With widening participation in the university sector and the reduction in pre-requisites for entry into many university science courses, students are arriving at university with reduced competencies in mathematics. As quantitative skills are crucial for study in science, under-preparation has direct effects on multiple disciplines. The Maths Skills Program for first year science and statistics students at La Trobe University was developed in collaboration with science coordinators to provide students with mathematics support that highlights the relevance of mathematics to their disciplines. In evaluating the program, both the students and science coordinators were surveyed. The student responses on questionnaires indicated the students saw the relevance of the program to their educational goals, believed the questions written in context helped them learn their subject, and the focus on relevance helped them understand how mathematics was related to their subject. This was in line with the responses from the science coordinators who found the program to be relevant to their disciplines and assisted students in applying mathematics in context. Deborah C. Jackson, Elizabeth D. Johnson, Tania M. Blanksby. (2014) A Practitioner’s Guide to Implementing Cross-Disciplinary Links in a Mathematics Support Program. IJISME, Vol 22, No 1. http://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/CAL/article/view/6898

A review of MATHWISE Pre-Calculus and CALMAT.

Alcock, L., Attridge, N., Kenny, S., & Inglis, M. (2014). Achievement and behaviour in undergraduate mathematics: personality is a better predictor than gender. Research in Mathematics Education, 16 (1), 1-17. DOI:10.1080/14794802.2013.874094. We investigated two factors that predict students' achievement and behaviour in undergraduate mathematics: gender and personality. We found that gender predicted students' achievement and behaviour when considered in isolation, but ceased to be predictive when personality profiles were taken into account. Furthermore, personality accounted for significantly more variance in undergraduates' achievement and behaviour than did gender, but the converse was not the case. We therefore argue that personality provides the more productive lens through which to understand the behaviour of undergraduate mathematics students. We relate this finding to recent research emphasising gender differences in mathematics education, and suggest that researchers wishing to promote equity in participation at and beyond the undergraduate level should consider shifting their focus to individual differences in personality.

This video segment introduces the addition and subtraction 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.

A refresher booklet on Algebra with revision, exercises and solutions on fractions, indices, removing brackets, factorisation, algebraic frations, surds, transpostion of formulae, solving quadratic equations and some polynomial equations, and partial fractions. An interactive version and a welsh language version are available.

A report on an audit of 13 Irish institutions providing mathematics learning support and the various structure/types of mathematics support they offer conducted by CEMTL and compiled by Olivia Gill, John O'Donoghue and Paddy Johnson.

At the Times Higher Awards ceremony on 24th November 2011, it was announced that Loughborough and Coventry Universities had won the award for Outstanding Support for Students, in recognition of the work of sigma, Centre for Excellence in University-wide mathematics and statistics support. Whilst sigma at Coventry and Loughborough Universities received the award, the real winner was mathematics and statistics support across the country. In this booklet, we outline how sigma's work has contributed to the growing recognition of the importance of mathematics and statistics support and to the development of a national and international community of practitioners. Authors : Ciaran Mac an Bhaird and Duncan Lawson

This unit introduces sequences and series, and gives some simple examples of each. It also explores particular types of sequence known as arithmetic progressions (APs) and geometric progressions (GPs), and the corresponding series.

This unit introduces sequences and series, and gives some simple examples of each. It also explores particular types of sequence known as arithmetic progressions (APs) and geometric progressions (GPs), and the corresponding series. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) The video is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This article by Ian Beveridge reports on a study which attempts to measure some of the benefits of the workshop for Access Numeracy Students. Mathematics Support Newsletter, Issue 2, 1994. This brief contribution from IAN BEVERIDGE (then of Luton University) is probably one of the first recorded notes which attempts to assess the effectiveness of a mathematics support centre (herein called a Workshop). It describes a workshop for access students, and its role in encouraging students to complete coursework assignments. It notes that a lower dropout rate is found in the subgroup of workshop attenders. However, it draws attentions to a perceived shortcoming which can result in creating and feeding dependency rather than independence amongst the students. The note can be found in the Mathematics Support Association Newsletter No.2 (1994) (now disbanded).

At a Glance - Pharmacy Calculations (Leaflet 8) covering calculating how much ingredient to add to a product to achieve a higher desired concentration. This resource has been contributed under a Creative Commons licence to the mathcentre Community Project by Dr Matthew Copping, University of Kent and reviewed by Dr Scott Wildman, Medway School of Pharmacy. It is one of a series of 17 resources funded by a sigma Resource Development grant.

At a Glance - Pharmacy Calculations (Leaflet 12) covering calculating the quantity of each ingredient required to produce a different quantity of a master formula. This resource has been contributed under a Creative Commons licence to the mathcentre Community Project by Dr Matthew Copping, University of Kent and reviewed by Dr Scott Wildman, Medway School of Pharmacy. It is one of a series of 17 resources funded by a sigma Resource Development grant.

This tutorial introduces students to the binary number system and to the binary numbers. There are 12 videos in the Binary series. This resource has been contributed under a Creative Commons licence to the mathcentre Community Project by Eva Szatmari and Catherine Griffiths, Birkbeck College, University of London and reviewed by Gill Whitney, Middlesex University. It is one of a series of 20 video resources funded by a sigma Resource Development grant.