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C Spickett, J Boyle & J Wilson University of Strathclyde j.boyle@strath.ac.uk

Supporting Bioscience Students with Mathematical Difficulties in Higher Education: DDIG Conference Loughborough University 13 April, 2005. C Spickett, J Boyle & J Wilson University of Strathclyde j.boyle@strath.ac.uk. Difficulties in Mathematics. Concern about Standards (e.g. Smith, 2004)

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C Spickett, J Boyle & J Wilson University of Strathclyde j.boyle@strath.ac.uk

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  1. Supporting Bioscience Students with Mathematical Difficulties in Higher Education: DDIG Conference Loughborough University 13 April, 2005 C Spickett, J Boyle & J Wilson University of Strathclyde j.boyle@strath.ac.uk

  2. Difficulties in Mathematics • Concern about Standards (e.g. Smith, 2004) • Dyscalculia or ‘Mathematics Disorder’ (DSM-IV) “A. Mathematical ability, as measured by individually administered standardized tests, is substantially below that expected given the person’s chronological age, measured intelligence, and age-appropriate education. B. The disturbance in Criterion A significantly interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living that require mathematical ability. C. If a sensory deficit is present, the difficulties in mathematical ability are in excess of those usually associated with it.” (DSM-IV, APA, 1994)” • Developmental versus Acquired… • Genetic • Neurological • Cognitive

  3. Prevalence of Dyscalculia • Large-scale surveys of school-children suggest a prevalence of around 6-7% with no gender differences (c.f. dyslexia) • Half of those with dyscalculia have problems with number only and the rest have comorbid problems with reading • Prevalence of dyscalculia in adults and in students in higher education is unknown • Strathclyde University Survey: lower bound prevalence rate of self-reported mathematical difficulties in 1st and 2nd Year Bioscience students of around 10% (42/400, with response rate of 21%)

  4. Recognition of the Need for Support • Increasing awareness and concern at low levels of mathematical competence for students entering HE programmes in science and engineering • Emerging awareness of the presence of dyscalculic students in HE, though little understanding of the obstacles faced • Disabled Students’ Allowance is available to dyscalculic students with study support needs • But we need to identify the most effective support methods…

  5. Compensatory Support in HEI • Practical support includes: • extra time in examinations • use of a calculator • access to notes/formulae and memory aids • alternative formats for questions and answers • Use of a calculator can assist with computational inaccuracies, but still requires considerable mathematical and conceptual understanding • ‘Reasonable adjustments’: how should these be determined…

  6. What’s Missing? • To develop effective support systems for dyscalculic students in HE we need: • More understanding of the obstacles/solutions for dyscalculic students in HE • Better understanding of accessibility issues for dyscalculic students (and dyscalculic/dyslexic students) • Development of best practice teaching and assessment materials/methodologies • A better understanding of the scale and nature of the problem • Accessible software to support students in numeric tasks

  7. Strathclyde University Dyscalculia Project • 2nd year university student with difficulties in coping with the mathematics content of Biosciences courses • Long-standing history of problems in number at school which necessitated tutorial support • Assessment confirmed marked problems in both mathematical reasoning and numerical operations and problems also in working memory • Advice sought from Computer Science Department… • Multidisciplinary project involving Computer Science, Bioscience & Psychology Departments and Special Needs Service

  8. Primary Aims • To explore the prevalence and nature of mathematical difficulties experienced by Bioscience students • To develop an IT-based intervention, BCalc, to support Bioscience students experiencing problems with mathematics, including those with dyscalculia

  9. A. Survey of Mathematical Difficulties • Questionnaire devised by course tutor to identify nature of mathematical difficulties in Bioscience students in Strathclyde University • Items reflected mathematics requirements of calculations test in Practical Bioscience credit (BB206) in 2nd Year • All of these require fairly simple mathematical tasks, such as fractions, powers, manipulating equations, and logarithms • Nevertheless, a significant number of students struggle with these calculations, and fail the credit because of it • Questionnaire distributed to 400 1st and 2nd year Bioscience students in lecture theatres

