The Mathematical Components of Engineering

magnitudes of the deformations of structural elements when loads are applied:
understanding is ‘situated’ in the sense that structural engineers think about a particular
set of plane curves for what they mean in structural terms (and use idiosyncratic language
to describe them). Although they may simultaneously know (and have certainly been
exposed to) a large amount of mathematics, the active meanings are structural. There is
no need, most of the time, to isolate out a ‘pure’ mathematical meaning: on the contrary,
such meanings are invariably anchored with intimate knowledge of the properties of the
material and structural form in use. From the outside observer’s point of view, this can
easily be interpreted as an absence of mathematical knowledge; in reality though, there is
a subtle and more complex synergy of mathematical and professional knowledge.

Finding 4: The mathematical components of engineering expertise operate in
practice as a synergy of ‘pure ’ mathematical knowledge with knowledge of
materials and structural geometry. Mathematics is seldom active and
foregrounded in this relationship, but is embedded within design thinking
(and thus transformed in the process). For example, there are powerful
conceptions of the loads and forces in structures that can be characterised as
situated abstractions—abstracted in the sense of providing general invariants
of structures, yet situated within the tools and discourse of the practice.

5. Activities

The work of the project was presented at the following conferences:

• 5^th British Congress of Mathematics Education, Keele, UK, July 2001 (Kent & Noss)

• 25^th Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference, Utrecht, The Netherlands,
July 2001 (Kent & Noss)

• 53^rd Annual Meeting of the CIEAEM (Commission internationale pour l’etude et
l’amёlioration de l’enseignement des mathematiques), Verbania, Italy, July 2001
(Noss, plenary lecture)

• Meeting of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics, Southampton,
UK, November 2001 (Kent & Noss)

• Second Annual Symposium on Engineering Education, organised by the Institution of
Electrical Engineers, London, January 2002 (Kent)

The following conferences are forthcoming:

• AERA Conference, New Orleans, April 2002 (Noss)

• Fifth Congress of the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory,
Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 2002 (Noss)

• 26^th Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference, Norwich, UK, July 2002
(Noss, plenary lecture)

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