In this article, the authors report 3 experiments demonstrating that a simple booklet containing self-explanation training, designed to focus students' attention on logical relationships within a mathematical proof, can significantly improve their proof comprehension.
A key component of any nursing course is the ability to confidently, and competently, use basic mathematical skills. Indeed, without such skills they would be unable to work safely and successfully in the profession (McMullan, Jones, and Lea, 2012; Choudhary and Malthus, 2017). Furthermore, many nursing students come on to their courses having not studied any form of formal mathematics for years and are very likely to have some form of maths anxiety (McMullan, Jones, and Lea, 2012). sigma Maths Support at Coventry University have developed a programme, in partnership with the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (HLS), to support these students with their mathematical skills using a variety of small interventions. The interventions require little time and effort to prepare and have proven to be very successful. This article will discuss the methods used, including diagnostic testing, the use of ‘Numbas’, and self-explanation training (as described in Hodds, 2017), alongside the outcomes of the programme.
Mathematics and statistics support (MSS) is now firmly embedded in the learning and teaching infra-structure of most UK universities and in many universities worldwide. In common with other higher education activities, in response to restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of Covid-19, MSS transitioned rapidly to online delivery in spring 2020. This paper reports on thinking within the practitioner community about good practice in the delivery of online MSS. A two-phase approach was used to collect this shared wisdom: an initial questionnaire in May 2020 (just after provision had moved online) and interviews with practitioners in January/February 2021 after colleagues had some experience in online provision and had had the opportunity to reflect on and modify the measures hastily put in place in spring 2020. The focus of the study is not only on what is currently being provided but also on what MSS will look like once all pandemic related restrictions have been ended. The overall feeling of the participants is that face-to-face MSS will return as the dominant form of delivery but that the benefits of online provision are such that a significant minority of provision will remain in this form.
Engagement with mathematics support has been of interest for several years, particularly because some students who may benefit from using support do not avail themselves of it. It has been suggested that these students may be those who are mathematics anxious; they may have had previous negative learning experiences with mathematics and thus demonstrate avoidance behaviours such as procrastination and not seeking help. In this paper, the results of mathematical resilience (MR) and anxiety questionnaires (MA) will be investigated. This investigation is conducted at the level of the whole cohort of students and also broken down by a range of demographic features. Consideration is also given to whether there is any relationship between student mathematics anxiety and resilience on the one hand and whether or not they engage with mathematics and statistics support services on the other.The analysis reveals a weak negative correlation between MA and MR at whole cohort level. In terms of demographic characteristics, students on courses with no mathematics A-level entry requirement were significantly more mathematics anxious than those on courses with a mathematics A-level entry-requirement. They were also less mathematically resilient. Female students, non-Asian students, mature students and disabled students, on average, also had higher MA scores, whilst female students and mature students were also significantly less mathematically resilient.
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