During the first weekend of December, the steering committee of the Mathematics SIG had their…
Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, hosted the 18th SEFI Mathematics Working Group Seminar in June 27-29, 2016. More than 60 participants from 15 European countries gathered for three days to discuss important issues related to the mathematical education of engineers. Dr Tommy Gustafsson, Ula Dinger and other colleagues from the hosting Chalmers University and co-organizing University of Gothenburg excellently organized this interesting event. Participants could enjoy three keynote lectures by Thom Lindstrøm ( University of Oslo, Norway) – Teaching mathematics to students who are not primarily interested in mathematics, Jana Madjarova (Chalmers University, Sweden) – Making the right choice and Mogens Niss (Roskilde University, Denmark) – Competency based Curricula in mathematics. There were presented 31 paper presentations and about 18 poster presentations and software demonstrations. Ann-Marie Pedrill, the director of the Swedish National Resource Centre for Physics Education at Lund University, was the conference special guest with talk “Mathematics for carousels and roller coaster: Challenging project work for engineering students“ followed by practical visit and experience in the Liseberg amusement park. Two larger discussion sessions were organized during the seminar, on “Mathematical competence?” and “Topics for future seminars”. Social programme, a boat trip with the steamer Bohuslän through the Gothenburg archipelago, gave participants great opportunity to learn more about the hosting country.
The main achievement after the last seminar in Dublin, Ireland, in 2014 was the continuous interest in development of strategies for implementation of the working group’s curriculum document “A Framework for Mathematics Curricula in Engineering Education” into the maths curricula at the engineering study programmes. The proceedings of the 18th seminar and the curriculum document can be freely downloaded from the group’s website
The 19th seminar is planned for 2018 in Coimbra, Portugal. The local organizing committee headed by Cristina Caridade and Deolinda Rasteiro (Coimbra Institute of Engineering) presented the beautiful historic city of Coimbra as the venue that will undoubtedly again attract many participants.
Daniela Velichová, STU in Bratislava
SEFI MWG Chair