Modern Mathematics Education for Engineering Curricula in Europe: A Comparative Analysis of EU, Russia, Georgia and Armenia

Seppo Pohjolainen (Editor), Tuomas Myllykoski (Editor), Christian Mercat (Editor), S.A. Sosnovsky (Editor)

    Research output: Book/ReportBookAcademic

    Abstract

    Modern science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is facing fundamental challenges. Most of these challenges are global; they are not problems only for the developing countries. Addressing these challenges in a timely
    and efficient manner is of paramount importance for any national economy. Mathematics, as the language of nature and technology, is an important subject in the engineering studies. Despite the fact that its value is well understood, students’ mathematical skills have deteriorated in recent decades in the western world. This reflects in students’ slow progressing and high drop-out percentages in the technical sciences. The remedy to improve the situation is a pedagogical reform, which entails that learning contexts should be based on competencies, engineering students
    motivation should be added by making engineering mathematics more meaningfully contextualized, and modern IT-technology should be used in a pedagogically appropriate way so as to support learning. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the core subjects comprising mathematical curricula for engineering studies in five European countries and identifies differences between two strong traditions of teaching mathematics to engineers. It is a collective effort of experts froma dozen universities taking a critical look at various aspects of higher mathematical education.
    The two EU Tempus-IV projects—MetaMath (www.metamath.eu) and Math-GeAr (www.mathgear.eu)—take a deep look at the current methodologies of mathematics education for technical and engineering disciplines. The projects aim at improving the existing mathematics curricula in Russian, Georgian and Armenian universities by introducing modern technology-enhanced learning (TEL) methods and tools, as well as by shifting the focus of engineering mathematics education from a purely theoretical tradition to a more application-based paradigm.
    MetaMath and MathGeAr have brought together mathematics educators, TEL specialists and experts in education quality assurance from 21 organizations across 6 countries. A comprehensive comparative analysis of the entire spectrum of math courses in the EU, Russia, Georgia and Armenia has been conducted. Its results allowed the consortium to pinpoint issues and introduce several modifications in their curricula while preserving the overall strong state of the university mathematics
    education in these countries. The methodology, the procedure, and the results of this analysis are presented here.
    This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
    This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationCham, Switzerland
    PublisherSpringer
    Number of pages199
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-71416-5
    ISBN (Print)978-3-319-71415-8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

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