A computer-aided math teaching approach for students in a technical institute: The experience with the Octave in the electro-mechanical technical course

This paper describes the experience to teach mathematics in the electro-mechanical technical course applying a computer-aided approach. Instead of give a bunch of equations and a calculator to the students, as it is usual in technical courses, we offer them the Octave, which is a numerical computational tool, and the mathematical concepts involved, in order to them find the solution of applied problems. Despite the deficiencies the students in technical courses have in their formation, we could notice that their vision regarding mathematics has changed after discover that there is more than calculators to help them finding the solution. The approach was initially applied with a group of 25 mature students, which passed by a flawed basic educational system and stayed away from school for a long time.