An Empirical Research on Mathematical Case Development in Mathematical Teaching in Liberal Arts College

Abstract

In order to explore mathematics learning methods suitable for liberal arts students specially and the educational value of mathematics application cases developed by liberal arts students, an experiment of mathematics application case study was carried out in the first grade liberal arts undergraduate students. 205 mathematics application cases have been obtained, and case studies were used with the statistical summarization and analytical generalization methods. From 2009 to 2013, about 531 liberal arts freshmen in statistical course completed a total of 90 mathematics survey reports containing the university campus life (58 cases), professional related research (21 cases), social issues (11 cases) and so on. From 2014 to 2018, liberal arts students completed 115 mathematics application cases in Applied Probability and Statistics class which can be divided into 3 categories according to the degree of innovation: using mathematical knowledge to solve problems (79 cases), empirical survey (14 cases) and literature analysis (22 cases). The case topics selected by liberal arts students are all related to their own interests, and the innovative uses are for the vast majority. Conclusion: (i) writing a mathematics survey report is an appropriate way for students to apply mathematics; (ii) mathematics application is the fusion of interest and knowledge in probability and statistical area for liberal arts undergraduate students; (iii) the development process of mathematics application cases can demonstrate innovative thinking and application ability for liberal arts undergraduate students.