Possible strategies to enhance students' learning and achievement in mathematical modelling teaching experiences

In the present work preliminary results about strategies to enhance students' learning and achievement in mathematical modelling teaching experiences are presented. The results confirm the importance of employing real world problems which are perceived as important by students. Moreover, they also suggest that the design of teaching experiences in which the initial steps of the modelling cycle can be carried out with a few or even any mathematical language could enhance students' perception of self-efficacy, thus providing a motivational push also for the subsequent steps, where specific disciplinary language must be employed. Finally, also the use of ICT and mathematical tools which are perceived by the students as belonging to the university and employment world can increase students' perception of value

Shared drawings in a mathematical modelling activity: An exploratory study

Recently, scholars have argued that drawings have a crucial role in the students’ modelling performance. Nevertheless, such a correlation cannot be extended to complex modelling problems. In this work, we consider the students’ drawing activities when dealing with a complex geometry problem. In particular, this paper reports an exploratory study from 11-grade students exposed to a realistic scenario from the sport context on which they have worked for 4 hours. The analysed data, which focus on one of the class discussions, show that drawings help students in going throughout the modelling process and that even shared inaccurate drawings play a crucial role in this sense

Using a mathematical forum in a graduate course : The nature of Rick's and John’s participation

Our work focuses on a traditional graduate course paired with online asynchronous forum that involved engineering students. The number of students in the course was larger than expected and the forum was suggested to all students as a way to interact between students and with the teacher. We use network analysis to look for central students in the network of the interactions within the forum and then interview two of the most active students to better understand their use of this technological tool. In this paper, we present our findings with the network analysis and the feedback the students gave us to understand the reason why they use the forum

Possible strategies to enhance students’ learning and achievement in mathematical modelling teaching experiences

In the present work preliminary results about strategies to enhance students’ learning and achievement in mathematical modelling teaching experiences are presented. The results confirm the importance of employing real world problems which are perceived as important by students. Moreover, they also suggest that the design of teaching experiences in which the initial steps of the modelling cycle can be carried out with a few or even any mathematical language could enhance students’ perception of self-efficacy, thus providing a motivational push also for the subsequent steps, where specific disciplinary language must be employed. Finally, also the use of ICT and mathematical tools which are perceived by the students as belonging to the university and employment world can increase students’ perception of value

Designing active Maths for undergraduate STEAM students

[EN] This work presents a set of student-centred activities that may help undergraduate students understand mathematics in their first year of a STEAM degree. In particular, the authors refer to the difficulties students meet in making connections between syntactic and semantic dimensions in learning mathematics, especially in Linear Algebra topics. The specific goal of this paper is to present and discuss how it can work in the case of linear transformations. This topic stands in the middle of every Linear Algebra standard course and is pivotal in many recent applications, such as computer graphics. The study describes the teaching-learning experience and reports the results of the first pilot study, which involves about 100 undergraduate Architecture students of Politecnico di Milano. One of the peculiarities of this work is its context since the class is composed of heterogeneous group of students, in terms of knowledge background and attitudes towards mathematics. The main findings of this paper are underlining how a student-centred strategy, based on asynchronous activities and synchronous class discussion, allows misconceptions to emerge and be appropriately addressed.Brunetto, D.; Moura Santos, A. (2021). Designing active Maths for undergraduate STEAM students. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1177-1185. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.13082OCS1177118

Supporting deep understanding with emerging technologies in a STEM university math class

[EN] In this work we present an innovative learning environment format, based on student-centred activities, that may support undergraduate students to deep understanding mathematics in the first year of engineering university. In particular, we refer to the difficulties students meet in the transition from the high school mathematics to the one they meet at university, which requires a significant shift to conceptual understanding, especially in Calculus courses. The goal of this presentation is to investigate the case of multivariable functions, a topic at the foundation of many mathematical models and its application. We show the results of the first pilot study which involves 160 undergraduate students. More precisely, we report how a flipped-learning approach based on online activities and working group allows students to deep understand the main properties concerning multivariable functions.Brunetto, D.; Marchionna, C.; Repossi, E. (2020). Supporting deep understanding with emerging technologies in a STEM university math class. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):569-577. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11109OCS56957730-05-202

Teaching with emerging technologies in a STEM university math class.

The aim of the research presented in this work is to investigate how innovative teaching formats, based on student-centred activities, may help first year university students to deal with the difficulties in the transition from the mathematics they are used to in high school, to the one they meet at university, which requires a significant shift to conceptual understanding, especially in Calculus courses. As part of this overarching goal, this presentation investigates the case of Taylor series, a topic that is taught in all calculus courses at university. This work shows the efficacy of a blended learning approach, highlighting the main difficulties concerning the deep understanding of functions by students. We discuss possible limitations, and we provide suggestions for best practices in university math classes