Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications最新文献

{"title":"Engineering Undergraduates' Views of A-Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics as Preparation for Their Degree.","authors":"Ellie Darlington, Jessica Bowyer","doi":"10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW020","url":null,"abstract":"An ongoing reform programme of the post-16 Advanced ‘A’-level qualifications in England and Wales means that pre-university mathematics content and assessment will change from 2017. Undergraduate engineering is a subject that relies heavily on mathematics, and applicants to engineering degree programmes in the UK are required to have studied A-level Mathematics in order to be accepted. Therefore, the planned reforms are likely to have an impact on students’ transition to undergraduate engineering. To investi-gate this, we conducted an online questionnaire survey of 462 current undergraduate engineering students who had taken A-levels. Participants reported on their experiences of studying post-compulsory mathematics and the preparation it provided for their degrees. Those who had studied the more advanced A-levelçFurther Mathematicsçin addition to A-level Mathematics, considered it to be good preparation. They also believed that the A-level structure, which allows specialization in certain areas of applied mathematics, to be advantageous. In particular, possibilities for in-depth study of mechanics and pure mathematics were highly valued by participants. It is recommended that university engineering departments do more to encourage prospective students to study Further Mathematics. However, it should not necessarily be made compulsory because of con-straints regardingaccess, uptake and provisionof FurtherMathematics in certain schools.","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61090234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Well Do Engineering Students Retain Core Mathematical Knowledge after a Series of High Threshold Online Mathematics Tests","authors":"M. Carr, Mark Prendergast, C. Breen, Fiona Faulkner","doi":"10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW021","url":null,"abstract":"In the Dublin Institute of Technology, high threshold core skills assessments are run in mathematics for third-year engineering students. Such tests require students to reach a threshold of 90% on a multiple choice test based on a randomized question bank.The material covered by the test consists of the more important aspects of undergraduate engineering mathematics covered in the first 2 years of the Honours degree programme and the 3 years of the Ordinary degree programme. Students are allowed to resit the assessment as frequently as required until they pass. In order to measure the effectiveness of such an exercise, a follow-up assessment was given to students on their first day of their fourth year. A comparison is made with the level of basic mathematical knowledge of these students on their first day in third year, exactly a year previously. For the majority of the students we see a significant decrease in the performance of the students from the beginning of third year to the beginning of fourth year. In addition, students were surveyed for their perception of both how much knowledge had been retained and how effective they felt that this approach had been. Overall the students felt positive about the process of online testing and that it would make it easier for them to regain this information in the future.","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61090255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The construction of a square through multiple approaches to foster learners’ mathematical thinking","authors":"A. Reyes-Rodriguez, Manuel Santos-Trigo, Fernando Barrera-Mora","doi":"10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW022","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW022","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61090268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘They [the lecturers] have to get through a certain amount in an hour’: first year students’ problems with service mathematics lectures","authors":"Diane Harris;Maria Pampaka","doi":"10.1093/teamat/hrw013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/teamat/hrw013","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on large-scale survey data and interviews with students during their first year at university, and case studies in their institutions, we explore the problems faced by students taking mathematically demanding courses, e.g. physics and engineering. These students are often taught mathematics as a service subject by lecturers of mathematics. Analysis of students’ perceptions of transition suggests that ‘the lecture’ in Higher Education continues to pose problems. Thematic analysis of interview data shows that these problems relate to the way lectures involve ‘time pressure’ and ‘lack of dialogue/interaction’ which are practices that we associate with transmissionist pedagogy generally and can also create negative dispositions. A case study of one mathematics course for engineering that we argue made a difference is presented, and conclusions drawn for developing practice which are especially pertinent with the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework to monitor and assess teaching in universities.","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/teamat/hrw013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50302567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Re-thinking science capital: the role of ‘capital’ and ‘identity’ in mediating students’ engagement with mathematically demanding programmes at university","authors":"L. Black, Paul Hernandez-Martinez","doi":"10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW016","url":null,"abstract":"A wide body of literature has highlighted how high achievement in mathematics in secondary school does not necessarily motivate students to both choose and succeed on mathematically demanding programmes at post-compulsory level. The recent Enterprising Science project (Archer et al. (2015, J. Res. Sci. Teach., 52, 922–948)) and before that, the ASPIRES project (Archer et al. (2013, London: Kings College)), have both highlighted that access to science capital is perhaps more important than prior achievement in shaping students’ aspirations and their future trajectories in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In this article, we critically analyse the notion of science capital and its role in mediating students’ choice of and experience of studying mathematically demanding degree programmes at university. Drawing on data from