DIGITALLY SUPPORTED SCENARIO-BASED LEARNING FOR IMPROVING MATHEMATICS EDUCATION AND PERCEPTION IN SECURITY AND DEFENCE

The provision of a profitable education in Mathematics is important at a cross-curricular level, since this subject finds room in a plethora of academic paths, not limited to the most scientific or technological curricula. In particular, this applies to the security and defence area, where several skills related to mathematical reasoning, such as problem solving and critical thinking, are pivotal. To make students comfortable with Mathematics, even when it is not their specialisation, a central role is played by a proper design of the content they have to study, along with teachers providing adequate instruction based on it. In this sense, using scenarios and digital tools has already proved to be effective in some contexts, but most research has been performed outside higher education. In this research, we investigate the implementation of scenario-based learning with the support of digital tools within an international school, which involved university students in mathematical problem-solving activities based on real-world scenarios relevant to the security and defence area. Findings from quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that scenario-based learning, when combined with problem solving and technology-enhanced environments, can foster deeper learning and enhance students’ ability to apply mathematical concepts to real-world situations. This research is part of the activities undertaken within the European project DIMAS, whose goal is to increase interest in studying Mathematics in the field of security and defence and to provide more understandable Mathematics problems and Mathematics applications using digital tools.