Quants:  nirvana  or  nightmare  ?  

Ruth  Fairclough  (University  of  Wolverhampton)  Duncan  Lawson  (Newman  University)  Tony  CroC  (Loughborough  University)  

Outline  

•  Increasing  quanHficaHon  •  “The  maths  problem  in  the  UK”  •  The  role  of  mathemaHcs  support  •  The  sigma  network  •  Freely  available  resources  •  InteracHve  session:  discuss  your  own  needs  •  How  could  sigma  evolve  to  help  your  students  ?  

Increasing  quanHficaHon  (STEM)  •  It  has  always  been  the  case  that  students  in  STEM  disciplines  needed  a  good  foundaHon  in  mathemaHcs.  Over  the  last  20  years  or  so  this  has  become  parHcularly  problemaHc:    In  2006,  the  Royal  Society  argued  that  the  gap  between  the  mathema;cal  skills  of  students  when  they  entered  HE  and  the  mathema;cal  skills  needed  

for  STEM  first  degrees  was  a  problem  which  had  become  acute.    …  The  evidence  we  received  suggested  that  the  problem  remains.  

House  of  Lords  Select  CommiVee  on  Science  and  Technology  report  Higher  Educa;on  in  Science,  Technology,  Engineering  and  Mathema;cs  (STEM)  

subjects  (2012).        

Increasing  quanHficaHon  (BioSci)  

•  As  bioscience  becomes  increasingly  quan;ta;ve,  there  is  also  an  urgent  need  to  raise  the  mathema;cal  and  computa;onal  skills  of  biologists  at  all  levels.  

     

Biotechnology  &  Biological  Sciences  Research  Council  The  Age  of  Bioscience:  Strategic  Plan  2010-­‐2015  

hVp://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/web/FILES/PublicaHons/strategic_plan_2010-­‐2015.pdf  

Increasing  quanHficaHon  (SocSci)  

•  The  UK  is  weak  in  quan;ta;ve  skills,  in  par;cular  but  not  exclusively  in  the  social  sciences  and  humani;es….  another  reason  for  the  poor  skills  of  undergraduates  is  the  dearth  of  academic  staff  able  to  teach  quan;ta;ve  methods    

BriHsh  Academy  posiHon  statement  Society  Counts:  QuanHtaHve  Skills  in  the  Social  Sciences  and  

HumaniHes  (2012)  hVp://www.britac.ac.uk/policy/Society_Counts.cfm  

The  “maths  problem”  in  the  UK  

The  “maths  problem”  in  the  UK  

•  We  es;mate  that  of  those  entering  higher  educa;on  in  any  year,  some  330,000  would  benefit  from  recent  experience  of  studying  some  mathema;cs  (including  sta;s;cs)  at  a  level  beyond  GCSE.    

•  At  the  moment  fewer  than  125,000  have  done  so.    ACME  –  Advisory  CommiVee  on  MathemaHcs  EducaHon  –  June  2011  

 

So  what  is  mathemaHcs  support  ?  •  acHviHes  and  resources  provided  to  support  and  enhance  

students’  learning  of  mathemaHcs  and  staHsHcs,  in  any  discipline,  at  any  level  of  higher  educaHon  and  which  are  provided  in  addiHon  to  tradiHonal  lectures,  tutorials,  examples  classes,  personal  tutorial  sessions….    

•  Non-­‐judgmental,  informal,    not  credit-­‐bearing      

•  Pleasant  and  non-­‐threatening    

•  SupporHve      

The  role  of  mathemaHcs  support  

The  one-­‐to-­‐one  approach  was  essen;al  as  was  the  non-­‐judgmental  aWtude  of  the  lecturer  who  took  pains  to  explain  what  would  no  doubt  have  been  ordinarily  an  elementary  point  with  pa;ence  and  understanding.  

sigma:  network  of  pracHHoners    •  There  is  an  established  community  of  mathemaHcs  support  pracHHoners  

•  www.sigma-­‐network.ac.uk  •  JISCmail  list  sigma-­‐network  •  Quarterly  newsleVer  •  One  of  the  most  open,  friendly  and  welcoming  academic  communiHes  you  will  experience  

•  free  maths  and  stats  support  resources  

17  January  2014  

Chetna  Patel  (Sheffield)  

David  Bowers    (University  Campus  Suffolk)  

Noel  Anne  Bradshaw  (Greenwich)  

Leslie  Fletcher  (LJMU)  

Emma  Cliffe  (Bath)  

Ruth  Fairclough    (Wolverhampton)  

Tapping  into  resources:  statstutor  

Tapping  into  resources:  mathcentre  

Reflect  on  your  own  students’  needs  

•  Do  you  come  across  students  who  need  to  develop  beVer  maths  skills  ?    

•  Do  some  of  your  students  choose  quanHtaHve  project  work  ?  

 •  What  about  when  they  start  looking  for  jobs  ?  What  sort  of  jobs  do  they  do  ?    

•  How  could  sigma  evolve  to  help  your  students  ?  

Keep  in  touch  

•  Join  the  JISCmail  list  •  Subscribe  to  sigma  newsleVer  •  AVend  CETL-­‐MSOR  conference  8/9  September  2014,  Cardiff  

•  Take  advantage  of  mathcentre  community  project  for  resource  sharing    

17  January  2014