1 July 2016: Seminar by Associate Professor Sergiy Klymchuk, Auckland University of Technology, "Enhancing Engineering Students’ Generic Thinking Skills through Puzzles, Paradoxes and Sophisms"
Abstract: This talk reports on the results of two pilot studies on the impact of the regular use of puzzles, paradoxes and sophisms (PPS) as a pedagogical strategy on enhancing engineering students' generic thinking skills. Four main reasons for using PPS in teaching and learning are discussed in the talk. Students' attitudes towards this pedagogical strategy were evaluated via a short questionnaire given to university students taking a second year engineering mathematics course. The theoretical considerations of the study are based the Puzzle-Based Learning concept. Examples of PPS and students' responses to the questionnaire questions are presented and discussed.
About the speaker: Sergiy is an Associate Professor of Mathematics in the School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences and Director of the STEM-TEC Centre. He has 36 years' experience in teaching university mathematics in different countries. His current research interests are in mathematics education. He authored or co-authored more than 200 publications. Sergiy is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) based in the UK, a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand and several international organisations on mathematics education.
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