The author examined changes in the educational and career goals of 66 young women who completed surveys in Grades 7 and 12. Participants identified desirable versus undesirable aspects of mathematics- and science-based careers to better understand the characteristics that do or do not attract women from these fields. Over time, participants'…

Applications in engineering, science and technology within undergraduate programmes can be difficult for students to understand. In this paper, new results are presented which go some way to demonstrate and explain the problems faced by students in linking mathematical models to real-world applications. The study is based on student responses to…

This paper reports on a collaboration between three authors; two mathematicians in a Swedish university and a UK-based mathematics educator. The focus of the enquiry was the evaluation of the experience of Swedish first-year undergraduate engineers required, in their mathematics class, to learn to use the programming language "Matlab". Students…

Odense University College of Engineering has begun a revision of all curricula founded on the principle that student learning is the main objective of teaching. At the same time there is a large demand for increasing efficiency and increasing the possibility of professional development of staff. Development of staff should be possible by…

This article reports on research into the student experience of learning through discussions in a third-year undergraduate engineering subject. Information engineering students studying e-commerce were required to engage in face-to-face and online discussions as a key aspect of their learning experience. This study investigates the quality of the…

This laboratory experiment was designed for Chemistry, Food Technology, Biology, and Chemical Engineering undergraduate students. This laboratory experience shows the advantages of immobilized bakery yeasts in ethanol production by alcoholic fermentation. The students were able to compare the ethanol production yields by free or calcium alginate…

There is continuing concern about the low enrolment of students on to some undergraduate science courses, especially physics. Here we explore some of the reasons that might underpin this. The views about physics and biology of Year 1 undergraduate students on English, physics and biology programmes of study were compared using a closed-form…

This paper presents the metaphor of engineering and the social sciences located on either side of a chasm and connected by the bridge of information geography. Information geography is not an integral part of engineering and is a new field within geography, a social science discipline. The specialty of information geography is one of the newest in…

The field of tissue engineering/regenerative medicine combines the quantitative principles of engineering with the principles of the life sciences toward the goal of reconstituting structurally and functionally normal tissues and organs. There has been relatively little application of tissue engineering efforts toward the organs of speech, voice,…

A series of studies were conducted to investigate students' metacognitive development in a second year chemical engineering course. The first of these was an exploratory study involving observation together with some limited interviewing. This was followed by a major study with two phases, the first of which involved a series of individual…

The purpose of this article is to explore the effects of organizational and work-group characteristics on the socialization of new scientists. It focuses on the experiences of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in science. The authors chose to look at outcomes that reflect behaviors (early productivity) and attitudes (willingness to share…

This article argues that food issues are an appropriate, if not necessary, topic for education for sustainable development (ESD) both in terms of teaching and institutional practice. The first section summarises critical topics for a school or university course on food. The second section cites two examples of university efforts--at the University…

Difficulties that are encountered by dyslexic undergraduates with their learning and understanding of mathematics are explored. Specific consideration is given to issues arising through mathematical content, its delivery, the procedures and processes of doing mathematics, and its assessment. Particular difficulties, which have emerged through…

In today's technology-laden society human-computer interaction (HCI) is an important knowledge area for computer scientists and software engineers. This paper surveys existing approaches to incorporate HCI into computer science (CS) and such related issues as the perceived gap between the interests of the HCI community and the needs of CS…

Globalization, accelerated time-based competition, qualitative dynamics, rapid development of technology and especially Information and Communications Technology (ICT) developments challenge engineering education and capability development of each engineer. The success and the competitiveness of companies are increasingly based on their employees.…