ON PERCEPTION OF COMPUTER ALGEBRA SYSTEMS AND MICROSOFT EXCEL BY ENGINEERING STUDENTS
Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2019, Vol 77, Issue 3
Abstract
This research presents the analysis of image of the popular program packages: CAS (Computer Algebra Systems) Matlab, Mathcad, Mathematica, and the spreadsheet ‘Microsoft Excel’ among students of engineering specializations studying in Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU). The research has explored perception of program packages by all students (N=164), and by male students (N=110) and female students (N=54) separately. Image of the program packages, convenience of their interfaces, usage scenarios, and applicability for solution of tasks of certain types have been explored via questioning the students. Moreover, the students assessed likelihood of using the programs in the future. It was established that all the program packages under consideration can be successfully used in the process of education, but some of them (Matlab and Mathematica) require additional lessons to learn their interface and peculiarities. Gender differences in perception of the program packages do not determine the education outcomes. The differences of perception of the programs are mainly caused by their popularity and the students’ skills of using certain programs. The following gender differences have been detected: in the female students’ sample, the programs Mathcad and Excel are leading, Matlab is performed a little worse; Matlab is associated with the statement “difficult / inconvenient interface”. In the male students’ sample, the three programs Matlab, Mathcad, and Microsoft Excel got nearly equal grades. Female students estimate future usage of Microsoft Excel higher than male students do. The CAS Mathematica takes the lowest places for both samples; as a possible cause of such result, it has been found that Mathematica is not widespread as compared to the other programs under consideration.
Authors and Affiliations
Natalia M. Mezhennaya, Oleg V. Pugachev
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP590735
- DOI 10.33225/pec/19.77.379
- Views 134
- Downloads 0
THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
The goal of present study is to investigate the impact of school culture on academic achievement level. Specifically, the influence of school management system on students' performance. The study represents the part of t...
THE EFFECT OF LEARNING MODELS ON BIOLOGY CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF MULTIETHNIC STUDENTS AT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN INDONESIA
Teachers play an important role in the world of education, including in the process of planning the learning activities. A meaningful learning will be able to provide a good effect on students’ thinking ability. One of t...
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION NEXUS
The new Knowledge (or Conceptual) Age of this millennium is creating a globalised economy that requires a much more diverse range of skills and dispositions yet many countries’ education systems still promote an outdated...
THE LEVELS OF TEACHERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING IN SCHOOLS IN KENYA
Making decisions is one of the prime functions of educational management and in the current educational setup; more teachers are taking management roles in schools. This study therefore assessed the teachers’ involvement...
TECHNOLOGY USE FOR COLLABORATION IN BLENDED LEARNING
E-learning traditionally is seen as individually oriented learning. The main effort was on creation of effective learning materials. Development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is bringing new possibi...