Prior understanding of basic electrical circuit concepts by first year engineering students

There is a broad diversity of educational background of students entering Level 7 programmes in engineering. As a result, students’ reasoning regarding basic electrical concepts often differs from accepted explanations. This contribution reports, analyses and reflects on the results of a multiple-choice diagnostic test to assess student understanding of such concepts (developed by Engelhardt and Beichner (2004) for high school and college students), taken by three cohorts of first year, Level 7, engineering students at Dublin Institute of Technology during the 2008-9 academic year.