Simplified and Inexpensive Integrated Simulation and Hands-on Experiments in Teaching Electronics Instrumentation and Measurement Laboratory Course

In order to develop students to be effective engineers upon graduation, it is important to bridge the gap between theory and reality. This is usually achieved through hands-on laboratory experiments. Hands-on laboratories form an integral and important part of engineering courses, and especially, the electronic circuits related courses within the undergraduate level of education. Hence, it is important to develop well outlined laboratory manuals that reflect the theoretical part of the course, with complete embodiment of simulation and hands-on experimental parts. Moreover, it is important to compare simulation and measurement data to appreciate the merits of hands-on experiments. This work presents an integrated simulation and hands-on experiments in teaching electronics instrumentation and measurement laboratory course using low-cost off-the-shelf components. A no-cost circuit simulator software (LTSPICE) and low-cost breadboard with readily available off-the-shelf circuit components can be used both at home (self-paced) and in the laboratory to motivate students and align results for an improved learning approach. The advantage of this integrated laboratory is that no specialized or expensive teaching kit is required, which improves accessibility and delivery of the course. In addition, students are satisfied with this simplified and low-cost integrated laboratory.