electromagnetic compatibility is used as a source of real world examples where students see that applied electromagnetics is not a field unrelated with their experiences. In addition to that, final projects with handmade antennas help guide students through a complete design cycle, from analytical formulation to the actual measurement, so that the connections concerning the theory, simulation, prototyping, and measurements are closed. These techniques were applied and provided good results, increasing the understanding and motivation among students toward radio-frequency and antenna-related areas.