Some of the most useful support can be obtained from colleagues in the same discipline and many professional bodies and learned societies have considerable teaching resources available from their websites.
The Higher Education Academy Subject Centres provide discipline-specific support for all teachers in higher education. Their services are free and many also provide services specifically for new academics.
• The Higher Education Academy, http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/
• Centre for Bioscience, http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/
• Engineering Subject Centre, http://www.engsc.ac.uk/
• Geography, Environmental and Earth Science (GEES), http://www.gees.ac.uk/
• Maths, Stats and OR Network, http://www.mathstore.ac.uk/
• UK Centre for Materials Education, http://www.materials.ac.uk/
• Physical Sciences Centre, http://www.physsci.heacademy.ac.uk/
There are approximately 70 CETLs, many directly or indirectly engaged with experimental science education. A full listing of links to CETLs may be found at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/3591.htm.
REFERENCES
Athanassoulis, N (2007) An Introduction to Ethical Thinking. Available online at ,http://
www.idea.leeds.ac.uk/EthicalThinking/ .(accessed 5 November 2007).
Experimental sciences ❘ 243
The Bologna Declaration(1999) ,http://ec.europa.eu/education/index_en.html.(accessed 5 November 2007).
Boud, D (1986) Teaching in Laboratories, SRHE/Open University Press, Buckingham.
Boud, D and Feletti, G (1998) The Challenge of Problem-based Learning, Kogan Page, London.
Brown, A, Calvert J, Charman, P, Newton, C, Wiles, K and Hughes, I (2005) ‘Skills and Knowledge Needs Among Recent Bioscience Graduates – How Do Our Courses Measure Up?’, Bioscience Education e-Journal, vol. 6, no. 2.
Carnduff, J and Reid, N (2003) Enhancing Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratories, Royal Society of Chemistry, London.
Exley, K (1999) ‘Key Aspects of Teaching and Learning in Science and Engineering’, in A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice, ed. H Fry, S Ketteridge and S Marshall, Kogan Page, London.
Garratt, J, Overton, T and Threlfall, T (1999) A Question of Chemistry, Longman, Harlow.
Gibbs, G, Gregory, R and Moore, I (1997) Labs and Practicals with More Students and Fewer Resources, Teaching More Students 7, Oxford Centre for Staff Development, Oxford.
Higher Education Academy Centre for Bioscience (2007) Work Related Learning Audit.
Available online at ,http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/Resources/wrlaudit.
pdf.(accessed 22 November 2007).
Higher Education Policy Institute (2002) Demand for Higher Education to 2002. Available online at ,http://www.hepi.ac.uk/downloads/22DemandforHEto2020.pdf. (accessed 5 November 2007).
Hughes, I E (2004) ‘Coping strategies for staff involved in assessment of laboratory write- ups’, Bioscience Education e-Journal, vol. 3, 3–3. Available online at ,http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/
journal/vol3/.(accessed 5 November 2007).
Hughes, I E (2006) ‘Development of an assessment audit’, Bioscience Education e-Journal, vol. 7, 7–1. Available online at ,http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/journal/
vol7/.(accessed 5 November 2007).
Institute of Physics (2001) Physics – Building a Flourishing Future – Report of the Inquiry into Undergraduate Physics. Available online at ,http://www.iop.org/activity/policy/
Projects/Archive/file_6418.pdf.(accessed 5 November 2007).
Ketteridge, S and Fry, H (1999) Skills Development in Science and Engineering, Final Project Report to the Department for Education and Employment. Available online at ,http://www.innovations.ac.uk/btg/projects/theme2/digests/project9.htm. (accessed 5 November 2007).
Making Mathematics Count, The Report of Professor Adrian Smith’s Inquiry into Post-14 Mathematics Education (2004) HMSO, London. Available online at ,http://www.mathsinquiry.
org.uk/report/.(accessed 5 November 2007).
Murray, R and Wallace, R (2000) Good Practice in Industrial Work Placement, Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences, York.
NCIHE (1997) (The Dearing Report) Higher Education in the Learning Society, National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, HMSO, London.
Overton, T (2001) Web Resources for Problem Based Learning, Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences, York.
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2000, 2001, 2002) Subject Benchmark Statements. Available online at ,http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/
benchmark/default.asp.(accessed 5 November 2007).
244 ❘ Teaching in the disciplines
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2007) Code of Practice for the Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards in Higher Education, Section 9: Work-based and Placement Learning. Available online at ,http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/code OfPractice/default.asp.(accessed 5 November 2007).
