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 Frontline
Phys. Educ. 52 (2017) 033008 (6pp) iopscience.org/ped

How to teach memristors

in school
Stavros G Stavrinides
Computer Science Department, University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece

E-mail: sgs@cs.uth.gr

Abstract
A memristor is the fourth fundamental electrical element, next to resistor,
capacitor and inductor. This element has attracted the interest of the
scientific and engineering communities during the last few years, due to the
construction of such a device by the HP-Labs in 2008. Thus, theoretical,
technological, as well as practical issues about memristors have emerged.
One of the practical issues is the way that memristors will be introduced in
the education procedure. In this frontline an initial approach of introducing
memristor teaching in schools is proposed. This course proposal is based on
lab inquiring activities and utilizes the simplest device exhibiting memristive
characteristics, a light bulb.

1. Introduction a great deal of effort has been put in building

The concept of a fourth fundamental electrical
element, due to a relation symmetry necessity,
belongs to Leon Chua, who in 1971 axiomati-
cally introduced the memristor [1]. This device
was placed next to a resistor, capacitor and induc-
tor, with its basic equation linking charge q with
flux ϕ (figure 1). He labelled this missing link
as ‘memristor’—short for memory-resistor. A
memristor device becomes more or less resistive
according to the charge that has flowed through it;
this way the history of its state of operation can be
represented and saved. This property allows for
memristors to operate both as a computing and
storage element [2]. The latter even without any
power supply in the case of non-volatile memris-
tors. These features highlight the potential of the
advance that this kind of device could bring to
sciences and electronics [2].
The noteworthy result, achieved by the
HP-Labs in 2008, when the team of Williams
recognized and realized the first memristor nano-
device, revived the interest of the scientific and
engineering communities [3]. As a consequence,
devices which can either operate as memristors or
at least demonstrate memristive features.
All the above militate in favour of the fact
that teaching memristors seems to become a
necessity in the years to come, while it is a chal-
lenging issue since it involves the modification of
the presently taught theory of electricity and elec-
tric circuits. To this direction, there have already
been a couple of attempts in designing courses
on memristors, mainly in the frame of under-
graduate electrical engineering curricula [4, 5]. It
is apparent, that this necessity will soon appear
in the frame of High School science or STEM
curriculum, as well. To this direction, K Atkins
has alerted school education on this new circuit
comp­onent, in the paper appearing in [6].
In this brief, the design of an elementary
approach, aiming to bring school students in
touch with some of the fundamental proper-
ties of memristors, is presented. This approach
avoids any complicated mathematics. On the con-
trary, it tries to highlight some of the properties
of memristors from a practical point of view.

1361-6552/17/033008+6$33.00 1 © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd

