Janette Matthews, Tony Croft, Duncan Lawson, and Dagmar Waller. (2013) Evaluation of mathematics support centres: a literature review. Teaching Mathematics Applications. first published online September 3, 2013 doi:10.1093/teamat/hrt013 Mathematics Support Centres (MSCs) have been established at universities in the UK and a number of other countries, of which colleagues from Australia and Ireland have been the most prolific in publishing about their work. Their main functions are to address issues surrounding the transition to university mathematics and to support students’ learning of mathematics and statistics across the wide variety of undergraduate courses. There is a growing body of research examining the operation and impact of MSCs. This article will review and synthesize available published research evidence so that informed decisions can be made about the value of mathematics support activity and the targeting of future funding. Evidence will be shown of the evaluation of MSCs in each of the following areas: the collection of data and the challenges that are presented in both quantitative and qualitative studies; analysis demonstrating MSC usage and activity; analysis showing the impact of MSCs on students, staff and the institution. The article will conclude by identifying areas where further research would be helpful.

Students in Aeronautical Engineering are taught MATLAB in the first year to provide them with programming skills and for use in later courses. In the second year MATLAB is used to enhance the teaching of linear algebra and to apply the mathematical techniques to engineering problems.

Factorising can be thought of as a reversal of the process of removing brackets. When we factorize an expression, it is written as a product of two or more terms, and these will normally involve brackets.

An electronic version of the mathematics Facts & Formulae leaflet designed to be viewed onscreen. A higher resolution print version is available in mathcentre.

The first summer mathematics course ran during July and August of 1997, financed by South Bank University (SBU). In subsequent years the course became HEFCE funded. The Fast Track mathematics course was a specifically designed free summer course to help equip the students with those skills required to enter a degree of Higher National Diploma in science or technology. SBU established the six week daytime course, which helped students identify gaps in their knowledge and provided a tailor made mathematics learning programme. This course now runs every summer to equip new students with the mathematical skills required for a smooth transition into university.

An electronic Welsh language version of the Facts & Formulae leaflet for mechanics designed to be viewed onscreen. A higher resolution print version is available in mathcentre. The leaflets were translated by Dr Tudur Davies, a Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Lecturer of Mathematics, at the Institute of Mathematics, Physics & Computer Science, Aberystwyth University. Funding from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol is gratefully acknowledged.

An electronic Welsh language version of the mathematics Facts & Formulae leaflet designed to be viewed onscreen. A higher resolution print version is available in mathcentre. The leaflets were translated by Dr Tudur Davies, a Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Lecturer of Mathematics, at the Institute of Mathematics, Physics & Computer Science, Aberystwyth University. Funding from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol is gratefully acknowledged.

Integration can be used to calculate areas. In simple cases, the area is given by a single definite integral. But sometimes the integral gives a negative answer which is minus the area, and in more complicated cases the correct answer can be obtained only by splitting the area into several parts and adding or subtracting the appropriate integrals. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

9 questions on first order differential equations. Straight forward integration (2), separating variables (4), linear (1), homogenous (2). All are either initial value or boundary value problems. Numbas resources have been made available under a Creative Commons licence by the School of Mathematics & Statistics at Newcastle University.

First Order Differential Equations: A summary of five common methods to solve first order ODEs: direct integration, separation of variables, homogeneous equations, integrating factor and Bernouilli equations. This Teach Yourself resource is contributed to the mathcentre Community Project by Morgiane Richard, University of Aberdeen and is reviewed by Shazia Ahmed, University of Glasgow.

This extension video mathstutor discusses Newton's second law of motion. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This leaflet explains what is meant by a forward price and shows how to calculate this. It is contributed to the mathcentre Community Project by Leslie Fletcher and reviewed by Vassili Kolokoltsov.

This video segment introduces the multiplication and division of fractions. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.