Student non-engagement with mathematics learning supports

Bhaird, Ciarán Mac an; Fitzmaurice, Olivia; Fhloinn, Eabhnat Ní; O’Sullivan, C.

doi:10.1093/teamat/hrt018

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…As this was also the case for students who used mathematics support, this provides an answer to our second research question, showing that there are a number of areas, as reported above, in which male and female students report different reasons for using or not using mathematics support. Further details and analysis of the full scope of student comments regarding engagement can be found in (Mac an Bhaird et al 2013).…”

Section: Gender Differences In Reported Reasons For Not Using Mathemamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Again, somewhat surprisingly, only 5 % of each gender mentioned feedback from other students (BIf I heard good reviews of it^) as being a primary potential motivator for them to attend, where it would often be imagined that peer influence would be a more important factor than is shown in this response. In general, students with a stronger mathematical background were more likely to say they would go if they needed to, while those with a weaker background were more likely to comment on the structures of the mathematics support available (Mac an Bhaird et al 2013). …”

Section: Reasons Which Would Encourage Usage Of Mathematics Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gender Differences in the Level of Engagement with Mathematics Support in Higher Education in Ireland

Fhloinn

Fitzmaurice

Bhaird

et al. 2016

Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed.

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Over the past couple of decades, mathematics support centres have become widespread in higher education, most notably in Ireland, the U.K. and Australia. These centres generally offer a range of free support services to students who feel they need additional help with their mathematics modules. A major large-scale survey of first-year higher education students was undertaken in Ireland to ascertain students' evaluation of mathematics support. There were significant differences in self-reported attendance between male and female students, with a binary logistic regression model showing that female students were almost two and a half times more likely to engage with mathematics support than male students, while controlling for other factors such as prior mathematical achievement, degree, and institution attended. In this paper, the engagement levels of 1633 students with mathematics support across nine Higher Education Institutes are analysed. The reasons given by both genders for either using or not using the services provided across a range of disciplines and higher education institutes are explored, with the aim of ensuring that the optimum support is provided to all students who may need such help.

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Section: Gender Differences In Reported Reasons For Not Using Mathemamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reasons Which Would Encourage Usage Of Mathematics Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Differences in the Level of Engagement with Mathematics Support in Higher Education in Ireland

Fhloinn

Fitzmaurice

Bhaird

et al. 2016

Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although everyone should benefit from support and there is always scope to help not-at-risk students to do better, our interventions tend to focus on at-risk students. Students weaker in mathematics may be less likely to seek for support (Mac an Bhaird et al, 2013). At the same time, those who do not seek for support are also less likely to be motivated (Symonds et al, 2008) than other students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students being aware of the service and deciding to invest their time are additional challenges for optional teaching activities. Social and emotional reasons and different motivations towards study also affect engagement with mathematics support (Symonds et al, 2008;Mac an Bhaird et al, 2013;Grehan et al, 2016). Another difficulty drawn from our experience is that most students would not commute to the campus to exclusively attend co-curricular activities or use the facilities, unless combined with their academic timetable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Using Incoming Data to Monitor Engagement and Inform Mathematics Support Interventions

Lignos

2019

MSOR

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Students who do not engage enough with their studies could place themselves at risk of underperforming or failing. Such a risk may be higher for students who are assessed in one or more mathematics modules and lack the appropriate background knowledge, or do not engage enough with related teaching activities. It has been shown for students who engage with mathematics support, there is a significant impact on student performance and progression in the relevant modules. Thus, improving the mechanisms of engagement with mathematics support should be a priority for any student success strategy.We discuss the monitoring of attendance and performance data of first-year engineering students, as it becomes available, in order to inform interventions which suit the observed student behaviour best. Specifically, the method described was used with first-year engineering students at the University of East London (UEL) during the 2017-8 academic year. We find that when monitoring processes are applied to an already tailored support package, they can often help maintain engagement levels, understand why some students do not engage, and prompt us to differentiate support further.

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“…Such reasons have been described as 'shallow' and it has been suggested that they may mask the real reason [47]. Similar reasons for non-engagement were given by a sample of students from across the island of Ireland [60]. The top two reasons given were that the times when mathematics support was available did not suit and that they did not know where the mathematics support centre was located.…”

Section: Non-engagement With Mathematics Supportmentioning

confidence: 92%

The evolution of mathematics support: a literature review

Lawson

Grove

Croft

2019

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and

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Mathematics support, the provision of additional learning opportunities to, primarily, nonmathematics specialist undergraduates has grown significantly since the early 1990s, particularly in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Alongside the growth in volume of provision, there has been a marked increase in the amount of research and scholarship relating to mathematics support that has been carried out and disseminated. This paper reviews this literature and in doing so identifies areas in which mathematics support has evolved. This evolution has taken place in response to a range of crucial changes in the external policy and general environment and, in particular, in response to the changing nature of the so-called 'Mathematics Problem'. Key themes that emerge from the literature review, which are explored in detail, are the characteristics of students who engage with mathematics support and reasons why others do not; the role of the mathematics support tutor, who undertakes the tutoring task and how they are trained; the positioning of mathematics support within higher education structures; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of mathematics support.

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Student non-engagement with mathematics learning supports

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Gender Differences in the Level of Engagement with Mathematics Support in Higher Education in Ireland

Gender Differences in the Level of Engagement with Mathematics Support in Higher Education in Ireland

Using Incoming Data to Monitor Engagement and Inform Mathematics Support Interventions

The evolution of mathematics support: a literature review

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