Teaching mathematics in physics. a study of the mathematics programs of a Costa Rican university

Abstract

The objective of this research was to describe the mathematical contents that are part of the mathematics programs of a Physics course at a certain Costa Rican university. In order to respond to the proposed research objective, data were collected from the mathematics study programs of the bachelor’s degree in Physics at Universidad de Costa Rica, which were analyzed through a thematic analysis, braided with documentary analysis techniques, where the ATLAS.ti computational tool served as support to carry out such analysis. The results of this research allowed describing the mathematical contents studied in this career through ten topics. Based on these results, a discussion was held about modeling situations that can be implemented in mathematics courses of this major with the purpose of strengthening the link between mathematics and physics. Among the conclusions, the educational community is left with the task of incorporating different theoretical modeling perspectives into the mathematics programs of this career that will strengthen its link with physics.