Método de Pólya como estrategia para mejorar las habilidades en la resolución de problemas, con ecuaciones diferenciales ordinarias, para estudiantes de la carrera de Matemática - Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo

Abstract

In the Mathematics major at the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, a significant deficiency in students’ abilities to approach and solve problems involving ordinary differential equations. This deficiency has a negative impact on the students’ integral formation and impedes the understanding and effective application of key concepts in these disciplines; therefore, the goal of this research was to evaluate a guide based on Pólya’s method as a strategy to improve mathematical skills for problem solving with ordinary differential equations in Applied Mathematics. The methodology implemented had a quantitative approach with an experimental design and an explanatory level. The population in this study consisted of the fourth semester students of the Mathematics major, belonging to ESPOCH, who are enrolled in the subject of Ordinary Differential Equations, from which, a selection was made to form both, the experimental and the control group. The instruments used in the research were the pre-test and post-test, which facilitated the scores collection before and after the implementation of the guide based on the Pólya method. To evaluate the hypothesis proposed, Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used. Through this methodology, it was possible to determine that the students who learned to use Polya’s method as a strategy for solving problems involving differential equations, significantly increased their mathematical skills and academic performance. Thus, it is concluded that the application of the guide based on Pólya’s method did improve the mathematical skills and academic performance of the students.