Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem
This paper presents a simplified model of the population migration problem, addressed to first-year engineering students in order to show them the use of linear algebra tools. The study consists of predicting the census in the city centre and in the suburbs, determining the city population equilibri...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Mathematics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/8/1228 |
| _version_ | 1797434404558077952 |
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| author | María Teresa López-Díaz Marta Peña |
| author_facet | María Teresa López-Díaz Marta Peña |
| author_sort | María Teresa López-Díaz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper presents a simplified model of the population migration problem, addressed to first-year engineering students in order to show them the use of linear algebra tools. The study consists of predicting the census in the city centre and in the suburbs, determining the city population equilibrium point, and making a sociological interpretation of population flows. This practical problem is part of the seminar “Applications of Linear Algebra in Engineering”, which is being held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC). This seminar consists in the learning of linear algebra by the implementation of real applications where mathematical tools are required to resolve them. This paper presents an application of linear algebra to the population migration problem and analyses students’ appreciation through anonymous surveys and personal interviews. The surveys assessed students’ motivation towards the subject of linear algebra and their learning of mathematical concepts. Personal interviews were conducted for students in order to let them express in detail their opinion about the seminar. The results confirm that the introduction of real applications in the learning of mathematics increases students’ motivation and involvement, which implies an improvement in students’ performance in the first courses of STEM degrees. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:31:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-135bb0dc39344198801de456a365a2ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7390 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:31:44Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Mathematics |
| spelling | doaj.art-135bb0dc39344198801de456a365a2ba2023-12-01T21:11:58ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902022-04-01108122810.3390/math10081228Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration ProblemMaría Teresa López-Díaz0Marta Peña1Department of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, SpainThis paper presents a simplified model of the population migration problem, addressed to first-year engineering students in order to show them the use of linear algebra tools. The study consists of predicting the census in the city centre and in the suburbs, determining the city population equilibrium point, and making a sociological interpretation of population flows. This practical problem is part of the seminar “Applications of Linear Algebra in Engineering”, which is being held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC). This seminar consists in the learning of linear algebra by the implementation of real applications where mathematical tools are required to resolve them. This paper presents an application of linear algebra to the population migration problem and analyses students’ appreciation through anonymous surveys and personal interviews. The surveys assessed students’ motivation towards the subject of linear algebra and their learning of mathematical concepts. Personal interviews were conducted for students in order to let them express in detail their opinion about the seminar. The results confirm that the introduction of real applications in the learning of mathematics increases students’ motivation and involvement, which implies an improvement in students’ performance in the first courses of STEM degrees.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/8/1228engineeringlinear algebramathematicspopulation migrationSTEMstudents’ motivation |
| spellingShingle | María Teresa López-Díaz Marta Peña Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem Mathematics engineering linear algebra mathematics population migration STEM students’ motivation |
| title | Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem |
| title_full | Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem |
| title_fullStr | Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem |
| title_full_unstemmed | Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem |
| title_short | Encouraging Students’ Motivation and Involvement in STEM Degrees by the Execution of Real Applications in Mathematical Subjects: The Population Migration Problem |
| title_sort | encouraging students motivation and involvement in stem degrees by the execution of real applications in mathematical subjects the population migration problem |
| topic | engineering linear algebra mathematics population migration STEM students’ motivation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/8/1228 |
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