Under Graduate Teaching And Research Using Project-Oriented Approach with Matlab Environment

Abstract

The role of universities cannot be overestimated in the training process of students of under-graduate and post-graduate studies that would eventually shape the world's technological and scientific progress. The past decade has seen many changes in the expectations of students in the field of education. For the students of under-graduate courses the goal has shifted to obtaining theoretical and practical knowledge in their chosen specialization. Some choose to continue their education for a career in post-graduation and then pursue research; others opt to elevate their professional competency, teamwork and leadership skills. Despite different learning expectations, instruction in universities continues to be based on traditional pedagogical methods, such as "face-to-face" studies, or "E-learning" training and communication, which are overwhelmingly teacher-led. The purpose of this paper is to search for new methods of education that would permit gaining real and practical experience harnessed by seeking examples relevant to the curriculum outside the classroom that also enhance the professional competency of a graduate student, thus evolving into a more student-centric type of learning. The main emphasis of this paper is the demonstration of the use of software packages and programs to solve problems in Mathematics, Physics and Engineering as a part of enhancing the comprehension of the student's learning curve. The formulation and analysis of complex problem solving techniques such as comprehensive grades of the students in a class in various subjects and application of differantial equations has been taken as an example using the fundamental "if"..."else" statement from MATLAB as an example. The paper consists of the introduction to scientific problem and its complete numerical solution along with a graphical analysis using one of the fourth generation programming languages i.e., MATLAB. The emphasis is on programming rather than problem solving.

Keywords

• Matlab, if- else statement, Numerical methods, graphical analysis, student's grades, Differential Equations

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