186 MATHEMATICS TEACHING FOR THE FUTURE Approaches to learning mathematics in engineering study program Ljerka Juki´ c Mati´ c 1 , Ivan Mati´ c 2 and Ana Kataleni´ c 3 1,2 Department of Mathematics, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia 3 Faculty of Teacher Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia Abstract. The students’ approaches to learning have been signifi- cantly researched in the last few decades, particularly since Marton and S¨ alj¨ o in 1979. elaborated about a deep/surface approach dichotomy. The above dichotomy appears to be very useful in the assessing of teaching, based on which one can obtain parameters according to which teaching can be improved. Precisely for these purposes the term approach to learning is more suitable than the term learning style. Learning style addresses ability-like dimensions while the term approach means that person can choose to learn in different ways depending on his/her motivation, the nature of the course taken and subject-matter, as well as the host of other variables. We use The Ap- proaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), developed by N.J. Entwistle, to investigate learning approaches of the first-year undergraduate engineering students in compulsory mathematics course. We emphasize that this inventory considers an additional type of ap- proach, the strategic one. Inventory explored which of three approaches to learning (deep, strategic or surface) was chosen the most to cope with demands of the specific mathematics course, and how the chosen approach relates to the students’ grades obtained in the course. The results showed that majority choose strategic approach, what might indicate that it was the nature of the mathematics course that resulted in this approach. Also, in this paper we discuss the potential main factors that could result in such a selection. Keywords: approaches to learning, deep, surface, strategic Introduction One of the main goals of education is to build effective learners. There are sev- eral variables that affect students’ learning. Many research point out that the approach to learning and study skills significantly influence on the quality of stu- dent’s learning (e.g. Marton & Saljo, 1976; Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983; Biggs,