IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jmathe/v9y2021i13p1475-d580500.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mathematics Training in Engineering Degrees: An Intervention from Teaching Staff to Students

Author

Listed:
  • María Teresa López-Díaz

    (Department of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Marta Peña

    (Department of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

There has always been a great concern about the teaching of mathematics in engineering degrees. This concern has increased because students have less interest in these studies, which is mainly due to the low motivation of the students towards mathematics, and which is derived in most cases from the lack of awareness of undergraduate students about the importance of mathematics for their career. The main objective of the present work is to achieve a greater motivation for engineering students via an intervention from the teaching staff to undergraduate students. This intervention consists of teaching and learning mathematical concepts through real applications in engineering disciplines. To this end, starting in the 2017/2018 academic year, sessions addressed to the teaching staff from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain were held. Then, based on the material extracted from these sessions, from 2019/2020 academic year the sessions “Applications of Mathematics in Engineering I: Linear Algebra” for undergraduate students were offered. With the aim of assessing these sessions, anonymous surveys have been conducted. The results of this intervention show an increase in students’ engagement in linear algebra. These results encourage us to extend this experience to other mathematical subjects and basic sciences taught in engineering degrees.

Suggested Citation

  • María Teresa López-Díaz & Marta Peña, 2021. "Mathematics Training in Engineering Degrees: An Intervention from Teaching Staff to Students," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(13), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:9:y:2021:i:13:p:1475-:d:580500
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/13/1475/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/13/1475/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George D. Kuh & Ty M. Cruce & Rick Shoup & Jillian Kinzie & Robert M. Gonyea, 2008. "Unmasking the Effects of Student Engagement on First-Year College Grades and Persistence," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(5), pages 540-563, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Angela Boatman & Bridget Terry Long, 2016. "Does Financial Aid Impact College Student Engagement?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(6), pages 653-681, September.
    2. Basmah Al-Bogami & Tariq Elyas, 2020. "Promoting Middle School Students’ Engagement Through Incorporating iPad Apps in EFL/ESL Classes," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
    3. Dr. Brunilda Zenelaga & Blerina Hamzallari, 2018. "The Role of the Family in the Education of Children in Conflict with the Law: Empirical Evidence from Albanian Context," European Journal of Education Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 1, ejed_v1_i.
    4. Yajun Wu & Xia Kang, 2021. "A Moderated Mediation Model of Expectancy-Value Interactions, Engagement, and Foreign Language Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    5. Chris A Boulton & Emily Hughes & Carmel Kent & Joanne R Smith & Hywel T P Williams, 2019. "Student engagement and wellbeing over time at a higher education institution," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, November.
    6. Amez, Simon & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "Bye, Bye, Hotel Mama, Bye, Bye Good Grades? Living in a Student Room and Exam Results in Tertiary Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14534, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Alexander K. Killion & Jessica Ostrow Michel & Jason K. Hawes, 2022. "Toward Identifying Sustainability Leadership Competencies: Insights from Mapping a Graduate Sustainability Education Curriculum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Hye Jeong Kim & Ah Jeong Hong & Hae-Deok Song, 2018. "The Relationships of Family, Perceived Digital Competence and Attitude, and Learning Agility in Sustainable Student Engagement in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-16, December.
    9. Altschwager, Teagan & Dolan, Rebecca & Conduit, Jodie, 2018. "Social brand engagement: How orientation events engage students with the university," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 83-91.
    10. Josipa Roksa & Teniell L. Trolian & Ernest T. Pascarella & Cindy A. Kilgo & Charles Blaich & Kathleen S. Wise, 2017. "Racial Inequality in Critical Thinking Skills: The Role of Academic and Diversity Experiences," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 58(2), pages 119-140, March.
    11. Gloria Crisp & Charlie Potter & Amanda Taggart, 2022. "Characteristics and Predictors of Transfer and Withdrawal Among Students Who Begin College at Bachelor’s Granting Institutions," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(3), pages 481-513, May.
    12. Aaron S. Horn & Giljae Lee, 2016. "The Reliability and Validity of Using Regression Residuals to Measure Institutional Effectiveness in Promoting Degree Completion," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(4), pages 469-496, June.
    13. Aina, Carmen & Baici, Eliana & Casalone, Giorgia & Pastore, Francesco, 2022. "The determinants of university dropout: A review of the socio-economic literature," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Liuli Huang & Lahna R Roche & Eugene Kennedy & Melissa B Brocato, 2017. "Using an Integrated Persistence Model to Predict College Graduation," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(3), pages 1-40, August.
    15. Hsun-Yu Chan & Xueli Wang, 2018. "Momentum Through Course-Completion Patterns Among 2-Year College Students Beginning in STEM: Variations and Contributing Factors," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(6), pages 704-743, September.
    16. Yaqi Zhang & Xiangli Guan & Md Zahir Ahmed & Mary C. Jobe & Oli Ahmed, 2022. "The Association between University Students’ Achievement Goal Orientation and Academic Engagement: Examining the Mediating Role of Perceived School Climate and Academic Self-Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, May.
    17. Makó, Ágnes, 2019. "A közismereti tudás és az elkötelezettség hatása a szakiskolát végzettek munkaerőpiaci esélyeire [General knowledge and commitment as factors in the labour-market chances of those completing vocati," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 434-458.
    18. Annie M. Wofford, 2022. "The Perpetuation of Privilege: Exploring the Relationship Between Early Admissions and High-Impact Practices," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(8), pages 1312-1342, December.
    19. Stefan Buechele & Carina Marten, 2022. "Math Skill Growth and Learning Differences in Higher Education. Can Lower-Skilled Students Catch up?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202236, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    20. Yi-Ti Lin, 2020. "The Interrelationship Among Psychological Capital, Mindful Learning, and English Learning Engagement of University Students in Taiwan," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:9:y:2021:i:13:p:1475-:d:580500. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.