SERVICE TEACHING: MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION OF STUDENTS OF CLIENT DEPARTMENTS

Abstract

This paper examines lecturers' views and practices on service teaching and factors that shape these views and practices. It reports on one aspect of a wider study which examined first year Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics students' conceptions of the derivative. The data comes from interviews with four mathematics and two physics lecturers supplemented with observations of calculus courses. With regard to teaching different groups of students the results suggest that lecturers: privilege different aspects of mathematics; set different questions on examinations; use different textbooks. We discuss influences on lecturers' decisions of what to teach to different groups of students.