Exploring Engineering Students' Understanding Of Techniques Of Integration

Abstract

This study explored engineering students' understanding of the techniques of integration in calculus. There were 30 first year engineering students who participated in the project. The concepts were covered as part of a mathematics course at a university of technology in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Activity sheets, constructed with tasks based on integration were administered to the participants. Their written responses, which were used to identify the mental constructions of these concepts, were analysed using the three worlds of mathematics framework and interviews were carried out to clarify the written responses. The discussions and written work indicated that students seemed to be operating in the conceptual-embodied world of cognitive development and students displayed the ability to manipulate symbols and embedded procedures. The findings raised some didactical implications for higher education and also provided applications of the three worlds of mathematics framework.