EXPERIENCES TO INCREASE THE MOTIVATION OF THE ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS TOWARDS MATHEMATICS

According to the guidelines of the European convergence process the students are claimed to be the actual performers of their own learning. In this sense, the design of the new degrees has into account the self-learning through the use of the well-known European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits.
An important influence on the students self-learning is the motivation towards the subject they have to study. If the students have a limited time to study their subjects, they will choose those they think are the most important for them, or simply, those they like and are interested in.
We are mathematics teachers at the school of Architecture of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV). At this school mathematics are found at the architect degree as a compulsory subject in the first year (Subject name: Mathematical Foundations in Architecture (MFA)) and in the second year (Subject name: Ampliation of Mathematics (AMA)). The architecture students have not a great motivation towards the mathematics, what is an understandable fact since their main reason to study architecture is their liking for the drawing and the design, and this does not mean the same for mathematics.
Firstly, in this paper we present an experience that we have made in AMA in order to increase the motivation of architecture students towards Mathematics. The experience is based on a photographic competition about quadrics. As a result of the good results of this first experience we have continued with another project. In this new project MFA and AMA’s students are involved. Secondly, we present the basis of this last experience that we have set in motion with the same aim than the first one. In this case students have to prepare some material as a proof of the relationship between mathematics and architecture and to spread it in an appropriate conference.