Authentic Problems of Engineering: Research on Task Design

Karsten Schmidt from DTU and Carl Winsløw from IND have published a study of so-called “mathematics projects” that have been used in the first year mathematics course at DTU for more than twenty years (with more than 20.000 students). They analyse a large number of project assignments in terms of didactic variables and also formulate the more general principles and institutional conditions that underlie this relatively unique experience of task design. A main aim of the “mathematics projects” is to be based on an authentic engineering problem – often from recent research carried out at DTU - and on core contents from the course.

Reference

Schmidt, K., Winsløw, C. Authentic Engineering Problems in Service Mathematics Assignments: Principles, Processes and Products from Twenty Years of Task Design. Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed. 7, 261–283 (2021). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40753-021-00133-0