The evolution of mathematics support: a literature review

Abstract

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.

The rapid move to online mathematics support: changes in pedagogy and social interaction

“…Mathematics and statistics support in universities is free, optional assistance for students with mathematics and statistics which is not part of scheduled classes and is not taken for credit (Lawson et al, 2020;MacGillivray, 2009;O'Sullivan et al, 2014).…”

“…MSS was in the past seen to be primarily for engineering and the physical sciences, however these days MSS is provided for, and used by, students from many disciplines and at many different levels, including postgraduate students (Lawson et al, 2020;MacGillivray, 2009). Such support has become business as usual in most universities in Australia (MacGillivray, 2009), Ireland (Cronin et al, 2016), the UK (Grove et al, 2020) and the USA (Mills et al, 2020).…”

Technological Explorations in the Move to Online Mathematics Support

“…From the perspective of the MSC Director, the second author, these six case studies combined two very important features of MLS: ongoing tutor training (Lawson et al, 2019); and the exploration of online MLS, which a 2018 survey (Mac an Bhaird et al, 2020) suggested was not being used to its full potential. While these explorations of technologies and developments of online MLS supports were carried out over a very short period of time, they did have a significant influence on practices in the Department at MU.…”

A history of the development of the mathematics and statistics support community in the United Kingdom. Part 1: From alpha to sigma

“…These reports catalogued some of the difficulties being encountered by lecturers "at the chalk face" and introduced the phrase The Mathematics Problem as a recognised shorthand for the underpreparedness of many new undergraduates for the mathematical demands of their higher education study. A more complete discussion of the development of the Mathematics Problem can be found in Lawson, Grove and Croft (2019).…”