Authors: Ruth Rodríguez Gallegos, Samantha Quiroz Rivera
Abstract: This research aims at describing the role of experimentation in the
design of a mathematics course for engineers, which was based on mathematical
modeling. The course is Differential Equations (ED), taught in second year
in a private institution in Northeast Mexico. The study, in a qualitative approach,
shows how experimentation provides significant elements for better understanding
the modeling of electrical phenomena by Differential Equations, specifically,
the study of electrical circuit Resistor-Capacitor (RC) and their respective
study from mathematical and physical point of view through the use of specific
technology. The results reveal that the implementation of experimentation in a
math class allows the construction, interpretation, and validation of mathematical
models by the students themselves, which are proposed in the course in
a collaborative way as opposed to traditional teaching of this subject, which it
is limited to the presentation of methods to solve ED without any connection
to reality.
Keywords: Mathematical models, experimentation, Engineering Education, Differential
Equations.