Innovative pedagogical scenarios for first year mechanics students

Research has shown that many undergraduate students encounter great difficulties in coordinating all the mathematical resources they have and in moving from one setting to another. Because the abstraction process in mathematics is “more a process of connection than ascension” (Noss & Hoyles, 1996), the flexibility of moving within settings, models and representations becomes crucial. This is particularly relevant in subjects like mechanics, where students are required to constantly manage a number of different mathematical and physical representations (real phenomenon, model of the phenomenon, graphical and numerical representations of the phenomenon, equations, etc).