Math is scary. For life science students, maths is even scarier. Poor results in mathematics are amongst the main reasons for dropping out of STEM courses, particularly in life sciences — negative attitudes and disengagement being the main reasons for students’ failure. In the absence of exogenous instrumentality — e.g., a good grade in calculus as a prerequisite to enter medical school — we should strive to engage students with active learning that could at least pretend to carry intrinsic motivations (Husman & al., 2004). Or, in other words, we want students to work on tasks that appear to be relevant (to them!) in order to build a conceptual understanding of the mathematical objects at stake.

What is a limit? Concept image of limits as time goes to infinity in life sciences students / O.G. Rizzo - In: The Learning and Teaching of Calculus Across Disciplines – Proceedings of the Second Calculus Conference / [a cura di] T. Dreyfus, A. S. González-Martín, E. Nardi, J. Monaghan, P. W. Thompson. - [s.l] : MatRIC, 2023. - pp. 153-156 (( Intervento presentato al 2. convegno The Learning and Teaching of Calculus Across Disciplines tenutosi a Bergen nel 2023.

What is a limit? Concept image of limits as time goes to infinity in life sciences students

O.G. Rizzo
2023

Abstract

Math is scary. For life science students, maths is even scarier. Poor results in mathematics are amongst the main reasons for dropping out of STEM courses, particularly in life sciences — negative attitudes and disengagement being the main reasons for students’ failure. In the absence of exogenous instrumentality — e.g., a good grade in calculus as a prerequisite to enter medical school — we should strive to engage students with active learning that could at least pretend to carry intrinsic motivations (Husman & al., 2004). Or, in other words, we want students to work on tasks that appear to be relevant (to them!) in order to build a conceptual understanding of the mathematical objects at stake.
Settore MAT/04 - Matematiche Complementari
2023
Centre for Research, Innovation and Coordination of Mathematics Teaching (Kristiansand, Norvegia)
https://matriccalcconf2.sciencesconf.org/
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/1020741
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