Raine, D and Symons, S (2005) PossiBiLities – Problem-based Learning in Physics and Astronomy, Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences, York.
Wilson, J (2001). A Code of Good Practice for the Operation of Placement Elements of Sandwich Courses in Higher Education, Association for Sandwich Education and Training, York.
FURTHER READING
Moore, I and Exley, K (eds) (1999) Innovations in Science Teaching, SEDA Paper 107, Staff and Educational Development Association, Birmingham.
Planet Special Edition 2 (2001) Case Studies in Problem-based Learning (PBL) from Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,Higher Education Academy GEES, York.
Planet Special Edition 1 (2001) Embedding Careers Education in the Curricula of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,Higher Education Academy GEES, York.
Race, P (2000) Designing Assessment to Improve Physical Sciences Learning, Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences, UK.
Reid, N and Mbajiorgu, N (2006), Factors Influencing Curriculum Development in Chemistry, Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences, York.
Savin-Baden, M (2000) Problem-based Learning in Higher Education: Untold Stories, SRHE/Open University Press, Milton Keynes.
Teaching Bioscience: Enhancing Learning Series, Higher Education Academy Centre for Bioscience, York.
Experimental sciences ❘ 245
❘ 246 ❘
Key aspects of teaching and learning in
mathematics and statistics
Joe Kyle and Peter Kahn
INTRODUCTION
Recent years have seen a greater focus on learning and teaching in mathematics and its applications in higher education. Old assumptions are being re-examined and there are new political agendas to be addressed. What should the typical undergraduate programme contain and how should it be taught? How best do we serve the needs of those who require mathematics as part of their study of another discipline? There will, no doubt, be many valid answers to these questions and this chapter attempts to cover a good cross-section of the issues involved.
There are in the UK what might be referred to as ‘official’ answers for what a typical undergraduate programme should contain, as embodied in the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) subject benchmarking statement which covers mathematics, statistics and operational research (QAA, 2002). A ‘modal level’ graduate should be able to:
• demonstrate a reasonable understanding of the main body of knowledge for the programme of study;
• demonstrate a good level of skill in calculation and manipulation of the material within this body of knowledge;
• apply a range of concepts and principles in loosely defined contexts, showing effective judgement in the selection and application of tools and techniques;
• develop and evaluate logical arguments;
17
Mathematics and statistics ❘ 247
• demonstrate skill in abstracting the essentials of problems, formulating them mathematically and obtaining solutions by appropriate methods;
• present arguments and conclusions effectively and accurately;
• demonstrate appropriate transferable skills and the ability to work with relatively little guidance or support.
The authors of this statement go to some lengths to qualify and set the context for this list.
In particular it is stressed that ‘students should meet this standard in an overall sense, not necessarily in respect of each and every one of the statements listed’. Clearly there has been no attempt to set a ‘national curriculum’; rather we are presented with generic descriptions of the type of skills and qualities we should look to be fostering in our programmes.
We cannot, though, expect to find any ‘official’ answers to how we should teach or support student learning in mathematics and statistics. Mathematicians and statisticians, indeed, often find themselves challenging approaches to teaching that are advocated widely across higher education. Learning outcomes, personal development planning, reflective practice, key skills, and the ‘value’ of replacing blackboards with whiteboards, smartboards, overhead projectors, Powerpoint or whatever: we are well known for contesting such notions.
While we will address this debate in what follows, our underlying aim is to concentrate on discipline-specific issues facing those engaged in facilitating learning and teaching in mathematics and statistics at higher education level, drawing upon contributions that are firmly grounded in the discipline. The chapter considers these issues from the perspectives of pure mathematics, applied mathematics, statistics and the impact of technology. It is acknowledged that there has been major growth in service teaching for disciplines, but this is not dealt with in what follows. Nor do we provide a catalogue of immediately ‘consumable’ classroom resources. Up-to-date materials of this nature are available, in abundance, at the website of the Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research (MSOR) Network that is part of the Higher Education Academy, located at www.mathstore.ac.uk.
Instead, this contribution to the book seeks to give examples of good practice from experienced facilitators in the field and to explain the challenges that are presented by mathematics and statistics education. However, we also offer avenues for exploration wherein readers may develop their own pedagogic principles. In this it is important to be aware of ways in which the nature of our discipline grounds approaches to teaching and learning, while also taking account of key challenges we face, such as the transition to university. It is to these issues that we thus first of all turn, before moving on to look at more specialist areas.