Supporting Bioscience Students with
Mathematical Difficulties in Higher
Education:
DDIG Conference
Loughborough University
13 April, 2005
C Spickett, J Boyle & J Wilson
University of Strathclyde
j.boyle@strath.ac.uk
Difficulties in Mathematics

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Concern about Standards (e.g. Smith, 2004)
Dyscalculia or ‘Mathematics Disorder’ (DSM-IV)
“A. Mathematical ability, as measured by individually
administered standardized tests, is substantially below that
expected given the person’s chronological age, measured
intelligence, and age-appropriate education.
B. The disturbance in Criterion A significantly interferes with
academic achievement or activities of daily living that require
mathematical ability.
C. If a sensory deficit is present, the difficulties in mathematical
ability are in excess of those usually associated with it.”
(DSM-IV, APA, 1994)”

Developmental versus Acquired…

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Genetic
Neurological
Cognitive
Prevalence of Dyscalculia

Large-scale surveys of school-children suggest a prevalence
of around 6-7% with no gender differences (c.f. dyslexia)

Half of those with dyscalculia have problems with number
only and the rest have comorbid problems with reading

Prevalence of dyscalculia in adults and in students in higher
education is unknown

Strathclyde University Survey: lower bound prevalence rate of
self-reported mathematical difficulties in 1st and 2nd Year
Bioscience students of around 10% (42/400, with response
rate of 21%)
Recognition of the Need for Support

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Increasing awareness and concern at low levels of
mathematical competence for students entering HE
programmes in science and engineering
Emerging awareness of the presence of dyscalculic
students in HE, though little understanding of the
obstacles faced
Disabled Students’ Allowance is available to
dyscalculic students with study support needs

But we need to identify the most effective support
methods…
Compensatory Support in HEI



Practical support includes:
 extra time in examinations
 use of a calculator
 access to notes/formulae and memory aids
 alternative formats for questions and answers
Use of a calculator can assist with computational
inaccuracies, but still requires considerable mathematical
and conceptual understanding
‘Reasonable adjustments’: how should these be
determined…
What’s Missing?

To develop effective support systems for dyscalculic
students in HE we need:
 More understanding of the obstacles/solutions for
dyscalculic students in HE
 Better understanding of accessibility issues for
dyscalculic students (and dyscalculic/dyslexic
students)
 Development of best practice teaching and
assessment materials/methodologies


A better understanding of the scale and nature of the
problem
Accessible software to support students in
numeric tasks
Strathclyde University Dyscalculia Project

2nd year university student with difficulties in coping
with the mathematics content of Biosciences courses

Long-standing history of problems in number at
school which necessitated tutorial support


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Assessment confirmed marked problems in both
mathematical reasoning and numerical operations
and problems also in working memory
Advice sought from Computer Science Department…
Multidisciplinary project involving Computer Science,
Bioscience & Psychology Departments and Special
Needs Service
Primary Aims
A.
To explore the prevalence and nature of
mathematical difficulties experienced by
Bioscience students
B.
To develop an IT-based intervention, BCalc, to
support Bioscience students experiencing problems
with mathematics, including those with dyscalculia
A. Survey of Mathematical Difficulties

Questionnaire devised by course tutor to identify nature of
mathematical difficulties in Bioscience students in Strathclyde
University

Items reflected mathematics requirements of calculations test
in Practical Bioscience credit (BB206) in 2nd Year

All of these require fairly simple mathematical tasks, such as
fractions, powers, manipulating equations, and logarithms

Nevertheless, a significant number of students struggle with
these calculations, and fail the credit because of it

Questionnaire distributed to 400 1st and 2nd year Bioscience
students in lecture theatres
Sample Bioscience Exam Question
0.1 ml
E coli culture
1 ml
1 ml
1 ml
1 ml
9.9 ml
9.0 ml
9.0 ml
9.0 ml
9.0 ml
1
2
3
4
5
(a) If the original E.coli culture contains 5.4 x 109 cfus ml-1
calculate the number of cfus ml-1 in bottle 5 after the
serial dilution of the original culture, which was
performed as described in the diagram above
(b) If bottle 5 is found to contain 1.9 x 104 cfus ml-1, what
is the number of cfus ml-1 in the original culture
Format of Questionnaire


