The need for relevance

Kümmerer (2001) presented a general discussion on the range of approaches used to teach mathematics to engineers, and pondered what mathematics means to engineers: "Their attitude towards mathematics expresses a good deal of respect - even though they believe that for them most of mathematics is useless." (p. 321). Mathematics may be regarded as simply a preparatory subject – something to be endured before the student starts physics or engineering. The drawback in this situation is "that the whole motivation for a student is based on the promise of future applicability ... Such a course fails to relate mathematics to the intended applications." (p. 323).

The need for relevance was highlighted by a number of other writers as relevance assists students with learning mathematics. Varsavsky (1995) stressed that a perceived lack of value can be detrimental to the students' acquisition of skills; "There is also a lack of motivation: too many students do not seem to understand the importance of mathematics in their engineering courses and in their future careers. Mathematics is mostly considered by students as a hurdle to be overcome in order to be awarded a degree." (p. 342).

The studies by Coupland, Gardner and Carmody (2008) and Flegg, Mallet and Lupton (2012) investigated engineering students’ perceptions of the relevance of mathematical studies in an Australian context. Coupland et al. (2008) found that higher-year engineering students are better able to recognise the relevance of mathematics for their studies than first-year students. Flegg et al. (2012) found that some students see no relevance in the mathematics they are taught, and suggest collaboration between mathematics and engineering lecturers to aid students to see the link, as “it is in the interests of both mathematics and engineering academics to understand how students view the relevance of mathematics to engineering” (p. 719).

To make mathematics content seem relevant to students in a service subject – and hence worth an investment of time – the content has to be shown to be important for their own specialisation and future career. Obtain the lecture notes and textbooks of the partner discipline in order to see how these use mathematics and statistics. Make extensive use of examples and applications: "mathematics [units] (for engineers) should be taught with a strong emphasis on applications...” (Easton & Steiner, 1996, p. 564). Think about whether you can use examples from their notes and use their jargon and notation. For example, if you can accommodate electronics students using ‘j’ instead of ‘i’ for the imaginary number SQRT(-1), it will give you time and energy to focus on deeper issues! It is also beneficial to be familiar with the other units the students are studying, so examples can be used from these; and refer to the subjects specifically by name or code, not just vaguely. However, Kümmerer (2001) pointed out, "In most cases a translation into the other language is necessary before students can recognize that one is discussing the same subject." (p. 331). Loch and Lamborn (2016) worked with third-year students who demonstrated to first-year students where they had seen first-year mathematics used beyond their first-year mathematics unit.