the TransMaths project, we present two cases—Stacey and Elton—who are both enrolled on the same ‘Mathematics for Physics’ course at university. We show that although both discuss access to science capital in narrating their choice of degree, they do so in different ways and this invariably interplays with different forms of identification with ‘Mathematics for Physics’. We conclude that there is a need to re-conceptualize science capital so that the dialectic relationship between its exchange and use value is theorized more fully. Whilst some students may access science capital as a means to accumulate capital (e.g. qualifications) for its own sake (exchange value), others appear to recognize the ‘use value’ of science learning and knowledge and this produces different forms of engagement with science (and mathematics). We therefore argue that authoring oneself in the name of a STEM identity is crucial in mediating how one perceives science capital. Finally, we argue that mathematics should be a central part of this framework since it significantly contributes to the exchange value of science as a form of capital (especially Physics), but it also offers use value in scientific labour (e.g. in modelling scientific problems).","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61090176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘They [the lecturers] have to get through a certain amount in an hour’: first year students’ problems with service mathematics lectures","authors":"D. Harris, M. Pampaka","doi":"10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW013","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on large-scale survey data and interviews with students during their first year at university, and case studies in their institutions, we explore the problems faced by students taking mathematically demanding courses, e.g. physics and engineering. These students are often taught mathematics as a service subject by lecturers of mathematics. Analysis of students’ perceptions of transition suggests that ‘the lecture’ in Higher Education continues to pose problems. Thematic analysis of interview data shows that these problems relate to the way lectures involve ‘time pressure’ and ‘lack of dialogue/interaction’ which are practices that we associate with transmissionist pedagogy generally and can also create negative dispositions. A case study of one mathematics course for engineering that we argue made a difference is presented, and conclusions drawn for developing practice which are especially pertinent with the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework to monitor and assess teaching in universities.","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/TEAMAT/HRW013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61090133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Front matter","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel7/8016818/8151516/08237128.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50302568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Back matter","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel7/8016818/8151516/08237130.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50302569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introduction to the Special Issue on the transition to mathematically demanding programmes in higher education","authors":"Laura Black;Julian Williams","doi":"10.1093/teamat/hrw017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/teamat/hrw017","url":null,"abstract":"In this editorial we explain the background to the research papers reported in this special issue, and to some extent how each paper relates to this body of work. In particular we outline the research projects and research teams that worked together between 2006 and 2014 on projects that related to the theme of transition, and we provide the knowledge base on which these papers build.","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/teamat/hrw017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50302564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Re-thinking science capital: the role of ‘capital’ and ‘identity’ in mediating students’ engagement with mathematically demanding programmes at university","authors":"Laura Black;Paul Hernandez-Martinez","doi":"10.1093/teamat/hrw016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/teamat/hrw016","url":null,"abstract":"A wide body of literature has highlighted how high achievement in mathematics in secondary school does not necessarily motivate students to both choose and succeed on mathematically demanding programmes at post-compulsory level. The recent Enterprising Science project (Archer et al. (2015, J. Res. Sci. Teach., 52, 922–948)) and before that, the ASPIRES project (Archer et al. (2013, London: Kings College)), have both highlighted that access to science capital is perhaps more important than prior achievement in shaping students’ aspirations and their future trajectories in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In this article, we critically analyse the notion of science capital and its role in mediating students’ choice of and experience of studying mathematically demanding degree programmes at university. Drawing on data from the TransMaths project, we present two cases—Stacey and Elton—who are both enrolled on the same ‘Mathematics for Physics’ course at university. We show that although both discuss access to science capital in narrating their choice of degree, they do so in different ways and this invariably interplays with different forms of identification with ‘Mathematics for Physics’. We conclude that there is a need to re-conceptualize science capital so that the dialectic relationship between its exchange and use value is theorized more fully. Whilst some students may access science capital as a means to accumulate capital (e.g. qualifications) for its own sake (exchange value), others appear to recognize the ‘use value’ of science learning and knowledge and this produces different forms of engagement with science (and mathematics). We therefore argue that authoring oneself in the name of a STEM identity is crucial in mediating how one perceives science capital. Finally, we argue that mathematics should be a central part of this framework since it significantly contributes to the exchange value of science as a form of capital (especially Physics), but it also offers use value in scientific labour (e.g. in modelling scientific problems).","PeriodicalId":44578,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/teamat/hrw016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50302566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}