Mathematical competencies as perceived by engineering students, lecturers, and practicing engineers

• Autores: Soheila Firouzian, Hamidreza Kashefi, Yudariah Mohammad Yusof, Zaleha Ismail, Roselainy Abdul Rahman
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 32, no. 6, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Research in Engineering Education), págs. 2434-2445
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Mathematical competencies (MCs) are essential for engineering students to be competent and qualified engineers aftergraduation. The term mathematical competence refers to the ability to understand, judge, do and use mathematicalconcepts in relevant contexts and situations, which is the predominant goal of mathematical education for engineers. Thispaper will discuss the required MCs of engineers at the workplace as compared to acquired MCs of engineeringundergraduates and also the difference in expectation of engineering lecturers from engineering students at graduation.A qualitative approach was used to investigate the required, acquired and expected mathematical competencies as well asthe mismatch between these competencies. Semi structured interviews were carried out to collect data from 20 engineers,41 engineering students and 4 engineering lecturers. The findings indicated that there were differences between theperceptions of acquired and the required MCs. The results showed that there is a need to review the focus of engineeringmathematics curriculum to prospective engineers taking into account the attainment of mathematical competencies. Thesecompetencies need to be included as explicit learning outcomes in addition to the development of mathematical concepts,aptitude and skills.Keywords:acquired mathematical competencies; engineering education; outcome-based education (OBE); required mathematicalcompetencies