Abstract
It has been recognised for some time by Science and Engineering departments that students are entering Higher Education ill-equipped in terms of their mathematical skills, despite having in many cases, attained good grades at Higher/A level (The Engineering Council 2000; Fry, Ketteridge & Marshall 1999; Score Education 2009). In an attempt, therefore, to ensure that all students progressing on to Chemistry degrees are equally prepared (in terms of ability and confidence) to attempt the more mathematical aspects of our courses, the School of Chemistry has over recent years been sequentially introducing mathematics support into the curriculum. As part of the School’s ongoing mathematical support provision, the aim of this project was two-fold: 1) to assess the popularity and effectiveness of tailored maths support sessions and 2) in relation to the teaching of mathematical concepts to science students, collate examples of existing appropriate open educational resources to provide additional support to facilitate student learning such as RSC Discover Maths for Chemistry and Math Centre (Royal Society of Chemistry; MathCentre 2016). A pilot project has been carried out during the academic year 2015-2016, where support sessions were delivered in tutorial format by the Maths Adviser. Although the sessions were open to all 3rd year students studying on chemistry degree programmes, the expectation was that they would mainly be attended by students with little formal mathematics training and those who are less confident about their abilities. Keywords: Chemistry, Mathematics, Student Support, Maths Support
Highlights
Confidence and ability with mathematics is absolutely necessary to explore important concepts and calculations in chemistry
The College-entry system at the University of Glasgow offers flexibility and choice to our students, which means a pre-entry mathematics grade is not necessarily held by students in the School of Chemistry and attendance at compulsory mathematics classes is currently not required. The advantage of this system is that this gives our students the flexibility to transfer between programmes if they choose to do so, but disadvantages them at level 3 when complex mathematical concepts such as quantum chemistry, molecular symmetry and
To ensure that all students progressing on to Chemistry degrees at the University of Glasgow are prepared to attempt the more mathematical aspects of our courses, the School of Chemistry has over recent years been sequentially introducing maths support into our curriculum
Summary
Confidence and ability with mathematics is absolutely necessary to explore important concepts and calculations in chemistry. These aspects, and chemistry itself, will be extremely difficult This is not just a concern for the teaching of chemistry at the University of Glasgow (Shallcross & Yates 2014; Gagan 2008). The College-entry system at the University of Glasgow offers flexibility and choice to our students, which means a pre-entry mathematics grade is not necessarily held by students in the School of Chemistry and attendance at compulsory mathematics classes is currently not required The advantage of this system is that this gives our students the flexibility to transfer between programmes if they choose to do so, but disadvantages them at level 3 when complex mathematical concepts such as quantum chemistry, molecular symmetry and. To ensure that all students progressing on to Chemistry degrees at the University of Glasgow are prepared (in terms of ability and confidence) to attempt the more mathematical aspects of our courses, the School of Chemistry has over recent years been sequentially introducing maths support into our curriculum
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