SIMULATION-BASED MATH IN THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS

The world today needs rapid innovation, product development and consideration of sustainability. Different types of models are efforts used to forecast the future, for climate, economy, and population growth, to name but a few, as the information does not exist otherwise. In general, use of simulations and various computer aided methods play a key role, as they are efficient in developing, evaluating, and comparing different solutions. The “simulation-based math” standard is a corner stone in providing engineering students with the skills and mindset to respond to modern world challenges in their future careers. At Turku University of Applied Sciences (Turku UAS) the implementation of the latest simulation based mathematics -standard started collectively in the faculty of Engineering and Business in spring 2021. The first step was to examine to what extent computational methods are present in education. This survey was done in four different departments. Each department explored their course selection and based on how much and how systematic the use of computer aided mathematics in the courses was, defined the initial stage in the rubric. The survey showed that the initial state at different departments varies notably. Some departments clearly have more structure in utilizing the methods whereas others had not yet started any thorough process of implementing the new standard. A common goal is to synchronize the practices and create a learning curve that starts from the basic courses with simple tasks and continues until the later stages of studies with more complex problems. This paper discusses the review process, its’ findings, and the ideas how to start improving the implementation of simulation-based mathstandard in separate courses and at the programme level through the whole faculty. In addition, challenges and the concrete next steps will be outlined.