Example of a project to work the sustainability competence in the subject of linear algebra in engineering studies.

Abstract

Strength in sustainability is becoming more and more essential for anyone who wants to dedicate themselves to the practice of competent and professional engineering. From the scientific-technical teachings, therefore, the transversal competencies of sustainability and social commitment should be addressed, so that students understand and become aware of the problems of a global world. Using the project-based learning tool (PBL), from a practical case, transversal competencies related to the global issues of the Sustainable Development Objectives (SDG) can be explained and evaluated in a classroom of Engineering or scientific degrees through the subject of Linear Algebra. This project presented is novel since usually, in a class of mathematics, teacher proposes examples in which we can see an attempt to approximate math to essential topics such as sustainability. In this case, the procedure is the other way round; it is about setting as the objective of the course the solution of a problem related to sustainability and adapting the mathematics program so that throughout the course the problem is solved. It is not about looking for application examples of the tools, but looking for algebra tools to solve the problem.