INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION BASED ON MATERIALS SCIENCE RESEARH

Interdisciplinary approach in education attracts significant attention in the contemporary education due to its beneficial effect on teaching-learning process. It is noticed that interdisciplinary approach help students in developing knowledge, increases problem solving skills, supports self-confidence and passion for learning. In this work we explained interdisciplinary approach that was based on mathematics, as a school subject and materials science as a scientific discipline. The combination of the two disciplines is not usual, since materials science is not part of middle school curriculums, even though it is known as an interdisciplinary field that combines many aspects of science and provide results important for everyday life. Polymers, adhesives, coatings, rubbers, ceramics, solar cells are widely used in every day, but they are rarely explored in the classroom. The main reason is that problems in materials science are highly advanced, but with the careful planning there are many possibilities to make them understandable to students. In this work we selected different problems from the materials science field which could help students to develop their modeling competences, since many problems relate to the mathematics. The examples have been derived from the practice applied with students from 10 to 18 years. They illustrate connection of materials science to school mathematics in order to enrich educational process. Educational process benefits in many segments, from developing students' knowledge to promotion of scientific disciplines and jobs in the field of science. Examples show how authentic context support students' engagement and their learning become meaningful and purposeful. Also, we highlight the different perspectives explored during the interdisciplinary approach and stress development of critical thinking skills during researching across disciplinary boundaries. That increase transfer of student knowledge trough disciplines and give them wider prospective of knowledge that they gain in the regular lessons which lead to creativity and production of new ideas. Examples follow elements that are common for interdisciplinary approach of instructions recommended by Fink taxonomy for significant learning. Those elements are foundational knowledge which assume understanding ideas, application of skills, integration and connection of ideas, human dimension and caring, and learning how-to learn which is important for obtaining insight into process of learning. Those instructions are leading to meaningful and lasting experiences for students and fully illustrate importance of school mathematics in scientific disciplines such as materials science.