EELISA MATMATH Challenge: Connecting Maths and Materials

•  What is the motivation behind the EELISA MATMATH challenge?

The origin of the idea is the feeling that connecting disciplines to solve complex problems is still a big challenge in higher education. The purpose is to apply an interdisciplinary approach to get audio-visual educational resources that explain Materials Engineering questions linked to Mathematics. These questions are posed by external agents, experts in materials, and the resources are created by teams of university students, accompanied by professionals from both disciplines.

 

• The EELISA MATMATH challenge is promoted by the EELISA SSERIES Community. It is developed in collaboration with the EELISA Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Future Community. What can you tell us about this collaboration?

This fruitful collaboration arose after a regular coordination meeting of the Degree in Materials Engineering at the UPM, which I joined as a Mathematics teacher in 2023. Shortly after, the University launched the Call ‘Retos EELISA’,  financed by a grant from the Ministry of Universities, to promote Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) experiences as part of its official programs. Then, I thought this call could be a great opportunity for our EELISA community, SSERIES (Science for Sustainably Envisioning Reality and Information for an Engaged Society), to build an interdisciplinary CBL activity together with those academics and researchers from the field of Materials Engineering that belonged to the EELISA community ‘Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Future’. Their support was crucial for the initiative: they launched the challenges for student’s teams, they answered their questions while preparing the videos and they met the students in the final presentation event.

 

• How does the EELISA MATMATH Challenge promote interdisciplinary learning and the development of transversal skills among students?

In this EELISA activity, students face the challenge of explaining the mathematical keys of a real problem about materials, connecting both disciplines. This learning experience is done by self-organized teams of students, who choose their coordinator and who produce a short and attractive video in which every team member gives part of the explanation. During the process, the teams are guided by materials and mathematical experts in academic issues. Other two EELISA students – during an internship period- assist the teams in audio-visual aspects and help the teachers in organizational issues. In this way, through this MATMATH Challenge, transversal skills as teamwork, organization, planning, leadership and communication skills are developed among EELISA students.

 

 

• What are some examples of challenges or problems that students tackle in the EELISA MATMATH Challenge?

The challenge for students is to explain in a short video the mathematical keys of a real problem about materials. This videos will serve as educative resources for the future. Some examples of these problems are: How to describe the interaction light-matter: Are we protected against solar radiation inside a vehicle? What mathematical models are useful to obtain mechanical properties of nanostructured materials? How to combine layers of different materials in a micrometric beam to avoid bending due to temperature changes?

 

 

• Can you describe the selection process for the videos to be included in the video library? What criteria are used to determine which videos are selected?

Three of the produced videos are selected to make part of an interdisciplinary video library for educational purposes.  For this selection, a rubric is applied weighting the understanding of the concepts, the clarity of the explanation, the use of simple and rigorous language at the same time and the originality of the visual format. Then, materials and mathematics experts review the videos to improve them as much as possible. Finally, the videos are subtitled and edited by student interns.

 

• The resulting videos were publicly presented in April at UPM. What impact do you hope holding these types of events have on the education and training of students?

In the final presentation event, students, teachers and external agents view the selected videos and have the opportunity to chat and share concerns. It is probably the first time the students can comment in person with experts in their field. I think this makes them feel part of their academic and professional field. They see how their work is valued and they verify that their understanding of the concepts can solve real problems help future students. As a consequence, motivation for training and academic performance should increase.

 

• What are some future plans or developments for the EELISA MATMATH Challenge?

After this pilot experience funded by the ‘Retos EELISA’ call, our intention is to maintain this CBL activity integrated in several subjects of the Degree in Materials Engineering as well as the collaboration with EELISA community ‘Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Future’. We would also like to make this challenge international, extending it to other EELISA universities, within the framework of upcoming EELISA Joint Calls.