Computer Assisted Teaching to Improve the Global Understanding of Synchronous Generators in Energy Engineering Degrees

Courses on synchronous generators are part of energy engineering undergraduate programs throughout the world. However, according to the currently scientific literature, understanding of the way synchronous generators operate presents difficulties for students, leading to high failure rates. This study examines the effects of computer assisted learning on energy engineering undergraduates' overall understanding of synchronous generators. Specifically, the library SymspowerSystems of MATLAB was used to observe and verify the performance of a synchronous machine when connected to an infinite electrical network. In order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, two groups of students were evaluated: the control group, which followed traditional teaching methodology, and the experimental group, which used the proposed methodology. Both groups were evaluated using the same final test, with the results analyzed via a contrast of the means. The results show that the proposed methodology significantly outperformed the traditional methodology in all three dimensions under analysis: theory, problems and overall performance.