Misunderstood activity – what calculated numbers mean in electrical engineering
A common misunderstanding arises in students of Electrical Engineering Technology when they are taught too much math and they lose sight of the meaning of numbers. As they need to calculate values of voltages and currents found in circuits, they become bogged down in crunching the numbers on their calculators using complicated equations and formulas. Once they arrive at a number, they don’t bother to do a mental check to see if the number that they calculated actually makes sense or not. For instance, I have had students state that they require over 1 million amps of current when toasting bread at home! I need to remind them that their homes are limited to 100 amps in total! This is seen even in senior semesters, so the problem is occurring at the earlier semesters when they are taught the foundations of the subject. What is required I believe, is to provide them with practical examples of equipment ratings that they use in their everyday lives. The link that I have provided here: https://www.do-it-yourself-help.com/measuring-circuit-amps is a resource used for do-it-yourself electrical work. These days, many people are using sources like YouTube and TikTok to learn practical things. Using some of those resources in the theory may also make the content more relevant to current generation of learners.
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