The need for alternative paradigms in science and engineering education

Abstract

There are two main claims in this article. First, that the classic pillars of engineering education, namely, traditional mathematics and differential equations, are merely a particular, if not old-fashioned, representation of a broader mathematical vision, which spans from Turing machine programming and symbolic productions sets to sub-symbolic orderings such as artificial neural nets. Second, that the paradigm of equivalence ought to be extended to those non-traditional engineering disciplines that require at least the same dedication, such as music and its science, musicology, because they broaden the search and identification of structures, one of the most important tasks of creative engineering. Furthermore, an example of contemporary advanced technology will be given that favours these very claims.

Keywords:

• Education in science and engineering
• Modern mathematics
• Humanities
• Aesthetics
• Arts and music