Integrating Amateur Radio into the Introductory Electricity and Magnetism Curriculum at Kettering University

Kettering University is a engineering-focused university in Flint, Michigan, with a strong tradition of integrating theory and practice. Students typically alternate each quarter between coursework on campus and cooperative education in the workplace. All undergraduate engineering majors are required to take a calculus-based physics course in electricity and magnetism for their degree programs. Last year I proposed to integrate content covered by the Technician license exam into this course with the goal of students learning both electromagnetism and gaining the opportunity to obtain an nationally-recognized external credential. To this end, I redesigned my version of the course to include applications of physical principles to amateur radio and other wireless technology. While there was already significant overlap between the existing curricula in some areas (e.g., electric field, potential, current, DC resistor circuits, capacitors, magnetic fields), other new areas needed to be introduced (e.g., transceivers, repeaters, antennas, radio wave propagation, RF exposure). I also added content to introduce student to amateur radio culture, licensing regulations, and operating regulations. To better combine the traditional approaches of teaching the physics of electricity and magnetism with topics in amateur radio, I am currently in the process of writing, remixing, and editing a freely-accessible online textbook via the LibreTexts open education project. I have also created test banks of the license exam questions suitable for importing into common learning management systems. Finally, I have developed and tested in-class and out-of-class activities to give students hand-on exposure to radio and am currently developing an associated laboratory curriculum. Initial results from the Fall 2024 quarter were promising with a cohort of 26 students achieving an 85% pass rate on the Technician license exam.