Engineering mathematics---what do students think?

Wood, Leigh N

ANZIAM Journal, Tome 48 (2008), / Harvested from Australian Mathematical Society

Résumé

What do our students think of mathematics and how do we help prepare them for the workplace? This article reports results from an open-ended questionnaire with engineering students in five countries. We investigate how they conceive of mathematics and how they perceive their university study has prepared them for the workforce. The results show that students have different ideas of mathematics itself and how they will use it. Some view mathematics as a tool to be used in their professional lives, others think they will use the analytical and problem solving skills. There were also those who do not believe they will use mathematics at all---that computers will do it all for them. Since notions about future utility can influence engagement with learning, we as teachers need to proactively expand students' perceptions of the fundamental importance of mathematics to working as an engineer. I provide an example of an assessment task that will help students expand their ideas of how they will use mathematics in their careers. References Graduate Careers Council of Australia. Website, 2007. http://www.gradlink.edu.au O. Bringslid, G. Rodriguez, and A. de la Villa. dMath: a European project for the restatement of mathematics teaching. Eur. J. Eng. Ed., 32(1):9--20, 2007. A framework for qualifications of the European higher education area. Technical report, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Denmark, 2005. http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/050218%QF_EHEA.pdf H. Hult, M. Abrandt Dahlgren, L.O. Dahlgren, and H. Hard af Segerstad. Freshmen's and seniors' thoughts about education, professional identity and work. Proc. Aust. Ass. Res. Ed., 2003. http://www.aare.edu.au/03pap/dah03725.pdf P. Kent and R. Noss. Mathematics in the university education of engineers. Technical report, Ove Arup Foundation, London, 2003. http://www.ioe.ac.uk/rnoss/REMIT/Kent-Noss-report.pdf L. Kirkup, L.N. Wood, G. Mather, and P. Logan. Are you being serviced? Promoting quality service teaching. In Uniserve Science, pages 37--42, Sydney, 2003. I. Markes. A review of literature on employability skill needs in engineering. Eur. J. Eng. Ed., 31:637--650, 2006. R. Martin, B. Maytham, J. Case, and D. Fraser. Engineering graduates' perceptions of how well they were prepared for work in industry. Eur. J. Eng. Ed., 30:167--180, 2005. P. Petocz, A. Reid, L.N. Wood, G.H. Smith, G. Mather, A. Harding, J. Engelbrecht, K. Houston, J. Hillel, and G. Perrett. Undergraduate students' conceptions of mathematics: An international study. Int. J. Sc. Math. Ed., 5:439--459, 2007. A. Reid, L. Wood, G. Smith, and P. Petocz. Intention, approach and outcome: university mathematics students' conceptions of learning mathematics. Int. J. Sc. Math. Ed., 3:567--586, 2005. L. Wood and A. Reid. Conversations with graduates: reflections on learning mathematics. In Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Teaching of Mathematics at the Undergraduate Level, Istanbul, Turkey, 2006. Turkish Mathematical Society. Issued on compact disc. L. Wood, G. Smith, G. Mather, A. Harding, J. Engelbrecht, K. Houston, G. Perrett, J. Hillel, P. Petocz, and A. Reid. Student conceptions---understanding performance. In Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Teaching of Mathematics at the Undergraduate Level, Istanbul, Turkey, 2006. Turkish Mathematical Society. Issued on compact disc. L.N. Wood. Research in mathematics education in Australasia 2000--2003, chapter University mathematics teaching and learning. Flaxton: Post Pressed, 2004. Editors B. Perry, G. Anthony and C. Diezmann.

Détail

Publié le : 2008-01-01
DOI : https://doi.org/10.21914/anziamj.v49i0.360