Investigating relationships between the usage of Mathematics Learning Support and performance of at-risk students

Abstract

The provision of some level of Mathematics Learning Support is now commonplace in the majority of Higher Education Institutions in the UK and Ireland. Most of these supports were initially established with the aim of trying to address the problem of large numbers of first-year students with weak mathematical backgrounds. The centres provide students the opportunity to overcome mathematical issues in their transition from school to Higher Education. This article presents findings from a recent quantitative study at a university, where the range of supports available and levels of engagement have increased dramatically since they were first offered in 2007. We investigated if the Mathematics Support Centre there was still helping the students who needed it most; in particular, we considered students' mathematical backgrounds, the number and length of their visits and their end of year module grades.

Mathematics support centre attendees and their use of online resources

“…For example, are there links with existing research, such as that of Baynard reported in Hilton (2002), who noted that some engineering students viewed their first year mathematics course as an obstacle to overcome in order to study the topics they are interested in. Furthermore, while we did not ask for respondents' mathematical background, in a previous study (Berry et al, 2009) at MU we found that 1st year students who were at-risk of failing or dropping out were more likely to attend the MSC and stay for longer than their peers who were not at-risk. There is a danger, as reported in Chi et al (1989), that 'poor' students are not capable of extracting the information they need from worked solutions to apply it to their problems.…”

The Role of a Full-time Mathematics Support Tutor

“…While it may appear on the surface that MLS provision costs an institution money through salary, equipment etc., MLS, if properly supported, can have a clear financial benefit to the institution. There is evidence, in Maynooth University (Mac an Bhaird et al, 2009;Berry et al, 2015) and elsewhere (Symonds et al, 2007), that strongly suggests that MLS positively impacts on student retention and progression. For example, in student surveys conducted at the end of 2016-17, 26 Maynooth University students said that they had considered dropping out of university due to mathematical difficulties but cited the MSC as influencing their decision to remain.…”

The evolution of mathematics support: a literature review

“…Studies continue to note the significant challenges of establishing causal relationships [97] and in demonstrating statistically significant findings [98,99]. Indeed, whilst in one study a regression analysis demonstrated that for at-risk students, their qualifications prior to entry, diagnostic tests scores, and either their number of visits or time spent within mathematics support were predictors of their final mathematics grade, these variables did not explain the level of the variance observed within their overall grades [100]. As such, whilst engagement with mathematics support can be shown to be important, its effects cannot be readily isolated from other factors that also influence student success, confidence and motivation.…”