  10. Sample Bioscience Exam Question 0.1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 9.9 ml 9.0 ml 9.0 ml 9.0 ml 9.0 ml E coli culture 2 3 1 4 5 • If the original E.coli culture contains 5.4 x 109 cfus ml-1 calculate the number of cfus ml-1 in bottle 5 after the serial dilution of the original culture, which was performed as described in the diagram above • If bottle 5 is found to contain 1.9 x 104 cfus ml-1, what is the number of cfus ml-1 in the original culture

  11. Format of Questionnaire • Problems (Y/N) with credits involving numerical calculations, mathematical functions [in 8 areas] • Rate confidence [1 to 5] in • Algebraic functions • Manipulating equations • Logs • Powers of 10 • Decimal places • Fractions • Mental arithmetic • Moles & Molarity • Conversions between units • Drawing graphs • Dilutions

  12. Findings from the Strathclyde Survey - 1 • 86 respondents (response rate 21%) • 60 1st Year, 24 2nd Year and 2 did not disclose year • 66 F, 17 M & 3 gender undisclosed • Mean Age 19.01 years (SD 1.94) (range 17-30 years) • 42 reported mathematical difficulties • 32 F, 9 M & 1 gender undisclosed • 29 1st year, 12 2nd year & 1 year undisclosed • Mean Age 19.15 years (SD 2.30) (range 17-30 years) • Average no. of difficulties reported: 2.57 (range 0-8), SD=1.80 • Lower-bound prevalence rate of mathematical difficulties of at least 10% amongst 1st and 2nd year Bioscience students

  13. Findings from the Strathclyde Survey - 2 • Students who reported difficulties in maths were significantly less confident than those who did not report problems in the following areas: • Algebra (X2 = 6.28, p< 0.05) • Logarithms (X2 = 6.62, p < 0.01) • 76% of those reporting difficulties were female: links with mathematics anxiety? (Ashcraft, Kirk & Hopkins, 1998; Woodard, 2004) • Backward logistic regression for N=81 with no missing data revealed that difficulties with algebraic functions significantly discriminated 75% of those reporting problems and 68% of those reporting no mathematical difficulties • Odds are around 4:1 that a student reporting maths problems will have problems with algebraic functions

  14. Coventry & Liverpool Hope Universities… • Strathclyde Questionnaire administered to Bioscience Students at Coventry (N=59 returned: 58 1st Year & 1 2nd Year) and Liverpool Hope Universities (N=39 returned: 20 1st Year & 19 3rd Year)

  15. Strathclyde + Coventry & Liverpool Hope - 1

  16. Strathclyde, Coventry & Liverpool Hope - 2

  17. Strathclyde, Coventry & Liverpool Hope -3 • Combined dataset (N=170, with no missing data): • 67% of those reporting difficulties were female • Backward logistic regression revealed that lack of confidence with algebraic functions significantly discriminated 77% of those reporting problems and 58% of those reporting no mathematical difficulties • Odds are 4.5:1 that a student reporting maths problems will have problems with algebraic functions • Coventry & L’Hope dataset (N=89, with no missing data): Moles & Molarity only significant predictor (p <0.05) • Differences between institutions…

  18. B. Development of BCalc Aug 2002 The first version of BCalc was written and installed on an HP Jornada Oct 2002 Application to the university’s Research & Development Fund for support to enhance BCalc Dec 2002 Funding obtained and BCalc was adapted to run on PCs and Palm OS systems

  19. BCalc Demonstration

  20. BCalc Demonstration (cont.)

  21. BCalc Demonstration (cont.)

  22. BCalc Demonstration (cont.)

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  28. BCalc Demonstration (cont.)

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  30. BCalc Demonstration (cont.)

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  34. BCalc Demonstration (cont.)

  35. Evaluation • Scientific notation in ‘unusual’ format eg 5 x 10-2 vs 5.000e-002 • Add / remove some details • Confident with paper conversion tables • More ‘step by step’ help • Need for early identification and training

  36. Future Directions for Research • To improve the user-interface of our pilot software support system and further assess its value to students with MD/Dyscalculia • To develop a family of support systems appropriate to different disciplines • To identify features and requirements for a help and tutoring system that will accompany the support software

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