Situated Acquisition of Mathematical Knowledge - Teaching Mathematics within Electrical Engineering Courses

In recent years, a number of studies have shown multifaceted issues in regard to the mathematical expertise of undergraduate engineering students. Referring to this, the students’ increasingly diverse range of levels and types of qualifications and their continuing deterioration of mathematical competencies are often referred to as one of the major challenges. More critical concerns stem from the fact that the initial phase usually comprises lectures requiring mathematical expertise which in some cases clearly goes beyond school mathematics, but will be presented only later in mathematical courses. Taking into account that the first year is critical for student success and to avoid high dropout rates, revised concepts for teaching engineering mathematics in respect to individual students’ demands are required. Furthermore, overloaded schedules lead to the conclusion that students would not engage in additional uncoupled academic programs in regard to mathematics. In this article, a new generalizable concept to address the above mentioned challenges within undergraduate engineering courses is introduced by way of example in a Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering lecture.