| Contrary to what many textbooks and modern-day classroom presentations claim, the evolution of our current concepts of electricity did not follow a neat straight-forward path. The twists and turns taken often resulted in terminology and analogies that are frequently misleading to students. For this reason, we need to understand what the misconceptions and blind alleys were in the evolution of the science of electricity; when and why the electrical engineering schools were established; how the developing electrical industries influenced the curricula of the engineering education, and, finally, what exactly the concepts were found imbedded in the theories of electricity. Through exploration of all these factors we will be able to see more clearly the similarities and the differences between science and engineering approaches to the theories of electricity. Such an exploration will also enable teachers to clarify to the students the models we all accept, and facilitate the building of more easily workable conceptions of electricity.;This dissertation examines the history of the ideas and assumptions that underlie our present theories of electricity and the way these theories are perceived, understood, and taught in electrical engineering technology programs. The investigation focuses on the concepts and mental models of electricity that students acquire in their introductory electric circuits courses. These include the idea of electric charge, electric current, electric potential, electric field, and examines the use of complex numbers and phasors in the analysis of alternating current circuits as they are taught in first year electric circuits courses. |
