Duncan Lawson

Safety in numbers: mathematics support centres and their derivatives as social learning spaces

This article reports on data gathered from second and third year mathematics undergraduates at two British universities which have developed Mathematics Support Centres, primarily with a view to supporting skills development for engineering students. However, an unforeseen consequence of the support centres was the mathematics students’ colonisation of the physical space, and the development of group learning strategies which involve a strong community identity. Drawing on a socio‐cultural theoretical framework, based primarily in the concept of a figured world, the article explores the students’ perceptions of mathematics learning and their experiences of university‐level teaching, focusing on the ways in which they collectively build images of themselves as participants in an undergraduate mathematics community, resourced by the physical safe spaces that they have created, and which they now regard as essential sites of their learning.

Limits and potentials of social networking in academia: case study of the evolution of a mathematics Facebook community

The use of social networking services has rapidly increased in recent years, especially by university students. Some authors assert that they have educational potential in terms of promoting collaborative learning practices among undergraduate students which enhance engagement and understanding. This possibility is particularly relevant to mathematics learning, because university communities are frequently experienced as isolating and performance-oriented. This case study reports on the use of Facebook to support mathematical communication and more participative learning identities within a UK university mathematics department. It describes how the reactive formation of a student-led Facebook community became a source of conflict within the wider academic social community and how this conflict was eventually resolved. While it raises questions about the extent to which Facebook can encourage open collaborative learning within the wider context of student aspirations in a competitive climate, it notes its potential for fostering cross-cohort student support in a subject which frequently induces anxiety in its students.

Dealing with ‘fragile identities’: resistance and refiguring in women mathematics students

Many learners may be successful in mathematics but nevertheless see themselves as existing only on the margins of the practice, or as lacking stability in it – in this sense, they have what can be called a fragile identity. Although this kind of relationship with mathematics is not limited to girls and women, they do appear to express such fragile identities more often or more readily. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from undergraduates in three English universities, this paper presents an analysis of the way in which university mathematics is differentially experienced by men and women, and of the part this may play in women’s ongoing narratives of self as mathematicians. It is suggested that some women resist traditional positionings in the mathematics world, drawing on local resources which enable a sense of agency as successful students and a refiguring of their relationships with mathematics.

Reshaping understandings of teaching-learning relationships in undergraduate mathematics: An activity theory analysis of the role and impact of student internships

This article presents an analysis of an intervention intended to address an aspect of undergraduate mathematics education that is frequently described as a situation of deadlock, between second-year undergraduates who are disillusioned with their university mathematics experience, and mathematics departments which describe many students as lacking interest in, and awareness of, the nature of university-level mathematics and how it is learned: whilst departments strive to support such students, the extent to which they can do so is often seen as limited. The SYMBoL project was designed to address this situation in terms of improving dialogue between students and staff through the introduction of undergraduate internships which challenged traditional hierarchical roles and relationships. Using third generation activity theory to analyse the nature and impact of the internship role, we show how the project legitimised the student voice as channelled through that of the interns, created shifts in perceptions of the problem, and began a process of transformational learning about possibilities in undergraduate mathematics teaching. We consider the implications for developing university mathematics teaching within the wider context of tensions across university systems.

A closer look at Planck's blackbody equation

The spectral distribution of blackbody radiation is given by Plancks blackbody equation. This can be integrated across the complete spectrum to obtain the total blackbody emissive power (the Stefan - Boltzmann law). In some circumstances we shall want to investigate behaviour only in a band of the spectrum. For example, rare earth oxides which are commonly used in thermophotovoltaic devices typically emit significantly only in a single narrow band. The complexity of Plancks blackbody equation is such that it appears to require significant computing prowess to be able to obtain useful results. In a recent paper in this journal, Jain (1996) calculated the emissive power of the visible region using the high-powered mathematical software package Mathematica. The requirement of advanced numerical techniques and/or a powerful piece of software limit the range of students who can study spectral blackbody effects. However, by taking a closer look at Plancks equation we find that it is possible to learn much about spectral blackbody effects (including all of Jains results) by careful use of mathematical techniques covered in A-level and a spreadsheet (or other simple computational tool). This opens a study of Plancks equation to all undergraduates.

Senior management perspectives of mathematics and statistics support in higher education: moving to an ‘ecological’ approach

ABSTRACT This article explores the perspectives of three senior managers in higher education institutions in England regarding their mathematics and statistics support provision. It does so by means of a qualitative case study that draws upon the writing of Ronald Barnett about the identity of an ‘ecological’ university, along with metaphors associated with the notion of organisations as living ‘organisms’, suggested by Gareth Morgan. Using these ideas as a heuristic sheds light upon the view that whilst outwardly universities appear to represent a uniform landscape, mathematics and statistics support alternatively, can be seen as different ‘species’ within the higher education system. The study illustrates how three universities occupying contrasting ecological ‘niches’ are responding to the challenges they face by providing and planning different forms of learning support for mathematics and statistics. In conclusion, it is recommended that senior managers reflect upon the possibilities offered by the idea of ‘ecological’ identities in order to explore how they might respond strategically to a rapidly changing environment. This includes adapting various solutions and the further development of innovative ways of supporting students’ transitions throughout the academic lifecycle. In addition, an ecological approach could also aid the formation of the co-creational relationships and networks required for the future success of those developments.