Project 2022 – Epistemology of Mathematical Education in Engineering: Building bridges between Calculus and Engineering

Summary: This is a qualitative study on differential intervention applied as a research methodology that puts the teacher in the role of teacher-researcher. The project inserts itself in the international scope of present-day higher-education didactics research, which reports on the difficulties engineering students face due to the triple discontinuity problem. This problem will be addressed in our Calculus I classroom for Computer Engineering freshmen students. The following question is posed as a starting point for the research: How to create an environment favorable to the simultaneous construction of three bridges in order to address the triple discontinuity? The classroom is seen as a micro-institution that is part of the ideological state apparatuses of the capitalist social formation, in which know how refers to concepts, techniques, behavioral norms, and scientific language, as well as to being aware of the process that produces the qualified labor force. We expect the establishment of such an environment to follow the principle of one teaches by listening, and one learns by talking, which is founded on a theoretical framework grounded on Hegel, Marx, and Lacan. Under this framework, we redefine the concepts of learning, didactics, and pedagogy; we further propose the formative-summative-informative assessment model as a means to oppose the social segregation inherent in the current traditional teaching model.

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