Mathematics Education resources

This report is part of a project funded by the Centre for Learning and Academic Development (CLAD) at the University of Birmingham. The objective of the project was to develop new learning resources to enable staff working in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to incorporate puzzle-based learning in their teaching. This guide to puzzle-based learning accompanies a selection of mathematical and logic-based puzzles, grouped by mathematical topic and approximate â??levelâ??, as judged by our experiences. It is written to provide advice to staff on how to adapt such puzzles for use in their subject at the appropriate level(s). Badger M., Sangwin, C.J., Ventura-Medina E. and Thomas C.R. (2012) A Guide to Puzzle-based Learning in STEM Subjects, University of Birmingham, http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/C.J.Sangwin/Publications/GuideToPuzzleBasedLearningInSTEM.pdf

This sigma Guide is written for postgraduate students who are working in, or who want to work in, mathematics support centres. It distils the wisdom of seven people, who have many years of experience in mathematics education and in the work of support centres, into a practical resource for postgraduate students. In addition, it contains activities which can be used during training sessions to simulate working in a mathematics support centre. The guide is edited by Tony Croft and Michael Grove and authored by A.C.Croft, J.W.Gillard, M.J.Grove, J.Kyle, A.Owen, P.C.Samuels and R.H.Wilson.

This sigma CETL report by Chengliang Hu presents an investigation into the educational potential of mobile devices in supporting mathematics teaching and learning. (2007) The zip file contains the full report and all appendices.

Proceedings of the CETL-MSOR Conference 2006, held at Loughborough University 11-12 September 2006, edited by David Green and published by the MSOR Network.

Adrian Smith's inquiry into post-14 mathematics education. (2004) There is a accompanying video 'The need for maths - Adrian Smith'

Recruitment to post-graduate mathematics programmes and to lecturer positions in mathematics departments in UK universities has become dominated by international students and staff. Although mathematics is generally regarded as ‘the universal language’, the reality is that different countries have very different cultures when it comes to the teaching and learning of mathematics. There are significant variations in the pre-university mathematical experience, in terms of the curriculum content, learning styles, levels of abstraction, and assessment methods. Even within the UK, a considerable number of pre-higher education mathematics qualifications are available and, it is not always clear what mathematics can be expected when students commence their degree programmes. With increasing numbers of international students and academic staff in UK HE, the scene is becoming more complicated. Students enter degree courses with a wide range of backgrounds and bring with them very different experiences. At the same time, academic staff, having experienced different education systems, may have some unrealistic expectations from their students. With an HEA Teaching Development Grant (Individual Scheme 2012 -2013), this research by Aiping Xu, Coventry University has investigated the mathematical cultures of a range of the main international suppliers (of students and staff) to UK HE mathematics departments. Using semi-structured interviews and online questionnaires, personal experiences of academic staff who have studied or taught more than two educational systems have been drawn upon. Some examinations have also been studied in detail.

This report is based on a presentation given by the author, Josh Hillman, on 17 March at the first Q-Step conference, Counting them in: quantitative social science and the links between secondary and higher education. Other presentations from the day are available at www.nuffieldfoundation.org/q-step. Josh Hillman is Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation. Josh Hillman, Mathematics after 16: the state of play, challenges and ways ahead, (London: Nuffield Foundation, 2014)

Numbas is a free, open-source e-assessment web-based system developed and used extensively at Newcastle University (http://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk/). Numbas consists of a set of tools which produce SCORM-compliant exam packages particularly suitable for creating formative assessment and learning materials in mathematics, statistics and numeracy.

This report by Dudley E Shallcross and Paul C Yates is one of a series of outputs produced by the Higher Education Academy STEM project: Skills in Mathematics and Statistics in the disciplines and tackling transition. The project seeks to provide a strong evidence base to inform dialogue between the pre-university and higher education sectors about the need for students to develop and apply mathematical and statistical skills within a range of discipline areas within higher education. Throughout a particular emphasis is placed on the transition into university study. The focus of this report is the Chemistry discipline. The report examines a wide range of factors including the mathematical and statistical skills requirements within the discipline, key sector requirements and staff and student expectations. Evidence collected from a literature review, surveys and a discussion event is presented and used to inform findings and recommendations. (2014)