Teaching first-year students

Developing Skeptical Reverence for Mathematics

“…This may be bravado on the part of engineers, but researchers have noted that workers can be blind to the mathematics that they use 18,19 , in particular if they consider "using mathematics" to mean performing standard, formal, advanced mathematical procedures by hand. Even engineering educators are divided on the importance and role of mathematics education for engineers, and some question whether advanced mathematics is necessary [20][21][22][23][24] .…”

“…A few studies characterize the mathematical beliefs of engineering students. Some studies reveal that engineering students, like K-12 students, often fail to see the importance of mathematics in their training or eventual employment 24,25 and may even dislike or fear mathematics 26 . In contrast, perhaps because of their more extensive coursework, the senior-year engineering students surveyed by Cardella (2006) 27 reported that the content and problem-solving skills they learned in their college mathematics courses were useful in their engineering classes, and they believed that mathematical ability and the ability to apply mathematics to real-world problems were very important for becoming an engineer.…”