Promoting conceptual understanding of differential equations through inqiury tasks

Abstract

Courses in Differential Equations (DEs) have been an important part of engineering education for decades. However, students experience difficulties with the understanding of main concepts including differential equation itself and diverse types of solutions (general, particular, stationary). In this paper, we discuss how the work on non-routine problems on the Existence and Uniqueness Theorems (EUTs) helps students to make sense of DEs and their solutions thus contributing to the development of advanced mathematical thinking.