Nonstandard problems in an ordinary equations course

We report first results from a teaching intervention in an ordinary differential equations (ODEs) course for engineering students. Our aim is to challenge traditional approaches to teaching of Existence and Uniqueness Theorems (EUTs) through the design of problems that students cannot solve by applying well-rehearsed techniques or familiar methods. We analyse how the use of nonstandard problems contributes to the development of students' conceptual understanding of EUTs and ODEs.