S G Stavrinides
q ϕ
M = dϕ/dq
dq
= 0
dt
C = dq/dV
I⋅d
V⋅
L = dϕ/dI
t –0.2
=
dϕ
V R = dV/dI
Figure 1. Symmetrical relations between the four
fundamental electric magnitudes. The theoretical
existence of a fourth element (the memristor) is
apparent.
The proposed approach is based on blended learn-
ing, since both the classic axiomatic teaching
method and the inquiring one are utilized. Finally,
it is noted that a torch light-bulb serves as a vola-
tile memristor device, according to the demon-
strated memristive behaviour reported in [7].
2.  Theoretical elements
As mentioned above and illustrated in figure  1,
the original defining relation of memristors is one
linking charge q with flux ϕ, as in equation (1):
ϕ = M (q, x→) ⋅ q
(1)
In this generalized version, memristance M is a
function not only of charge (q) but also of a vec-
tor x→ representing a number of physical quanti-
ties (not only electrical ones), which influence its
value [8]. Thus, the proper domain for studying
and characterizing memristors is the q–ϕ domain.
In order to make things more appropriate for
a school audience, one can study memristors and
their properties in the I–V domain, taking into
account the diagonal relations of figure 1, i.e. the
fact that flux is the integral of the applied voltage
and charge the integral of the current through it,
both holding in all cases [9]. Consequently, the
original definition of equation (1) could finally be
interpreted into:
V = M (I , x→) ⋅ I
(2)
May 2017
8
0.5Hz
4
–0.1 0 0.1 0.2
–4 I increasing
I decreasing
–8
I
Figure 2. A Type II memristive pinched hysteresis
loop I(A)–V(V), demonstrated by a torch light bulb.
where M(I, x→ is the memristance, in the
sense of a nonlinear resistor with memory, dem-
onstrating its own dynamics, though.
The unique features characterizing memris-
tors arise from the relevant dynamics emerging,
and include an I–V characteristic, exhibiting either
an intersecting at the origin of the axes (pinched)
hysteresis loop (Type I), when it is driven by an
ac current or voltage, or a non-intersecting but
still pinched one (Type II) [11]. This feature is
the well-known fingerprint of memristive behav-
iour; as Leon Chua stated: if it’s pinched it’s a
­memristor [10]. This was proved vice-versa by
Biolek et al in [11].
In [7], the demonstrated memristive hyster-
etic behaviour of a device, namely a torch light
bulb, was experimentally investigated. Light bulbs
behave as typical volatile, non-ideal memristors.
Although they do not maintain their resistive situ-
ation when they are turned off, they demonstrate
a pinched hysteresis loop for frequencies up to 10
Hz. A thermal model, according to equation (2),
defining memristance as a function of the bulb
current and the filament temperature M(I,Tf),
was proposed in [12]. Finally, in figure 2, a typi-
cal memristive pinched hysteresis loop, demon-
strated by a 6 V light bulb driven by an ac-current
of 0.5 Hz, is illustrated [7].
3.  Motivation, objectives and
methodology
Although one can find numerous examples,
tutorials and simulations about resistors, capaci-
tors and inductors in textbooks and companion
2 Phys. Educ. 52 (2017) 033008

