Formulation and development of mathematical models for engineeringproblems: an experience on the integration of theory and the laboratory

摘要

The structure, the objectives and the methodology of a newengineering course are described. The course is intended as afacilitating step connecting the basic portion of an engineering programand the engineering sciences. As such, it invests into a synthesis ofdifferent topics of mathematics and numerical methods, and theobservation and quantification of physical phenomena to be modeled. Themain objective of the course is the coaching of students for the art ofproblem formulation or modeling. This is done, extensively, with theapplication of educational methodology characterized as problem solvingand case study, with the use of original experimental data generated inclass by the students