Approach to physics and technology, through its applications, to students in the first year of degrees in industrial engineering

Resumen

When the students finish the secondary education and they begin a university degree, an engineering in this case, they don´t have a clear idea and the first year is confusing for them, because the subjects what they have to study are generic, as Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. This is so, because the basic training is necessary in the studies of engineering.To motivate the students of Degree in Electrical Engineering, Degree in Industrial Electronic and Automatic Engineering and Open Degree in Industrial Engineering of the Polytechnic University College of the University of A Coruña (Spain), the teachers of physics have proposed two activities to approach the physics to the engineering. The program consist of eight themes, therefore we have proposed eight ideas and proposals in each one of the activities.In the first activity, we put the focus on the applications of Physics in real known events of daily life, such as the GPS, the airbag, the wind farms, the hybrid car or the glass fibers. The second activity consisted in the viewing in class of eight short videos, of a maximum of approximately three minutes, concerning to common issues in the industry and/or in research and with strong innovative character. Thus, we have touched on topics as attractive as “Quantum Computer”, “Green Hydrogen” or “Electronic skin”.To assess whether both activities were interesting and innovative for the students, in the first one, the results was obtained directly by asking to the student, face to face, in the practical laboratories, and in the second one, a questionnaire was proposed by Forms in Virtual Campus of University of A Coruña. Both activities were considered, by the students, very positive and interesting. The video “The Electronic Skin” has been the one that most surprised them and this, together with the video “Quantum Computer”, were the topics that the students considered most attractive. However, the theme, that they would like to know more, was “The Electric Car”.As a conclusion of this experience, the teachers involved consider that the initially proposed objective of bringing the new engineering students closer to Physics and Technology through its applications, was widely achieved with these two new activities.