Fostering mathematical modelling competency of South African engineering students: which influence does the teaching design have?

This paper reports on empirical results about the influence of two different teaching designs on the development of tertiary students’ modelling competency and attitudes towards modelling. A total of 144 first year engineering students were exposed to a diagnostic entrance test, a modelling unit consisting of five lessons with ten tasks, enframed by a pre- and a post-test, and at the end a questionnaire on attitudes towards mathematical modelling. Similar to the German DISUM study, in the modelling unit, one group of participants followed an independence-oriented teaching style, aiming at a balance between students’ independent work and teacher’s guidance, while two other groups were taught according to a more traditional teacher-guided style. Linear mixed regression models were used to compare pre- and post-test results. The results show that all groups had significant learning progress, although there is much room for further improvement, and that the group taught according to the independence-oriented design had the biggest competency growth. In addition, this group exhibited more positive attitudes than the other groups in five of six attitudinal aspects