"Soft-Engineering" Students Learning Math during Project Work on Optical Illusions: a Case Study

Media Technology is a study line between engineering, art and humanities, situated at Faculty of Engineering and Science of Aalborg University. Although formally students of engineering, Media Technology students show even greater difficulties with entry-level mathematical knowledge than typical engineering students. Thus it was interesting to follow a group of 6-th semester students trying to develop an app for an intelligent phone for their graduation project. The goal of the app is to teach 7th-8th graders of elementary school some issues with 3D geometry and 3D geometrical objects. In this process, the students challenge their own knowledge and understanding, while trying to help others overcome the difficulties they have themselves. This paper follows the development process, and via observations and interviews highlights knowledge gaining and knowledge presentation process. The conclusions of this paper could be useful in two directions, both to highlight some mathematical misconceptions students have, and as information how young people think to overcome those misconceptions and difficulties using modern technology.
You should