Student-Staff Partnership in Mathematics: What can we learn from an example of curriculum co-creation?
Dr Morgiane Richard, Centre for Academic Development and Dr Jean-Baptiste Gramain, School of Natural and Computing Sciences
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Describe the context of your / the project team's approach to enhance teaching and learning.
Transitioning from school to university mathematics is known to be challenging for students in Aberdeen and worldwide. Yet mathematics is an essential component of all quantitative disciplines.
Although mathematics is assimilated in both settings through the study of examples and exercises, the complete change of focus required embodies the difficult cognitive shift students must undergo. Involving students in the creation of examples or exercises may be valuable in supporting this shift and assessing its success.
Another key to a successful transition appears to be the acquisition by students of a sense of belonging to a new community of practice, that of university mathematicians. The development of an identity as a self-perceived legitimate member of this community is also crucial. While collaborative working has been shown to have academic, social and psychological benefits, and may thus be a helpful tool in this context, it remains widely unused in higher education mathematics.
Provide a description of the project and either briefly describe your role as an individual, and if applicable, the role of all other stakeholders involved in the project; or briefly describe the roles of all named above.
In 2023/2024, students on two consecutive Level 2 mathematics courses were engaged in group work and curriculum co-creation activities, used as assessments. This involved 44 and 22 students with 12 degree intentions, including non-STEM.
Through a series of in-class discussions, the lecturer (Jean-Baptiste Gramain) guided students along a gradual process of reflection on grading criteria, and the qualities required in mathematics exercises and solutions. As part of their summative assessment, students were then tasked to work in groups to create exercises and their solutions to illustrate the content of the course, and their submissions were graded using the criteria discussed and agreed on by the class.
Using three online questionnaires (19, 13 and 11 participants) and a group interview (6 participants), Morgiane Richard conducted some data collection and analysis to measure the impact of these activities on the students’ experience, confidence and perceptions, and their evolution over the two courses.
Give a rationale for your / the project team’s teaching approach or new initiative.
By combining group work and curriculum co-creation, our aim is to foster a sense of belonging, at the class level and in the wider mathematical community. By creating exercises together, students should develop a sense of legitimate participation, and build a stronger confidence in their abilities. This will in turn increase their resilience and help them strengthen their identity as mathematicians.
Another objective is, by guiding students through their reflection on grading criteria, to empower them to form a more holistic view of mathematics and the qualities it requires as a discipline, and thus ease their transition to university.
Our project also allows students to enhance their MySkills Portfolio and helps them develop widely transferrable abilities often neglected in mathematics (Working with others, Enterprise & innovation).
Finally, we aim to test the validity of these assessments as more inclusive and authentic alternatives to traditional pieces of homework or exams.
Provide details of how your / the project team’s new teaching approach or solution has been / will be disseminated with colleagues and students within and beyond the University. Is the approach transferable to other disciplines?
The project, together with the data and results obtained during 2023-2024, was presented at the annual Scottish Maths Support Network meeting at the University of Aberdeen in June 2024. This allowed the dissemination of our work with colleagues within the School of Natural and Computing Sciences, but also the wider Scottish Maths Support community. Another presentation on our work was given at the conference CETL-MSOR 2024 (Teaching and Learning of Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research in Higher Education) at the University of Limerick (Ireland) in August 2024, attended by educators from the UK and Ireland.
While the project continues, the first results are the object of an article in progress to be submitted to the international journal Studies in Higher Education. Group work and co-creation practice can be implemented in other STEM disciplines, where students experience similar difficulties in negotiating transition to university and developing a sense of belonging.
Identify the key learnings points - what have you / the project team learned from this initiative and how has it further enhanced you / the project team’s practice?
Students’ answers (questionnaires and interview) show that they found group work favoured deeper understanding of the mathematical content. It was not without social and organisational challenges but was rewarding. Students particularly liked exchanging knowledge amongst themselves. We have now timetabled dedicated sessions for group work, to help with time management issues.
Two stronger students admitted during the interview that group work didn’t give them the opportunity to show their individual merit. To address this, two new individual assessments were added in 2024-2025.
Despite finding it difficult, participants felt exercise creation was cognitively beneficial (69% rated exercise creation as difficult, 62% recorded it had improved their confidence, questionnaire 2), and one individual wrote “it forced me to convince myself of the concepts”. Interviewed students thought that exercise creation was an authentic way to demonstrate their learning. They suggested, however, that it should complement, rather than replace, traditional methods of assessment.
Explain how you have / the project team has evaluated the impact or influence of your initiative.
We administered three questionnaires (5 questions, Likert scale and open text, week 2 and 11 in semester 1 and week 7 in semester 2). Questionnaires aimed to record students’ confidence in and enthusiasm for mathematics, perceived difficulty and impact of group work and exercise creation, and perceived benefits or otherwise, throughout both semesters. Students’ confidence improved significantly between semesters (p=0.013), and their enthusiasm increased non-significantly (p=0.382).
We also ran a semi-structured group interview (week 1 of exam, Spring diet), to gain further insights into students’ perspectives. We show that group work is socially and intellectually challenging, helps resilience and that exercise creation is motivating, stimulating and encourages long term and deeper learning.
At the end of the course, 9 of the 10 (from 22) students who completed the CFF felt “more confident about undertaking new assignments”, and all 10 felt the course “helped [them] develop [their] group-working skills”.