Teaching and Learning of Differential and Integral Calculus through Problem Solving in the Civil Engineering Course

Abstract

The teaching of Differential and Integral Calculus has been the focus of several discussions and investigations in the field of Mathematics Education at the Higher Education level due to the difficulties presented by the students in their learning process. In this context, this article presents part of a research developed with students of a Civil Engineering course which main objective was to investigate the use of the Teaching-Learning-Assessment-Mathematics Methodology through Problem Solving, in the understanding of Differential and Integral Calculus, especially in the study of Optimization, in the Civil Engineering course. In the construction of the article a brief history of the methodology of Problem Solving over the years is presented, as well as a brief discussion of the teaching of Differential and Integral Calculus in Engineering courses. In a qualitative approach that has as a characteristic the description and interpretation of the collected data, photos and written records of the resolutions produced by the students were used as instruments of data collection. From the analysis of the data it is possible to affirm that the students understood the meaning of the use of Calculus and that the use of the Methodology of Teaching-Learning-Assessment of Mathematics through the Resolution of Problems, in the course of Civil Engineering, allows the student the opportunity to investigate, to reflect and to analyze the problems proposed.