Maths Arcade at Sheffield Hallam University: Developments made in a new space

Abstract

The Maths Arcade at Sheffield Hallam University has been developed since it was established in 2012. The move to a new space has led to an increase in its popularity and inter-year interactions. It has added to the extensive number of factors that help ease the transition into university. In particular, it now features in the induction week programme and plays a part in our peer assisted learning scheme. In addition to the weekly sessions enjoyed by the students, the Maths Arcade has also been used at a number of events such as the final year de-stress day, and used by the Women in Engineering and Mathematics Society. The Maths Arcade has also hosted another Rubik’s cube championship.

Game information sheets: a student-produced resource to help you run a Maths Arcade

“…This has had some success, including indications that students feel like part of a "mathematics community" (p. 600). Students are positive about the integration of the Maths Arcade into this new space, with positive feedback and increased popularity of the activity reported by Cornock (2015).…”

Development of a Course Community

“…Gaps are built in the timetable to ensure that students have the opportunity to take part. As presented by Cornock (2015), "the Maths Arcade is enjoyed by students in all the year groups". Also presented in the paper, the evaluation in 2014-15 showed that it helped students to make friends, they got to know staff better, and inter-year interactions increased.…”

“…During the lecture, the PAL scheme is introduced and students meet their PAL group. In the rest of the week, the students take part in a quiz, meet their PAL leaders at the Maths Arcade as presented in Cornock (2015), meet their academic supervisor, take part in a team building event, and carry out other activities.…”

“…The first de-stress day was briefly mentioned in Cornock (2015). Each year the date is carefully picked to maximise the benefit to the students.…”

“…As presented by Cornock and Baxter (2012) and Cornock (2015), Rubik's cube championships have been run since 2012. They are enjoyed by participants and spectators.…”