Search results for " Engineers"

Analysing tasks for the Flipped Classroom from the perspective of Realistic Mathematical Education

2018

International audience; The advent of Flipped Classroom as a framework for organizing the teaching and learning of mathematics has the potential to revitalize the attention to tasks as a vehicle for meaningful learning in tertiary education. Flipped Classroom is based on the idea of student active learning under close guidance of the university teacher. Due to the possibility to engage the students in meaningful discovery of how mathematics can relate to real-life situations during in-class sessions, the tasks are seen to have a central role in a successful implementation of Flipped Classrooms. This paper explores the realistic mathematics education (RME) as a theoretical framework for task…

Michelangelo Blasco versus Ferdinando Fuga: una nuova attribuzione per il ponte sul Milicia in Sicilia

2015

The finding at the National Library of Spain of an eighteenth-century engraving of the bridge over the river Milicia, along the coast to the east of Palermo, is a chance not only to shed light on the complex history of the design and construction of one of the main Sicilian bridges, but also to attribute the real paternity rather than to the famous architect Ferdinando Fuga to the lesser-known military engineer, serving the Austrian Crown, Michelangelo Blasco, whose long and successful career is reconstructed: from Sicily, through Milan, Wien and Lisbon, to the uncharted territory of Brazil.

Religiosi e “geometrie dell’impero”. Teorie e pratiche fortificatorie tra Mediterraneo e Atlantico

2018

Between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the changes in the military technology - mainly related to the spread of firearms - implied a re-elaboration of the fortification construction theories and, consequently, a practical experimentation aimed at the identification of architectural models capable to make the border areas safe and impregnable. Far from involving only a small circle of "men of arms", the debate about the “new art of the war” involved men whose formation can not be traced back to a specific type. Clearly emerges a fact: the involvement of ecclesiastics also as "technicians" for the design of defensive structures, was not a marginal phenome…

First-year university students making sense of symbols in integration

2020

International audience; This paper focuses on first year university engineering students and their sensemaking of integration and its symbolism. Through a semiotic approach, attention is given to two students and their attempt to verbally express their reflections on integration and the related meaning of symbols. Findings suggest that students tend to interpret the symbols mainly as operations, in terms of calculations to be carried out. They express uncertainty concerning what the symbols stand for, and the mathematical objects they represent. For example, the symbols ∫ and are respectively conceived of as “finding the integral with respect to x” and students are unclear on how Riemann su…

La stereotomia nella cattedra di Architettura statica di Carlo Giachery

2014

La scuola di architettura di Palermo, sin dalla sua fondazione nel 1779, con la creazione della cattedra di Architettura civile affidata a Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia, era divenuta inevitabilmente il luogo di verifica e talvolta di esplorazione dei temi legati alla pratica professionale e, quindi, all’arte del costruire. Giachery, Professore di Architettura statica e civile dal 1837 al 1865, è il primo ad avvertire, da docente, la crisi profonda del sistema didattico della scuola di architettura di Palermo isterilita dalla ricerca di astratte idealità neoclassiche e straniatasi dal processo evolutivo della cultura architettonica europea dopo la morte dei “maestri” Marviglia e Gentile. Secon…

“Making connections” in the mathematics courses for engineers: the example of online resources for trigonometry

2018

International audience; This paper concerns the teaching of mathematics for future engineers, focusing on the theme of trigonometry. We claim that the use of trigonometry in engineering courses requires different kinds of connections: connecting different domains, different concepts, frames and registers. We use here the concept of connectivity, developed in the frame of e-textbooks analysis, to analyse online courses for future engineers in France. We evidence that these courses propose some connections; but their connectivity is not developed enough to meet the requirements of engineering courses.

Task design for Engineering Mathematics: process, principles and products

2018

International audience; We present and analyse principles and process employed at the Danish Technical University to use authentic problems from engineering (APE) in a first year mathematics course, along with some of the products (actual student assignments).

Suunnittelijat innovaatiotoiminnan ja kasvun ytimessä

2010

Using schematic representation of resource systems to examine how first year engineering students use resources in their studies of mathematics

2018

International audience; Very little research has been done on how students use resources when studying mathematics. My project aim to examine this both quantitatively and qualitatively. The qualitative data collection includes hierarchical focus interviews and schematic representation of resource system, with the intent to impose as little terminology as possible on the students.

The use of integrals in Mechanics of Materials textbooks for engineering students: the case of the first moment of an area

2018

International audience; Research has reported on the difficulties engineering students face in relating the content of their mathematics courses to what is taught in their professional courses. One way to address these difficulties is by better understanding how mathematical notions are used in professional engineering courses. This paper analyses how the notion of first moment of an area – which is defined as an integral – is used in civil engineering courses. Basing our analysis on elements from the anthropological theory of the didactic, we are currently analysing a classic Mechanics of Materials book. Our findings indicate that although first moments are introduced as an integral, the t…