Incorporating a Model-Based Approach in an Introductory Electronics Course Using Simscape

The teaching of circuits and electronics courses has historically been supplemented with circuit simulation software such as PSpice, Multisim, among others. In this Innovative Practice Full Paper we describe our experience in teaching an introductory electronics course with MATLAB Simscape, a software tool that allows for physical and multibody modeling of systems. We decided to try Simscape in our electronics course because of the system modeling capabilities of the tool and its seamless integration with MATLAB Simulink, another tool used by students in subsequent courses (e.g., control systems, communications, signal processing, and so on). We present the simulation experiments (half-wave rectifier, offset and gain amplifier, BJT/MOSFET inverter, and PWM DC motor speed control) that were created in order to acquaint the students with Simscape. In addition, we collected data from past offerings of the course to compare with the Simscape-supplemented course; results reveal slight improvement in students' performance. We also surveyed the students to obtain their impressions about the effectiveness of the model-based approach at reinforcing conceptual understanding of the topics covered in the course.