Conceptual and procedural approaches to mathematics in the engineering curriculum: views of qualified engineers^*

* The research was conducted at Linköping University and at University of Pretoria.

ABSTRACT

The research interest underpinning this paper concerns the type of mathematical knowledge engineering students may acquire during their specialised education in terms of the conceptual and procedural dimensions of doing and using mathematics. This study draws on interviews with 25 qualified engineers from South Africa and Sweden regarding their views on the role of mathematics in engineering education, with special focus on the conceptual and procedural aspects of mathematical knowledge. A thematic analysis of the interview data led to the identification of two main themes. According to the conceptual view a predominantly conceptual approach is needed and valued more than procedural skills, while the balanced view emphasises a balance of conceptual understanding and procedural fluency as well as links between them. It is suggested that the mathematical education of engineers would need to be more conceptually oriented to prepare for the demands at the workplace.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptual and procedural knowledge
• undergraduate mathematics
• engineering education
• views of engineers

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from NRF (South Africa) and VR-SIDA (Sweden) for the overarching project for this study. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments to previous versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

There is no conflict of interest reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Johann Engelbrecht is a professor in mathematics education at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Before, he was professor in mathematics, deputy dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and retired as acting vice-principal of the University. He is also the current executive director of the SA Mathematics Foundation. He is an active researcher in the field of mathematics education on tertiary level and his international involvement in the teaching of undergraduate mathematics includes numerous research and keynote presentations, membership of international scientific committees for international conferences, research papers on mathematics education in international academic journals and joint research projects with colleagues in many countries. He represented South Africa on the International Programme Committee for ICME 2012 in Seoul.

Christer Bergsten is professor emeritus of mathematics education at Linköping University, Sweden, where he received his PhD in mathematics education in 1990. After teaching undergraduate mathematics to engineering students for many years, he has been engaged in research and teaching within mathematics education during the last 25 years. His publications have focussed on a range of issues in mathematics education, including teacher education, university mathematics education, the transition from secondary school to university, technology, semiotics, social issues and theoretical approaches to research. He has been involved in the set up and development of Swedish, Nordic and European mathematics education research societies, and has been a member of a range of organisations and committees, including the IPC for ICME10 in Copenhagen 2004.

Owe Kågesten has been a lecturer in mathematics at Linköping University, Sweden, where he has initiated and developed a range of projects for innovative teaching and assessment approaches to mathematics in engineering education.

Notes

* The research was conducted at Linköping University and at University of Pretoria.

1 For an example of a teaching experiment in undergraduate mathematics based on these constructs, see Chappell and Killpatrick (2003).

2 These two aspects of procedural knowledge have been called algorithmic and syntactic knowledge, respectively (Groth and Bergner 2006, 40).

3 This approach has been used in the CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) approach to engineering education, followed at MIT (Crawley 2001).

4 Considering that the study was done in purposive and snow ball sampling, these differences could be coincidental.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation (South Africa) and Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council, Sweden).