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Araceli Queiruga-Dios1, Gerardo Rodríguez Sánchez1, Juan José Bullón-Pérez2, Ascensión Hernández-Encinas1, Jesús Martín-Vaquero1, Ángel Martín del Rey1 1Department of Applied Mathematics University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain 2Department of Chemical and Textile Engineering, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
The Department of Applied Mathematics from the University of Salamanca is the responsible of teaching mathematics to almost all the engineering students at this university. One of the topics that our students have in common is the differential equations: Ordinary Differential Equations and Partial Differential Equations. Our main goal is to integrate the mathematical competences with the competences required for getting an Engineering Bachelor Degree.
The Engineering Degrees of the Industrial Engineering branches are special cases as they are regulated by the Order CIN/351/2009, of February 9, 2009. This order established by the Ministry of Science and Innovation from the Spanish government enumerate the competences that should be acquired by the undergraduate students.
From the first course students at the School of Industrial engineering should work in these two competences: (a) Knowledge of basic and technological matters that will enable them to learn new methods and theories, and equip them with versatility to adapt to new situations, and (b) The ability to solve problems with initiative, decision making, creativity, and critical thinking, and also to communicate and transfer knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of Industrial Engineering.
The publication of the results of the Danish KOM project in 2011, and the Framework for Mathematics Curricula in Engineering Education by the SEFI’s Mathematics Working Group in 2013 allow us the integration of the mathematical competences inside the undergraduate degrees’ curriculum.
We have proposed our students from the undergraduate degrees in Electricity, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering the elaboration of a cooperative and collaborative team work where they will acquire the competences adapted to engineering context: (1) thinking mathematically; (2) posing and solving mathematical problems; 3) modeling mathematically; 4) reasoning mathematically; 5) representing mathematical entities; 6) handling mathematical symbols and formalism; 7) communicating in, with, and about mathematics; and 8) making use of aids and tools.
The proposed work should include, apart from an introduction, a summary and the references, an application to engineering, or a problem solution with a CAS, or the history of the mathematical formulation. We have analyzed the results in two ways: the students’ assessment using a rubric-survey where each student has to assess the rest of their classmates (the public exposition, the originality, the actuality, the use of technological tools, the relation to engineering subjects, etc), and a general overview of the 12 groups paying attention to the acquisition of competences.