Maths STEM Support Case Study University of Wales, Newport and Transition case... · Maths STEM Support Case Study University of Wales, Newport Title ... BSc Fire Engineering

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Maths STEM Support Case Study University of Wales, Newport

Title: Maths Support

Author(s): Hefin Rowlands/ David Baxter

Department/School/Faculty/College: Research & Graduate Studies Department/ School of Design, Engineering, Fashion & Technology

Institution: University of Wales, Newport

Abstract:

The project was to deliver Maths support sessions to BSc Engineering students. The delivery of this pilot was to students studying on BSc Civil Engineering and BSc Fire Engineering courses (Full-time and part-time modes of study). Although only 3 sessions were delivered during the second semester with additional referral revision sessions delivered in July, students who attended the sessions found them extremely beneficial. A recommendation to the Course team is to continue with similar sessions in future years.

What you did

Students studying on BSc Secondary Degree courses where invited to apply as student tutors for the maths support project. 8 students applied and all were interviewed on the 10th January 2012 by Civil Engineering Senior Lecturer and Secondary Teacher Training Senior Lecturer. All 8 students were selected as suitable to participate and all attended the training session at Cardiff University.

Due to scheduling constraints and students’ availability, 3 evening sessions were delivered during February and March 2012 as indicated below: Total summary of delivered sessions (Caerleon Campus only)-

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Monday, February 27th 2012 (5.30 – 7.30) – Probability/Binomial Distribution Monday, March 12th 2012 (5.30 – 7.30) – Poisson Distribution Monday, March 19th 2012 (5.30 – 7.30) – Normal Distribution

On each occasion the sessions were attended by a small group of part and full time mature students studying degree and Higher National Certificate programmes in Civil & Construction Engineering who had been struggling with the first year ‘Analytical Methods 1’ module.

Powerpoint presentations were prepared by the student in conjunction with David Baxter (Senior Lecturer – Civil/Fire Engineering) to facilitate all three sessions and provide students with additional practice outside the delivered sessions and were posted on the module folder of the University’s MLE moodle system.

Although dialogue had taken place between additional suitable secondary mathematics students and members of staff within the General Engineering department of the University, no delivered sessions took place at the City Campus.

Promotional material was not produced as it was deemed unnecessary due to small group of students and students were notified of session activity in advance via group e-mail correspondence.

Feedback from students attending the 3 above mentioned sessions were positive.

Two full day refresher/revision sessions were delivered for students who have been referred in one or two elements of their year 1 mathematics module. The sessions were facilitated by final stage undergraduate students, namely:- Christopher Seddon (BSc Civil Engineering, Full-time) Kieran Cooper (BSc Fire Engineering, Full-time) Lianne Harris (BSc Civil Engineering, Part-time)

Total summary of sessions delivered in July (Caerleon Campus):- Monday, July 9th (Rathmell Building Room G116-9 - Flexi-space) 9.00 – 11.00 – Vectors - Scalar product (Christopher Seddon) 11.30 - 1.30 – Vectors – Vector product (Christopher Seddon) 2.00 – 5.00 – Probability (Kieron Cooper/Leanne Harris) Tuesday, July 10th (Graduate Training Centre- Caerleon Library ) 10.00 – 1.00 – Differentiation Vectors - Scalar product (Christopher Seddon) 1.30 - 4.30 – Integration (Kieron Cooper/Leanne Harris)

The above sessions were attended by 4 students, a mixture of full and part time students studying the Fire Engineering and Civil Engineering programmes.

Verbal feedback following the sessions was very positive and students completed feedback forms at the end of both days. N.B. Laptops had been provided on Monday July 9th and the students completed feedback forms electronically.

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Hardcopy feedback forms were completed by the students at the end of Tuesday July 10th.

Why you did it

The motivation for delivering additional maths support for students was to help their understanding of the subject, to enable students to successfully pass their maths exams and to provide a good grounding for building on in subsequent years of the course.

What you learned

• Were the goals successfully achieved:

The goals set out at the start of the project were achieved in that maths support sessions were delivered to students . However the number of sessions planned was not delivered for a number of reasons with the main reason being the availability of student tutors.

• Was the approach successful and why?

The sessions delivered were well received by students attending the sessions with very positive feedback received. Success of the sessions was that the students benefitted from an informal but structured approach to the sessions and the student-to-student interaction was a key feature to the success of the session.

