[Maths-Education] Seminar: Telling stories about non-traditional learners of undergraduate mathematics

[Liz Bills]

Dear colleagues,

You are warmly invited to a seminar on Thursday February 10th given by
Professor Hilary Povey of Sheffield Hallam University.  The seminar will be
in Norwich, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East
Anglia at 5.00 pm in Room EDU 1.40.  Please contact me (liz.bills at uea.ac.uk)
if you would like further details of location.


'Telling stories about non-traditional learners of undergraduate
mathematics'

Recent research into students' experience of undergraduate mathematics at a
traditional English university includes an account of those who fail
(Macrae, Brown, Bartholomew and Rodd, 2003).  The university studied is
among the elite institutions for mathematics so entrants arrive with a
history of success with the subject.  In contrast, at our institution, some
of the entrants are students who have previously failed in mathematics;
others come to us with a comparatively weak mathematical background.
However, most of these students go on to become confident and effective
mathematicians, some even achieving first class honours.  

Corinne Angier and I interviewed the members of a small cohort of students
where such patterns of a weak entry profile followed by success in
mathematics were clearly evident.  The students were following one of the
longer routes into secondary mathematics teaching.  On their course, they
studied undergraduate mathematics for two years within the context of a
Mathematics Education Centre; (this was followed by a professional year).
They studied mathematics to honours level but within a narrower range than
would a single honours student.  In this seminar, I will draw on stories we
constructed about these students: we believe that reporting aspects of their
experience has value as a 'public resource' (Nixon et al, 2003: 87) in the
context of widening participation and debates about equity.

REFERENCES
Macrae, Sheila, Brown, Margaret, Bartholomew, Hannah and Rodd, Melissa
(2003) 'The tale of the tail: an investigation of failing single honours
mathematics students in one university' in Proceedings of the BSRLM Day
Conference, Oxford, June 2003, pp. 55- 60
Nixon, John, Walker, Melanie and Clough, Peter (2003) 'Research as
thoughtful practice' in Sikes, Pat, Nixon, John and Carr, Wilfred (Eds) The
Moral Foundations of Educational Research Knowledge, Inquiry and Values,
Maidenhead, Open University Press

Liz Bills
School of Education and Lifelong Learning
University of East Anglia
Norwich
NR4 7TJ
+44 (0)1603 592868