Over 100% in maths?Andrew Rosenthal & Douglas Higgison

Life Sciences Technology

Supported by ASKe

Mathematics important for science & technology.– But also for ……………

blocks“Considering how many fools can calculate, it is surprising

that it should be thought either a difficult or tedious task for any other fool to learn how to master the same tricks.”

…………. “Being myself a remarkably stupid fellow, I have had to unteach myself the difficulties and now beg to present to my fellow fools the parts that are not hard. Master these thoroughly and the rest will follow. What one fool can do, another can.”

Sylvanus P Thompson (1914)Calculus made easy

MacMillan

Maths Improvement Project• Stand alone

– Brookes Virtual

• Experimental– Consent– Diagnostic ability test

• Includes questions on confidence

– Free access to quizzes with feedback– Further diagnostic ability test– Carrot (stick) to chosen modules

Evaluate 1 + 2 x 3

1 2 3 4

100%

0%0%0%

1. 62. 73. 84. 9

How sure are you to your last answer?

1 2 3 4 5

100%

0% 0%0%0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%1. Extremely certain2. Very certain 3. Moderately sure4. Slightly sure5. I had no idea,

it was a guess

Using the convention of: x being the horizontal axis,

y being the vertical axis, a and b are constants.

The most appropriate equation for the following graph would be

1 2 3 4

100%

0%0%0%

1. .

2. y = a + bx

3. log[y] = log[a] + b log[x]

4. .

bxay 10

xy

How sure are you to your last answer?

12

34

5

100%

0% 0% 0% 0%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%1. Extremely certain2. Very certain 3. Moderately sure4. Slightly sure5. I had no idea,

it was a guess

QuizzesArithmetic operations

Addition and subtractionMultiplication and division

Addition and subtraction of fractionsMultiplication and division of fractions

Equivalent fractionsCommon denominatorsFactorising expressions

Powers (2 quizzes)Rearranging equations

01234567

5 10 15 20 25

mark out of 25

num

ber

of p

artic

ipan

ts

01234567

5 10 15 20 25

mark out of 25

num

ber

of p

artic

ipan

ts

Data from 2008/9

Teaching vs Experiment

Ethics•Consent•Freedom to withdrawIncentive

Just get on with it(?)

Gain able students looking for prize money

Performance

Significant difference

p=0.02

But confounding factors …

Confidence

Addition, subtraction, BODMASPowers

Rearranging and solving equations gr

aphi

ng

fract

ions

Other indices …..

Intervention

Populations with the same code letter have no significant difference at 5% (t-test)

bb,ca,c a a,c a,c

Morality of Incentive Marks

First year modules do not countSkills vs Knowledge