• What the key lessons are that were learned from the work;

1. Recruit student tutors sooner. 2. Schedule more sessions. 3. Have a mix of delivery times, including evening sessions to allow flexibility

for part time students to attend. 4. Use students from School of Education and final year students from the same

course as student tutors

• What was effective or beneficial about the work with particular attention given to impact on the target audience (i.e. those who the activity was originally aimed at?

The key part of the effectiveness of the work was the use of students to deliver the support sessions. Student tutors were recruited from the School, of Education for the delivery of the support sessions during the semester and final year students from the same course and the target audience were use in the revision sessions. The use of both types of student tutors proved beneficial.

• What would you do differently if you were undertake the activity again (and why), and what advice would you give to others wishing to undertake similar work?

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There is clearly a demand for such sessions. In moving from the pilot stage a key feature is to arrange more frequent sessions. In terms of availability of student tutors which was the limiting factor for the pilot, a recommendation will be to start the recruitment earlier.

• Barriers and enablers: What were the key threshold points that made implementing the activity difficult (barriers), and how were these subsequently overcome (enablers).

Barriers were the availability of the student tutors and getting students to attend the sessions. Both of these barriers were identified during the pilot and plans to remove these barriers in future years are discussed below.

How you evaluated to determine if the activity was successful (or not)

The success of the activity was measured through student feedback obtained following the support sessions. Feedback from the students are attached with some of the comments provided below:

Helped my confidence

Would have liked to have been able to make more of these Monday evening sessions

Thanks very much once again for offering me the opportunity to attend the sessions and thanks to the fellow students who conducted the sessions. They were very good and presented the subject matter very well. The student to student interaction made the whole session enjoyable. We shared a little more on our respective areas of programme of study and got to know each other very well.

The maths support overall was excellent. From a personal point of view, I adapted quickly to the formula sheets (I have / had never used these before because they all looked like another language to me). I learned parrot style to pass the exams. Now I feel I actually understand what is going on with the maths problems.

I would like you to express my gratitude to you and all of the student volunteers who assisted with our additional learning last week. I feel more confident since the sessions and it was advantageous to my learning style to have input from people who have been in similar situations.

What you will do in the future, either differently or otherwise

• How the project will be sustained so that its activities continue in future years;

In the future the recommendation is to start the recruitment of student tutors earlier in the academic year and to schedule in more sessions. The positive feedback received from students will be used in promotional material to attract more students to attend.

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• How you will expand and/or transferring practices to other modules, courses, programmes of study, across the faculties or departments within your institution, or more widely across the HE sector.

A recommendation to the School and Faculty will be to expand the provision to a wider range of courses that would benefit from the maths support sessions.

Outputs:

3 maths support sessions delivered to students on probability, binomial/poisson/normal distributions.

5 revision session delivered over 2 days covering scalar product of vectors, vector products, probability, differentiation vectors and integration.

Hefin Rowlands David Baxter July 2012

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Student feedback Forms Student feedback from February & March 2012 sessions: Student feedback Feb/March (1)

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Student feedback Feb/March (2)

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Student feedback Fe/March (6)

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Student feedback from July 2012 sessions:

Student feedback July (1)

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Student feedback :

Additional comments received:

Thanks very much once again for offering me the opportunity to attend the sessions and thanks to the fellow students who conducted the sessions. They were very good and presented the subject matter very well. The student to student interaction made the whole session enjoyable. We shared a little more on our respective areas of programme of study and got to know each other very well.

The maths support overall was excellent. From a personal point of view, I adapted quickly to the formula sheets (I have / had never used these before because they all looked like another language to me). I learned parrot style to pass the exams. Now I feel I actually understand what is going on with the maths problems. Chris suggested that for each problem, a check of the formula was beneficial and even more so when written down next to the question. It really opened my eyes. The afternoon sessions were based on the same kind of format as the morning ones. I think that the sessions were a great success - not only for the teaching - but as an insight into next year and a knowledge that if the scheme kicks off, there will be people to talk to and learn from in the coming years. Thanks.

I would like you to express my gratitude to you and all of the student volunteers who assisted with our additional learning last week. I feel more confident since the sessions and it was advantageous to my learning style to have input from people who have been in similar situations. I hope approvals can be sought to fund this project full time, as I am confident I speak for many when extra support in difficult subject areas is fully appreciated. Thanks again

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Maths STEM Support Case Study University of Wales, Newport and Transition case... · Maths STEM Support Case Study University of Wales, Newport Title ... BSc Fire Engineering