(a) (b)
I 4
+
DC V
– 2
bulb
Figure 3. (a) A simple bulb circuit (the power supply could be either a voltage or a current one). (b) The
experimental I(A)–V(V) graph of the bulb connected to a dc-power supply.
material of all levels, it is not so in the case of
memristors. In addition to this, no lab exercises
or any kind of proposed procedures on teaching
memristive devices exist [4, 5], as no standard
memristor devices are available, with the excep-
tion of a handful of scientific laboratory devices.
In the meantime the importance of the memristor
seems to increase, as already explained in previ-
ous sections.
Motivated by this situation and under the
prism of the reported memristive behaviour of
simple light bulbs [7, 12], even low voltage torch
bulbs, an introductory course for High School
students on the properties of memristors is pro-
posed and described in the following section.
The objectives of this course are:
• to make students understand the extent of the
validity of Ohm’s law, since memristance
behaves like a nonlinear resistance;
• to lead students to discover memristor’s
­fingerprint, i.e. its typical hysteretic loop.
These objectives are judged to be reasonable
for High School students and they will provide
basic practical knowledge of memristor character-
istics while the students will acquire an elemen-
tary insight into the behaviour of such a device.
At this level, students have been taught basic
electricity and elementary electric circuits, while
they possess the skills needed for using school lab
equipment. Although the ideas of oscillations and
waves are in the High School curriculum in most
countries worldwide, in some cases there maybe
May 2017
How to teach memristors in school
5
3
1
0
0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16
the need to familiarize students with them and by
extension with ac-current, before getting students
to discover memristive behaviour features.
It is well-known that light bulbs are devices
where Ohm’s law does not hold, although it holds
for the case of the metal filament. This is due to
the fact that a mechanism of thermal emission
and absorption exists. Thus, its nonlinear nature
emerges. This feature has already been utilized
and discussed in order to explain the limits within
which Ohm’s law holds [13].
Considering the audience to which this short
course is addressed, a methodology based on the
utilization of the exhibited memristive behaviour
by simple torch light bulbs is hereby proposed.
This is the simplest way to get school students in
touch with memristors and their features through
a qualitative confrontation. It also demonstrates
the advantage of exploiting school science labs
by employing a blended approach of both con-
frontational teaching and the inquiring approach.
This way school students have the opportunity to
discover unexpected elementary electric behav-
iours and through them basic qualitative features
of memristors.
4.  Course proposal
The blended approach proposed in the previous
section is unavoidable since school students, even
if they have heard about memristors, do not have
any solid knowledge about them. Consequently,
in order to use a systematic initial approach to the
3 Phys. Educ. 52 (2017) 033008
S G Stavrinides
(a) (b)
R I–V
AC V –0.7
I
bulb
0.13
0.08
0.03
I (mA)
AC I V M
–0.03
–0.08
–0.03
Figure 4. (a) The bulb-based real memristive circuit (upper) and its equivalent memristive one (lower) is
presented. (b) A snapshot of the custom-made, real-time monitoring and data acquisition system, in the case of an
ac-current of 120 mVp–p, 0.01 Hz.
issue it is judged that a short introduction, ranging
from the memristor symbol to relating memris-
tors to the other three fundamental electrical ele-
ments, is necessary; figure 1 could be helpful, in
such a case. However, out of the three elements,
the one that requires discussion in relation to
memristors is the resistor. This is because Ohm’s
law and memristor’s defining relation in the I–V
domain, i.e. equation (2), appear to be the same.
The difference is that memristance M(I, x→) pos-
sesses its own dynamics, which in any case are
complex. In the case of light bulbs it is the fila-
ment temperature (Tf) that plays the role of the
external physical quantity influencing the value
of memristance, thus according to the model pro-
posed in [12], M  =  M(I, Tf).
In the first experimental inquiring procedure,
the students are asked to create a simple circuit
by connecting a 6 V torch-bulb to a variable dc-
voltage/current power supply (figure 3(a)). The
students have to properly connect a voltmeter and
an ammeter, in order to monitor both the voltage
across the bulb and the current through it. Then
they are asked to create the corresponding I–V
graph in the range of 0–5 V (for safety reasons).
The resulting graph appears in figure 3(b).
May 2017
3.6
2.1
V (Volts)
0.7
–2.1
–3.6
–0.13 –0.08 –0.03 0.03 0.08 0.13
I (mA)
3.6
V
I 2.2
V (Volts)
0.7
–0.7
–2.2
–3.6
0 60 120
time(s)
Although the expected result for a metal fila-
ment is a linear relation between current and volt­
age, it is apparent that this is not the case for the
bulb. A discussion on the extent of Ohm’s law,
according to the comments appearing in [13],
could take place. However, the most important
notion is to stress the fact that the bulb is a non-
linear element, due to the emitting-absorbing
heating phenomenon; thus it is an option (some-
thing that is not always applying) to demonstrate
a resistance that possesses its own dynamics, like
in the case of memristors—see equation (2).
In the second experimental procedure, the
students are requested to create the circuit appear-
ing in the upper part of figure  4(a). The bulb is
connected in series to an ohmic resistor (R  =  1 Ω),
so that the current through the bulb could be indi-
rectly monitored and the system is supplied by an
ac-current source. Then they are asked to monitor
the voltage across the bulb and the circuit current
(indirectly by monitoring the voltage across resis-
tor R). This could be accomplished either by using
an oscilloscope (a digital version with storage
abilities would be helpful, especially in the low
frequencies, used in this case) or by utilizing any
kind of real time registration and representation
4 Phys. Educ. 52 (2017) 033008

