Cause-effect analysis: improvement of a first year engineering students' calculus teaching model

This study focuses on the mathematics department at a South African university and in particular on teaching of calculus to first year engineering students. The paper reports on a cause-effect analysis, often used for business improvement. The cause-effect analysis indicates that there are many fact...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of mathematical education in science and technology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 16 - 30
Main Authors: van der Hoff, Quay, Harding, Ansie
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Taylor & Francis 02.01.2017
Taylor & Francis, Ltd
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Calculus
Causal Models
cause-effect analysis
College Freshmen
College Mathematics
Engineering
engineering calculus
Engineering Education
Foreign Countries
independent learning
Independent Study
Mathematics
Mathematics Education
Mathematics Instruction
Secondary Schools
Students
Teaching model
Teaching Models
technology in teaching
Undergraduate Students
South Africa
ISSN:0020-739X, 1464-5211
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This study focuses on the mathematics department at a South African university and in particular on teaching of calculus to first year engineering students. The paper reports on a cause-effect analysis, often used for business improvement. The cause-effect analysis indicates that there are many factors that impact on secondary school teaching of mathematics, factors that the tertiary sector has no control over. The analysis also indicates the undesirable issues that are at the root of impeding success in the calculus module. Most important is that students are not encouraged to become independent thinkers from an early age. This triggers problems in follow-up courses where students are expected to have learned to deal with the work load and understanding of certain concepts. A new model was designed to lessen the impact of these undesirable issues.
Bibliography:SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 14
ISSN:0020-739X
1464-5211
DOI:10.1080/0020739X.2016.1199058