, which I termedskeptical reverence: a balance between seeing mathematics as an indispensible tool andunderstanding its limitations. I argued that this disposition was functional and necessary forengineers to carry out design and analysis effectively; the wrong level of reliance onmathematics—too much reverence or too much skepticism—would incur safety and economicrisks. Unanswered by this prior research was how these engineers developed their perspective onthe relationship between mathematics and engineering and this disposition of skepticalreverence. This question is taken up by the study reported here.This study was part of a larger project to investigate how engineers develop as problem solverswho apply mathematics effectively. I conjecture
effectively analyze a complex problem arising from a variety of application fields. e. The student will learn how to work collaboratively and productively on complex projects that arise in current research. These projects will provide a capstone experience for Page 15.160.3 students in this degree. f. The student, upon completion of this program, will be able to find employment in a large number of industries including aviation and aerospace industries, or the student, upon completion of this program, will be able to pursue graduate work in either an applied mathematics program or a computational science program
concepts through basic ideal examples typically found in textbooks. Eachsubsequent module in that level will slowly relax unrealistic assumptions, thus increasing thenumber of related variables and ultimately resulting in a problem close to real world application.Thus, within a given level, module sets contain modules that vary in complexity and abstractionfrom simple and concrete to complex and highly abstract. The final module at the expert levelwill be comparable to a capstone course project requiring complex modeling for solving a real-world application.One of the pedagogical requirements for module development is that the module be inquirybased and introduce problems, and sub problems, by posing questions. The module will thenguide students
mathematical self-efficacy and problem solving skills). The research project is in its second year of implementation. Last year 120 students were introduced into the course, and this year 80 more students are involved in the project. Thus far, the results of the project have shown a strong correlation between student engineering interest, aptitude, programming understanding, and an increased understanding of mathematics.IntroductionMathematics has long been regarded as an essential skill, as noted by the American Society forEngineering Education’s mathematics division (Selingo, 2008). The Cold-War era “space race”pushed engineering awareness, mathematical, and scientific ability to the fore of our educationalsystem. And
AC 2010-1675: USING CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHING STRATEGIES INPROBABILITY AND STATISTICSKingsley Reeves, University of South FloridaBill Blank, University of South FloridaVictor Hernandez-Gantes, University of South FloridaManiphone Dickerson, University of South Florida Page 15.1322.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Using Constructivist Teaching Strategies in Probability and StatisticsAbstractThis paper discusses the early results of an NSF EEC project that focuses on the impact of usingconstructivist approaches to teaching probability and statistics for engineers. Twelve exerciseswere developed and used in a modified version of the course to promote student
their work, Lesh et al. 14 examined it from theperspective of proportional reasoning as a capstone of elementary arithmetic, number, andmeasurement concepts. Proportional reasoning is the cognitive process behind the ability toreason about the relationship between two rational expressions. Therefore, our first inference isthat proportional reasoning is the required cognitive process in order to attain the proportionalsize and scale cognition. We have identified that scale cognition is composed by the logical Page 13.1063.4proportional and numerical proportional conceptions of size and scale; these conceptions and thecognitive processes behind
this grant, he advised over 500 individual calculus students on their course projects. He was given an Outstanding Advising Award by USF and has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards at the department, college, university (Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teaching Award) and state (TIP award) levels. Scott is also a co-PI for a Helios-funded Middle School Residency Program for Science and Math (for which he teaches the capstone course) and is on the leadership committee for an NSF IUSE grant to transform STEM Education at USF. His research is in the areas of solution thermodynamics and environmental monitoring and modeling.Prof. Carlos A. Smith PhD, University of South Florida Carlos A. Smith is a Professor