Enhancing the students experience in mathematics through the use of a project

1. Enhancing the students experience in mathematics through the use of a project Susan Worsley srw@maths.uq.edu.au Dr Katrina Hibberd, Dr Barbara Maenhaut

2. Outline • Context • Topics • Setup • Assessment • Outcomes • Questionnaire results • Conclusion

3. Context Students in the class We introduced the project to: • Explore a relevant mathematics topic • Experience the interdisciplinary nature of mathematics • Improve communication • Develop research skills

4. Topics • Nuclear energy waste • Dynamic response of structure • Carbon offset schemes • Magic squares • Mendelian genetics • RSA cryptography • Fibonacci • Tsunamis

5. Tsunamis • What happens to tsunamis as they head towards land? • What systems are in place to warn us when we are in danger of a tsunami. • Explanation • Suggested reference e.g Australian Bureau of Meteorology

6. Joel MacGrath, James Mahoney, Chris Farrell

7. Setup • Project starts second week of lectures • Four weeks to complete • Groups of size 3 or 4 • Topic and poster production • 10% of final mark, pass/fail grade

8. Assessment • Progression to midway • Production of a poster • Peer assessment • Individual summary • Questionnaire

9. Progression sheet • Form a group • Register topic • Allocate tasks • First group meeting held

10. Poster Presentation • Relevant Content • Logically organised, visually appealing, neatly displayed and well written • Two to three minute presentation in tutorial classes

11. Peer Assessment

12. Individual Summary • Each student summarises their topic • Between 200 to 300 words • Well written • Students own work  submitted to ‘turnitin’ in Blackboard

13. Questionnaires Multiple choice and short answers Students  Experience of the project Tutors Evaluating the marking of the assessment

14. Tutorial Setting Typical Problem sheet  little class interaction With project Group work  Social interaction  Peer assisted learning  Dynamic environment

15. Outcomes • Groups • Topics • Poster Presentation • Individual Summary

16. Questionnaire(student) • 53% of students developed more interest in the project than they expected • 68% increased their understanding on how mathematics relates to other disciplines • 82% learned to effectively interact with other group members • 34% were inspired to continue further studies in mathematics

17. Questionnaire(tutor) • 70% of students continued to work in groups in the tutorial • 60% of posters were of a high or very high standard • 90% said it was not difficult to organise students into groups • 70% found marking the progression sheet, poster presentation and peer assessment simple

18. Conclusions We introduced this assessment to develop the following skills • Communication • Team work • Research Result - complete change in tutorial class dynamics

19. Comments from Students ‘I thought the group topic worked well as one of the first assessment pieces of the semester as it helped to reach out and make contact with other people, which may not have happened otherwise‘ ‘Good exciting project’ ‘Well I haven’t played with cardboard and glue since primary school’

20. Chau Le, Same Ward, David Pascall, Ned Connolly Natasha Ma, Jasmine Khan, Iain Fisher Acknowledgement This project was funded by the School of Physical Sciences teaching initiative