6 pinched hysteresis loop [8].
4 dents could also study light bulb’s memristive
1Hz
V (V) 2
0 For example, in figure 5 the i–v characteristic, in
–0.2 –0.15 –0.1 –0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
–2 I (A)
–4
–6
–8
Figure 5. Memristor’s fingerprint in the case of a
driving ac-current 10 Hz.
system (automated data acquisition system), like
a data logger or even a smartphone-based appli-
cation for monitoring electric signals; with the
pursuit of creating the corresponding I–V curve.
In figure 4(b), a snapshot of a custom-made
monitoring and registration system, created for
the study of the memristive behaviour of light
bulbs, appears. It consists of a continuous pic-
ture of the bulb, as this is monitored/recorded
by a camera, and two graphs, one illustrating the
time series evolution of the both the current and
voltage signals, while the other one is illustrating
the I–V characteristic curve; all three illustrations
are real time and fully synchronized in between
them. In this case the bulb was supplied by an
ac-current of 120 mAp–p, 0.01 Hz. The driving
ac-current frequency used was so low that the stu-
dents could also observe even the evolution in the
bulb’s lighting during a period.
The I–V characteristic curve, illustrated in
figure 4(b), reveals the emblematic memristor fin-
gerprint as stated in [10] by Leon Chua: ‘If it’s
pinched it’s memristor’. The presented applied
current and the resulting voltage time-series’
lead the students to discover the distortion of
the volt­age signal, compared to that of the cur­
rent. At the same time they can notice that both
current and voltage signal intersect one another
at zero value; thus no phase lag is noticed (like
the hysteretic loops of the other two electrical
elements, i.e. the capacitor and the inductor). As
a result, the light bulb’s memristive behaviour
emerges and through this the students realize the
May 2017
How to teach memristors in school
most important feature of a memristor, that of the
According to the previous directions, stu-
behaviour, in the case of other driving current
frequencies and confirm memristor’s fingerprint.
0.2 the case of a driving current of 1 Hz, is presented.
The emblematic memristor fingerprint is again
evident. Note that the light bulb’s memristive
behaviour appears for frequencies less than 10 Hz
[7, 12]. This different case provides the physics
teacher with an opportunity to discuss and explain
the fact that memristance (unlike resistance) is
dependent on the complex dynamics of the mem-
ristor itself. In this case, this is due to the physical
system (filament) emitting and absorbing heat.
5. Discussion
The revival of the interest on memristors in the
scientific and the engineering world, together with
the progress that has been achieved in this area,
has raised the issue of the introduction of mem-
ristors in the curricula. The lack of cheap, off the
self and easy to use devices is a preventing agent.
However, it is apparent that physics school pro-
fessors will have to confront the issue of teaching
memristors, if not today, in the near future. The
use of expensive, expertise-demanding simula-
tion tools (like PSpice derivatives), where models
of memristors exist is not the proper solutions; at
the same time simulations of something that stu-
dents have never seen in real life are not the best
way to introduce them.
On the other hand, the lately described mem-
ristive behaviour of simple light bulbs, even torch
light bulbs, provides physics teachers with a device
that could be utilized for the demonstration of mem-
ristive behaviour. To this way a proposal on how to
teach memristors to school students appeared in the
preceding lines. This proposal adopted a blended
approach of theoretical and experimental teaching
as well as confrontational and inquiry approaches.
No complicated mathematics have been used, while
simulations were avoided. Of course the use of
simple data-acquisition systems, would make this
approach easier for the students and will allow them
to concentrate on the main theme of this course. In
any case, the students would have acquired their
first knowledge on the features of memristors.
5 Phys. Educ. 52 (2017) 033008
S G Stavrinides
Received 16 December 2016
Accepted for publication 12 January 2017
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aa5aa8
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges support to the EU
COST Action IC1401: Memristors - Devices,
Models, Circuits, Systems and Applications
(MemoCiS).
References
[1] Chua L 1971 IEEE Trans. Circuit Theory
18 507–19
[2] Chua L 2015 Radioengineering 24 319–68
[3] Strukov D B, Snider G S, Stewart D R and
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[5] Pazienza G E and Albo-Canals J 2011
IEEE Circuits Syst. Mag. 11 36–44
[6] Atkins K 2013 Phys. Educ. 48 317–21
[7] Theodorakakos A, Stavrinides S G,
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Int. Conf. Memristive Systems (MEMRISYS)
p 7378393
May 2017
[8] Chua L 2012 Proc. IEEE 100 1920–7
[9] Corinto F, Civalleri P-P and Chua L O 2015
IEEE JETCAS 5 123–32
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[11] Biolek D, Biolek Z and Biolkova V 2011
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Stavros Stavrinides is a Physicist with
a MSc in Electronics and a PhD in
Chaotic Electronics. He has taught
numerous topics in physics and
electronics, in various institutions, for
more than 17 years. He currently
serves as a Physics school Professor
and Principal in a Greek Public
School; at the same time, he teaches
electronics as an Adjunct Lecturer at
the Computer Science Department,
University of Thessaly, Greece. He has
authored or co-authored more than 60 journal and conference
papers and is an IEEE Senior Member.
6 Phys. Educ. 52 (2017) 033008