{"title":"The impact of Mathematics and Statistics Support at the Academic Learning Centre, Central Queensland University","authors":"Michael Dzator;Janet Dzator","doi":"10.1093/teamat/hry016","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Mathematics and Statistics Support Centre (MSSC) at Central Queensland University (CQU), which is part of the Academic Learning Centre (ALC), has been in operation since 1984 as the first MSSC in Australia. The Mathematics Learning Support (MLS) centres have spread to almost every university in Australia currently. The MSSC at CQU offers free support services for students who need mathematics and statistics help or advice for their courses. In this study we analyse the differences of the impact of mathematics and statistics support services on mature age students and secondary school-leaver (traditional) students study habits, confidence and opinion towards mathematics and statistics, using data collected from students who used the ALC at CQU in the second half of 2016. The results suggest a positive impact of mathematics and statistics support on mature age students’ study habits, confidence and opinion towards mathematics and statistics. Chi-squared tests have shown that there are differences in the proportion of mature students and traditional students who have changed their study habits, increased their confidence levels and changed their opinion on mathematics with p values of 0.001, 0.009 and 0.023, respectively. The study also shows that the majority of students are satisfied with the services provided at the MSSC and believe that the services provided helped them to solve or minimize difficulties in working through mathematics- and/or statistics-related learning activities at CQU. Based on the findings of the current study we conclude that the use of learning support centres is an effective way to solve or minimize difficulties associated with mathematics and statistics learning at a tertiary institution.","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/teamat/hry016","citationCount":"8","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9108359/","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 8
Abstract
The Mathematics and Statistics Support Centre (MSSC) at Central Queensland University (CQU), which is part of the Academic Learning Centre (ALC), has been in operation since 1984 as the first MSSC in Australia. The Mathematics Learning Support (MLS) centres have spread to almost every university in Australia currently. The MSSC at CQU offers free support services for students who need mathematics and statistics help or advice for their courses. In this study we analyse the differences of the impact of mathematics and statistics support services on mature age students and secondary school-leaver (traditional) students study habits, confidence and opinion towards mathematics and statistics, using data collected from students who used the ALC at CQU in the second half of 2016. The results suggest a positive impact of mathematics and statistics support on mature age students’ study habits, confidence and opinion towards mathematics and statistics. Chi-squared tests have shown that there are differences in the proportion of mature students and traditional students who have changed their study habits, increased their confidence levels and changed their opinion on mathematics with p values of 0.001, 0.009 and 0.023, respectively. The study also shows that the majority of students are satisfied with the services provided at the MSSC and believe that the services provided helped them to solve or minimize difficulties in working through mathematics- and/or statistics-related learning activities at CQU. Based on the findings of the current study we conclude that the use of learning support centres is an effective way to solve or minimize difficulties associated with mathematics and statistics learning at a tertiary institution.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.