| Abstract |
Engineers, known as the people who have knowledge about mathematics, different sciences and technology, and as the people who solve the problems with their knowledge in real life situations, define mathematics as the language of engineering. Although the place and importance of mathematics in engineering education is widely accepted, it has been determined in recent studies that engineering faculty students, especially those who start their educational processes in recent years, do not have sufficient mathematical knowledge, and it has been emphasized that some academics do not give the due importance for the basic sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.)[1-3]. The fact that the studies in the field of engineering give important benefits in all aspects of the daily life, and that mathematics is related with daily life, show the relation between the daily life and engineering education. For this reason, the views of engineering faculty academics and students on mathematics and the benefits of it are important for engineering education. With this study, examining and determining the views of the academics and students from different departments of the engineering faculty on mathematics and its benefits in terms of different variables (mathematics as a discipline, mathematics in daily life, mathematical knowledge and the applications in students’ own fields and relations among them) is aimed. In this context, a literature-supported questionnaire containing three sub-dimensions was applied to 123 academics from different departments of Gumushane University, Faculty of Engineering; and to 648 students of the same departments. Then, semi-structured interviews were performed with three academics and students from each department. Most of the academics and students consider mathematics as a beneficial field, as a problem solving technique, and as a mental activity to develop the mental skills. Academics and students from different departments made use of different skills to define mathematics; like mathematical, mental, communicational, practical skills, etc. It has been determined that academics and students from different departments generally preferred the skills relevant with their own fields, their learning areas, applications and benefits of mathematics more. While most of the students think that “mathematics was discovered by human beings while they were trying to understand the world they lived in”, less students think that “mathematics was developed by human beings to cover their practical needs”. The academics, in general, stated that both points of views are true, but most of them are of the opinion that “mathematics was developed by human beings to cover their practical needs”. Except for the academics and students from the mathematical engineering department, academics and students from other departments consider mathematics as a “tool”. |
