Аңдатпа
The rapid digitalisation of engineering and the industry and the increasing technical uncertainty and complexity necessitate strengthening mathematical training among students of technical specialties. Probability theory and mathematical statistics develop analytical thinking competencies, including skills in mathematical modeling, interpretation of data, decision making under uncertainty during the design of models, components of devices and networks, evaluation reliability, safety, etc. This study develops and evaluates the professionally oriented approach to teaching stochastic methods integrating the theoretical mathematical knowledge with practical applications in engineering and information technologies. The proposed methodology incorporates the professionally oriented tasks considering the concepts of: reliability of electrical systems, probability of overload of transformer, diagnose of equipment using Bayes formula, electrical circuits using random processes, etc. Those tasks make students reflect on random phenomena, define probability models, carry out mathematical calculation, interpret results and justify decisions in professional contexts. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed approach a 2 months quasi-experimental study with (n=23) a control group which studied the probability content and additional traditional and calculation tasks and (n=23) an experimental group which studied probability and performed additional contextual and professionally oriented tasks was conducted. Students completed pre-test and post-test assessment questionnaires, comparative statistical analysis and observation about learning engagement and common types of students’ errors followed the experiment. We found results improving in both groups but the experimental group resulted in a greater change in test scores, mean changing from 56.5% to 75.1% while in the control group the mean changed from 58.5% to 67.9%. Embedding stochastic methods into teaching through professionally oriented tasks appears to strengthen the connection between mathematical theory and its practical applications in system modelling while preparing students for their future professional careers.