Problems (Y/N) with credits involving numerical
calculations, mathematical functions [in 8 areas]
Rate confidence [1 to 5] in
 Algebraic functions
 Manipulating equations
 Logs
 Powers of 10
 Decimal places
 Fractions
 Mental arithmetic
 Moles & Molarity
 Conversions between units
 Drawing graphs
 Dilutions
Findings from the Strathclyde Survey - 1

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86 respondents (response rate 21%)
 60 1st Year, 24 2nd Year and 2 did not disclose
year
 66 F, 17 M & 3 gender undisclosed
 Mean Age 19.01 years (SD 1.94) (range 17-30
years)
42 reported mathematical difficulties
 32 F, 9 M & 1 gender undisclosed
 29 1st year, 12 2nd year & 1 year undisclosed
 Mean Age 19.15 years (SD 2.30) (range 17-30
years)
 Average no. of difficulties reported: 2.57 (range
0-8), SD=1.80
 Lower-bound prevalence rate of mathematical
difficulties of at least 10% amongst 1st and 2nd
year Bioscience students
Findings from the Strathclyde Survey - 2

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Students who reported difficulties in maths were
significantly less confident than those who did not
report problems in the following areas:
 Algebra (X2 = 6.28, p< 0.05)
 Logarithms (X2 = 6.62, p < 0.01)
76% of those reporting difficulties were female:
links with mathematics anxiety? (Ashcraft, Kirk &
Hopkins, 1998; Woodard, 2004)
Backward logistic regression for N=81 with no
missing data revealed that difficulties with algebraic
functions significantly discriminated 75% of those
reporting problems and 68% of those reporting no
mathematical difficulties
Odds are around 4:1 that a student reporting maths
problems will have problems with algebraic functions
Coventry & Liverpool Hope Universities…

Strathclyde Questionnaire administered to
Bioscience Students at Coventry (N=59 returned: 58
1st Year & 1 2nd Year) and Liverpool Hope
Universities (N=39 returned: 20 1st Year & 19 3rd
Year)
Strathclyde + Coventry & Liverpool Hope - 1
Bioscience Student Respondents from the Three Universities
Count
F
Strath
Cov
L'Hope
Total
66
36
25
127
gender
M
17
23
14
54
X
3
0
0
3
Total
86
59
39
184
Strathclyde, Coventry & Liverpool Hope - 2
Bioscience Students Reporting Difficulties with Maths
Count
F
Strath
Cov
L'Hope
Total
31
31
10
72
gender
M
10
20
4
34
X
1
0
0
1
Total
42
51
14
107
Strathclyde, Coventry & Liverpool Hope -3
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Combined dataset (N=170, with no missing data):
 67% of those reporting difficulties were female
 Backward logistic regression revealed that lack of
confidence with algebraic functions significantly
discriminated 77% of those reporting problems
and 58% of those reporting no mathematical
difficulties
 Odds are 4.5:1 that a student reporting maths
problems will have problems with algebraic
functions
Coventry & L’Hope dataset (N=89, with no missing
data): Moles & Molarity only significant predictor (p
<0.05)
Differences between institutions…
B. Development of BCalc
Aug 2002
The first version of BCalc was written and
installed on an HP Jornada
Oct 2002
Application to the university’s Research &
Development Fund for support to enhance
BCalc
Dec 2002
Funding obtained and BCalc was adapted
to run on PCs and Palm OS systems
BCalc Demonstration
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
BCalc Demonstration (cont.)
Evaluation
 Scientific notation in ‘unusual’ format eg 5 x 10-2 vs
5.000e-002
 Add / remove some details
 Confident with paper conversion tables
 More ‘step by step’ help
 Need for early identification and training
Future Directions for Research
 To improve the user-interface of our pilot software
support system and further assess its value to
students with MD/Dyscalculia
 To develop a family of support systems appropriate
to different disciplines
 To identify features and requirements for a help and
tutoring system that will accompany the support
software