Developing students’ academic numeracy skills: Taking a whole-of-

institution approach

Kathy Brady

Student Learning Centre

Flinders University

Background• Flinders Teaching and Learning Plan (2001-2014) includes a commitment

to ‘enhance and the English-language academic literacy and numeracy skills of first-year undergraduate students via for-credit studies’

• Priority Action of 2012 Operational Plan was to implement a First-Year Transition and Retention Project encompassing ‘a number initiatives…[including] the development of a strategy to build first year literacy/numeracy’

• Review of Student Learning Support (2012) recommended the adoption, development and implementation of credit-bearing numeracy and literacy topics

Background• In 2012 Vice-Chancellor’s Committee endorsed credit-bearing literacy and

numeracy topics

• The adoption of university-wide approach to addressing students academic literacy skills was completed in 2013 with implementation of credit-bearing topic Academic and Professional Communication

• In 2014 attention has turned to addressing students’ academic numeracy needs through a credit-bearing topic.

• Leadership for this project assigned to Student Learning Centre (SLC)

Numeracy in Tertiary Domain

• Places emphasis on application of mathematics and quantitative concepts in academic disciplinary contexts

• A definition of academic numeracy (drawing on Galligan, 2013)– Capacity to confidently and competently use

mathematics in university study– Ability to apply, interpret, critique and communicate

mathematical concepts within disciplinary contexts

Graduate Qualities

• Few Australian universities actively aim to improve students’ numeracy despite Graduate Qualities suggesting they should do so (Galligan, 2013; Oliver, 2011)

• Students should leave their studies more competent, confidence and critically aware of the mathematics in their future careers and personal life

Graduate Qualities

• Although not enumerated explicitly in Flinders Graduate Qualities, Graduate Quality 2 particularly discusses the ability of Flinders graduates to "use their knowledge to plan, to analyse, to think critically, logically and creatively, to reflect upon and evaluate ideas, options, and potential solutions to problems, and to make and implement decisions"

• Lack of mathematical skills of commencing students discussed broadly in Australian literature– But most studies have focussed on preparedness

of studying university mathematics

• Numeracy demands in many other disciplines not made as evident or explicit

• Serious mismatch between skills of commencing students and numeracy demands embedded in their courses (Galligan & Taylor, 2005).

The literature points to some issues

The literature points to some issues

• Many first-year students lack skills in even rudimentary mathematics (McNaught & Hoyne, 2011)

• Low numeracy more problematic than low literacy for successful university study (Parsons & Bynner, 2005)

• The students with the poorest skills, who need most support, fail to access it (Pell & Croft, 2008)

The literature points to another issue• Mathematic anxiety well documented

• Key reason people have aversion to studying mathematics and using even simple mathematics in their daily lives

• Long-term outcome of mathematics anxiety is low numeracy or innumeracy

• Students’ lack of mathematical preparedness results in disillusionment, loss of self-esteem, and ultimately withdrawal (Pell & Croft, 2008)

Taking a university-wide approach

• Whole-of-university, or ‘third-generation’ approaches, need to be implemented to increase retention and ensure student satisfaction (Kift, 2009; Nelson, Clarke, Kift, & Creagh, 2011).

• Academic numeracy is a university-wide issue that needs to be seriously addressed through a systematic approach (Galligan, 2013)

Taking a university-wide approach

• Numeracy audit of all courses with non-specialised mathematics

• Documented the breadth and depth of numeracy demands across all courses

Numeracy Audit• Responses by Faculty

Total responses = 26 courses

Education, Humanities and Law 26.9%

Science and Engineering 11.5%

Social and Behavioural Sciences 19.2%

Health Sciences 42.3%

Numeracy Audit - Number

Numeracy Audit - Algebra

Numeracy Audit - Graphs

Numeracy Audit - Statistics

Numeracy Audit – Probability

Numeracy Audit - Spatial

Qualitative Responses• [Students] don’t meet expectations, [they] come in with Year 9 maths as a max or

refuse to know any maths at all; Some students don’t even know how to add up a bill in the supermarket but expect to be able to study science

• Poor grounding in very basic maths; intimidated by numbers

• They cannot work with decimal point or fractions and these skills are required for medication calculations. Also can’t understand basic statistical information in journals nor work out what their grade might be in a topic if it is divided between several pieces of work

• Cannot divide by 10 or 100, cannot convert between orders of magnitude (eg milligrams to micrograms); do not check their mathematical calculations, and do not think about how to best order of magnitude they should expect for an answer to their

• Many students are simply afraid of anything mathematical; without this cultural shift there is little prospect for anything

Academic and Professional Numeracy

• Credit-bearing topic

• Implementation in 2015

• Innovative modular approach to curriculum

• Topic comprises 4 modules selected from a suite of 8 to meet the numeracy demands of particular courses

Topic modulesModule A Number Fundamentals Whole number operations, the properties of whole numbers

including integers. Module B Further Number Concepts Operations involving fractions, decimals and percentages, rounding,

significant figures.

Module C Extended Number Concepts Ratio and proportion, use of exponents and logarithms, scientific notation.

Module D Algebra Algebraic terms and expressions, formulae, and equations.

Module E Graphing Reading and interpreting graphs and charts, plotting graphs, equations of straight lines, scatter plots, lines of best fit.

Module F Spatial Thinking Units of measurement, measurement of 2D and 3D figures, scale, trigonometric ratios, Pythagoras rule.

Module G Statistics Measures of central tendency and variation, representations of statistical information, sampling, analysis of data.

Module H Counting and Probability Permutations and combinations, calculation of experimental and theoretical probability, representation of probability events

Our first semester• 27 student enrolments• Offered 6 of planned 8 modules

– Number Fundamentals– Further Number Concepts– Extended Number Concepts– Algebra– Graphing – Statistics

• Shared teaching between team of 3 based on expertise and interest

Topic Evaluation• Broad general agreement data

– I developed my ability to think critically and analytically (94%)– I had a clear idea of what was expected of me (89%)– Overall I had a worthwhile learning experience (77%)– “ pleasant surprise based on my previous math experience”

• Feedback for further topic development – Structure of the topic was very well received

• Though some found the modular structure confusing at first

– Some wanted more class time, some wanted less!– Calculator use, worked solutions were popular suggestions

Future Plans• Winter Intensive version

• Mid-semester start version

• Fully online version

• Topic will become increasingly mandated in a range of courses

• As enrolments increase full suite of 8 modules will be rolled out