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The transition into mathematics at AS-levelPaul Hernandez-Martinez

School of Education, University of Manchester

What is important about mathematics?

There is a growing concern in the UK and worldwide (Gilbert, 2006; OECD, 2006) about the decreasing number of people going into university to study careers in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the implications that a shortage of these professionals may have to the economy (e.g. HM

Treasury, 2004). This problem is in part a reflection of the low rates of participation at A-level in subjects like mathematics and the sciences. We focus on mathematics because this subject is the basis of science and technology and because of its great importance in accessing university degrees in STEM, and hence to the students’ educational and socioeconomic life opportunities.

Why study transition?

It has been identified that transitional moments can be ‘dangerous’ for individual learners’ progress, and in particular mathematics is often regarded as ‘difficult’ during transitional situations (e.g. many students mention ‘algebra’ as particularly difficult in the transition to college). ‘Transition’ poses several problems (social, educational, institutional) for students that can stop their progress (i.e. drop out or fail).

What is the project about?We are interested in knowing what students find difficult (or not) when they go into college, and why so many drop out or fail their

Try to remember when you finished school and went onto college or work. How did you feel about going to a new place, meeting new people and

perhaps doing different things? Were you worried, excited, happy or did you have mixed feelings? What do you think helped you the most in

adjusting to the new situation and completing that transition successfully?

mathematics courses during the transition. We believe that a student's experience in mathematics in school has a great influence on their future success in mathematics subjects at college and, therefore, we aim to understand how different educational practices at school and in transition to college impact on students, and how these practices interact with the students’ social and cultural background (i.e. ethnicity, social class, gender).To this aim, we are interviewing several students before and after the transition about their background and experiences, and conducting case studies of schools and colleges where our students come from (lesson observations, interviews with teachers, heads of department and authorities).

Some preliminary results…

So far, we have reported on two aspects of the transition:

(1) How ‘liminal’ spaces (i.e. the time between school and college, mainly the summer holidays when most of them attend open days) can be an informative and motivating time for students but at the same time it can create false expectations in some of them about the nature of mathematics at college (Hernandez-Martinez & Fansworth, 2009).

(2) Students’ attitudes towards the transition: we found that students talk about transition not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to develop, to grow up, to be a ‘new’ person due to the challenges that the new social and academic demands pose to them. Thus, we propose to see transition from this more positive perspective (Hernandez-Martinez et al, in preparation).

We are preparing reports on the different practices we have found at schools, mainly those directly intended at preparing students for college (extra ‘algebra’ lessons, re-sitting exams, etc.) and on the case of algebra as a link (or not) from school to college.During the summer we will continue our case studies and interviews with an extended sample of students.

ReferencesGilbert, J. (Ed.) (2006) Science Education in Schools, TLRP. OECD (2006) Evolution of Student Interest in Science and Technology Studies, OECDHM Treasury (2004) Science & Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014, HM

Treasury.Hernandez-Martinez, P. and Farnsworth, V. (2009) Students’ expectations and the

double-edged sword of liminality in mathematics educational transitions. Presented at the BSRLM Conference, Bristol, UK, 22 June 2009.

Hernandez-Martinez, P., Williams, J., Black, L., Davis, P., Pampaka, M. and Wake, G. (In preparation) The transition into mathematics at post-compulsory education. Research in Mathematics Education (special issue).

About the author…Dr Paul Hernandez-Martinez works at the School of Education of the University of Manchester. He graduated as an applied mathematician but his interest in education made him pursue a Masters and a Doctorate in Mathematics Education at the University of Leeds. He has worked on projects looking at widening participation in mathematics and the transition to university of students in Mathematically-Demanding Careers. He teaches Mathematics Education on the Part-time BA (Hons.) Education at the University of Manchester and is part of the Executive Committee of the British Society for the Research into Learning Mathematics. He is Principal Investigator on the project on transition into mathematics from school to college.

Transition

This project was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) under the ‘Small Grants’ scheme (grant number RES-000-22-2890) from September 2008 to December 2009.