Naslov
How science students understand, remember and use mathematics

Autori
Bruckler, Franka Miriam ; Jukić, Ljerka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
Research in Didactics of the Sciences Monograph / - , 2010, 61-65

Skup
4th International Conference on Research in Didactics of the Sciences

Mjesto i datum
Kraków, Poljska, 07.07.2010. - 09.07.2010

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
mathematics for science students ; conceptual and procedural knowledge ; teaching calculus

Sažetak
Practically all science study programmes contain mathematical courses. They are meant to give the students mathematical tools they should be able to apply later in applyed contexts of their specific study area. This can only be attained if the students remember the concepts after they have completed the corresponding courses. It is often noted that students who have succesfully completed their mathematics courses, often containing quite sophisticated mathematical topics, are in many cases unable to correctly apply them in a concrete context. One of the reasons could be that students tend to learn their mathematics courses as separate entities, and are thus often unaible to apply a mathematical technique learned (and successfully tested on in the mathematics course) in the real applied context. Another, and the authors conjecture that this is the main one, are overloaded syllabusses, particularly characteristic for the Croatian educational system, which facilitate the retainment of procedural, and less of conceptual knowledge. As both types of knowledge are necessary to succesfully a mathematical concept, an affirmation of this conjecture would explain the noted problems, and suggestions for improvement could be made. As the content of mathematics courses varies from study to study, the authors decided on testing the retainment of knowledge in basic calculus (derivatives and integrals), as this topic is covered in all of the mathematics courses for science students. The authors have made several surveys testing the retained level of knowledge about derivatives and integrals at two Croatian and one Danish university. Also, the first-named author, teaching the mathematics courses for chemistry students in Zagreb, has tried to incorporate more applications of derivatives and less mathematical formalism in the mathematics course, thus making it less a separate identity in the learning process. The outcomes of this approach are still to be tested.After statistical analysis of the surveys, the results support our conjectures.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Matematika, Pedagogija

POVEZANOST RADA