Transcript S151 Maths for Science

Maths for distance-learning
science students
Sally Jordan
The Open University
14th September 2005
Background information
Open University Science Faculty students
 come from a very wide range of mathematical
backgrounds;
 may not have studied maths for a long time;
 are often very lacking in confidence in their
mathematical abilities.
Maths for Science is a 10 CATs point Level 1
course, designed to be studied before our Level 2
science courses.
Maths for Science content
Starting points (includes arithmetic,
negative numbers, fractions, powers)
 Measurement in science (includes SI
units, scientific notation, significant figures)
 Calculating in science
 Algebra
 Using graphs

Maths for Science content cont.
Angles and trigonometry
 Logarithms
 Probability and descriptive statistics
 Statistical hypothesis testing
 Differentiation
 Appendix: Resolving vectors

Maths for Science
Teaching material is in course book, CDROM, supplementary material
 Supported by telephone advice line and
computer conference
 Maths is taught in the context of Science
 Many worked examples and questions

Maths for Science
The course runs 4 times a year and lasts
10 weeks or 4 months
 About 4500 OU students have studied the
course since September 2002
 The Course Book is available as a hyperlinked eBook as part of the PPLATO
project
(http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/sp/PPLATO/publish/)

Maths for Science
Student quote: ‘I found ‘Maths for Science’
an excellent course - I used to sit and
practically cry when I got things right,
which I would never have imagined, in a
million years, ever being able to do. It
gave me so much confidence - one of the
best things I have ever done.’
 Students are more likely to complete L2
Science courses if they have taken Maths
for Science previously.

Maths for Science assessment
We wanted to provide feedback that was:
 Rapid
 Targeted
 Detailed
We wanted to do this for both formative and
summative assessment.
Each End of Course Assessment
is web-based
 is available to students for the final 5
weeks of the presentation
 can be attempted in as many sittings as a
student wants, with no time limit
 has only about 25% of questions which
are multiple choice.

Answering questions
Students are given three attempts at each
question.
 Feedback increases after each attempt
and the marks awarded decrease in line
with this.
 When a student gives the correct answer,
or after three incorrect attempts, the full
answer is given.

What have we learnt?

The most badly answered question on
every assessment is of the type…..
Why is this question so poorly
answered?
Many students give incorrect units
 Many students give incorrect significant
figures
 Many students’ understanding of
precedence is weak; they find

a  bc
L
  F
4
not
L
4F
Taking the work forward
We are continuing to analyse the data
from the Maths for Science assessments
in order to investigate students’
mathematical misunderstandings.
 This is leading to improvements to the
questions and to the course itself and also
contributing to our understanding of why
so many students struggle with maths.
