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Developing students’ academic
numeracy skills: Taking a wholeof-institution approach
Kathy Brady
Student Learning Centre
Flinders University
Background
• Flinders Teaching and Learning Plan (2001-2014) includes a commitment
to ‘enhance and the English-language academic literacy and numeracy
skills of first-year undergraduate students via for-credit studies’
• Priority Action of 2012 Operational Plan was to implement a First-Year
Transition and Retention Project encompassing ‘a number
initiatives…[including] the development of a strategy to build first year
literacy/numeracy’
• Review of Student Learning Support (2012) recommended the adoption,
development and implementation of credit-bearing numeracy and literacy
topics
Background
• In 2012 Vice-Chancellor’s Committee endorsed credit-bearing literacy and
numeracy topics
• The adoption of university-wide approach to addressing students
academic literacy skills was completed in 2013 with implementation of
credit-bearing topic Academic and Professional Communication
• In 2014 attention has turned to addressing students’ academic numeracy
needs through a credit-bearing topic.
• Leadership for this project assigned to Student Learning Centre (SLC)
Numeracy in Tertiary Domain
• Places emphasis on application of mathematics
and quantitative concepts in academic disciplinary
contexts
• A definition of academic numeracy (drawing on
Galligan, 2013)
– Capacity to confidently and competently use
mathematics in university study
– Ability to apply, interpret, critique and communicate
mathematical concepts within disciplinary contexts
Graduate Qualities
• Few Australian universities actively aim to
improve students’ numeracy despite
Graduate Qualities suggesting they should
do so (Galligan, 2013; Oliver, 2011)
• Students should leave their studies more
competent, confidence and critically aware of
the mathematics in their future careers and
personal life
Graduate Qualities
• Although not enumerated explicitly in Flinders
Graduate Qualities, Graduate Quality 2 particularly
discusses the ability of Flinders graduates to "use
their knowledge to plan, to analyse, to think critically,
logically and creatively, to reflect upon and evaluate
ideas, options, and potential solutions to problems,
and to make and implement decisions"
The literature points to some issues
• Lack of mathematical skills of commencing
students discussed broadly in Australian
literature
– But most studies have focussed on preparedness
of studying university mathematics
• Numeracy demands in many other disciplines
not made as evident or explicit
• Serious mismatch between skills of commencing
students and numeracy demands embedded in
their courses (Galligan & Taylor, 2005).
The literature points to some issues
• Many first-year students lack skills in even
rudimentary mathematics (McNaught & Hoyne,
2011)
• Low numeracy more problematic than low literacy
for successful university study (Parsons & Bynner,
2005)
• The students with the poorest skills, who need
most support, fail to access it (Pell & Croft, 2008)
The literature points to another issue
• Mathematic anxiety well documented
• Key reason people have aversion to studying
mathematics and using even simple mathematics
in their daily lives
• Long-term outcome of mathematics anxiety is low
numeracy or innumeracy
• Students’ lack of mathematical preparedness
results in disillusionment, loss of self-esteem, and
ultimately withdrawal (Pell & Croft, 2008)
Taking a university-wide approach
• Whole-of-university, or ‘third-generation’
approaches, need to be implemented to increase
retention and ensure student satisfaction (Kift,
2009; Nelson, Clarke, Kift, & Creagh, 2011).
• Academic numeracy is a university-wide issue that
needs to be seriously addressed through a
systematic approach (Galligan, 2013)
Taking a university-wide approach
• Numeracy audit of all courses with nonspecialised mathematics
• Documented the breadth and depth of
numeracy demands across all courses
Numeracy Audit
• Responses by Faculty
Education, Humanities and Law
26.9%
Science and Engineering
11.5%
Social and Behavioural Sciences
19.2%
Health Sciences
42.3%
Total responses = 26 courses
Numeracy Audit - Number
100.00%
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Numeracy Audit - Algebra
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Numeracy Audit - Graphs
120.00%
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
Numeracy Audit - Statistics
120.00%
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
Numeracy Audit – Probability
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Numeracy Audit - Spatial
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Qualitative Responses
•
[Students] don’t meet expectations, [they] come in with Year 9 maths as a
max or refuse to know any maths at all; Some students don’t even know how
to add up a bill in the supermarket but expect to be able to study science
•
Poor grounding in very basic maths; intimidated by numbers
•
They cannot work with decimal point or fractions and these skills are required
for medication calculations. Also can’t understand basic statistical information
in journals nor work out what their grade might be in a topic if it is divided
between several pieces of work
•
Cannot divide by 10 or 100, cannot convert between orders of magnitude (eg
milligrams to micrograms); do not check their mathematical calculations, and
do not think about how to best order of magnitude they should expect for an
answer to their
•
Many students are simply afraid of anything mathematical; without this
cultural shift there is little prospect for anything
Academic and Professional Numeracy
•
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Credit-bearing topic
Implementation in 2015
Innovative modular approach to curriculum
Topic comprises 4 modules selected from a
suite of 8 to meet the numeracy demands of
particular courses
Topic modules
Module A
Number Fundamentals
Whole number operations, the properties of whole numbers
including integers.
Operations involving fractions, decimals and percentages, rounding,
significant figures.
Module B
Further Number Concepts
Module C
Extended Number Concepts
Module D
Algebra
Module E
Graphing
Reading and interpreting graphs and charts, plotting graphs,
equations of straight lines, scatter plots, lines of best fit.
Module F
Spatial Thinking
Units of measurement, measurement of 2D and 3D figures, scale,
trigonometric ratios, Pythagoras rule.
Module G
Statistics
Measures of central tendency and variation, representations of
statistical information, sampling, analysis of data.
Module H
Counting and Probability
Permutations and combinations, calculation of experimental and
theoretical probability, representation of probability events
Ratio and proportion, use of exponents and logarithms, scientific
notation.
Algebraic terms and expressions, formulae, and equations.
Our first semester
• 27 student enrolments
• Offered 6 of planned 8 modules
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–
–
–
–
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Number Fundamentals
Further Number Concepts
Extended Number Concepts
Algebra
Graphing
Statistics
• Shared teaching between team of 3 based
on expertise and interest
Topic Evaluation
• Broad general agreement data
– I developed my ability to think critically and analytically
(94%)
– I had a clear idea of what was expected of me (89%)
– Overall I had a worthwhile learning experience (77%)
– “ pleasant surprise based on my previous math experience”
• Feedback for further topic development
– Structure of the topic was very well received
• Though some found the modular structure confusing at first
– Some wanted more class time, some wanted less!
– Calculator use, worked solutions were popular suggestions
Future Plans
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•
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Winter Intensive version
Mid-semester start version
Fully online version
Topic will become increasingly mandated
in a range of courses
• As enrolments increase full suite of 8
modules will be rolled out