Mathematical and engineering thinking skills: What do engineers and lecturers perceive?
This study aims to investigate the perceptions of engineers and engineering lecturers on their mathematical experiences in the development of thinking skills and the mathematical concepts, mathematical skills and thinking skills that they use in the work place. The sample of the study consists of 23 engineers and 28 engineering lecturers in various fields. For data collection this study used surveys for engineers and engineering lecturers comprised of a multiple choice and open ended questionnaire and also interviews with respondents from both groups. Results reveal that there is no consistency between engineers' and lecturers' perceptions about the mathematical concepts, mathematical skills and thinking skills that engineers use in the workplace.
Business communicators today risk legal liability as courts are increasingly holding writers and their employing organizations responsible for reasonable—although often unintended—interpretations of their routine writing. Research and pedagogy have not kept abreast of this change. Rhetorical theory, particularly a social perspective, provides a useful foundation for understanding judicial resolution of claims arising out of writing; however, theory must also account for factors not encompassed within extended audience analysis. Current texts offer general descriptions of the laws most likely to affect business writers; in addition, writing pedagogy must provide specific strategies for avoiding liability-prone prose.