Reflecting on mathematics
This activity is designed for students on mathematics, technology and science courses who feel the need to get some more help with the mathematical content of their courses. We imagine a common reason why students will ask for help or seek places they can find help is because of a lack of confidence in their mathematical skills at the level that they feel will be needed in their course. So to help you focus on what sort of help you need and what areas you might be struggling in, have a go at the activity below. The activity is designed so that you can make plans to improve in one or more areas of mathematics.
Try this
Answer the following questions:
- What made me decide to look for help?
- What sort of help would be useful?
- What do I hope to gain by seeking help?
Don't spend too long on answering these questions. We suggest that you write down the answers before you look at our suggestions, and then keep your answers to return to later. Brief notes are enough. It should take you no more than 15–20 minutes at most.
Think about this
The ideas below may be similar to yours or you may find them useful to add to your own. Your answers may be completely different, of course, and we are not suggesting that ours are the ‘right’ ones – but we hope that they might act as a trigger for you to think about other things.
What made me decide to look for help?
There are, of course, many reasons why students decide to ask for help. It may be that you have read other texts designed to help those with concerns about mathematics and found them useful. It may be that you feel that you can understand a little about mathematics, but you are concerned that this is not enough for your current course. We have spoken to other students, and asked them this question, and some of their responses are given below.
"Since school, I needed maths in my studies, and managed to get a smattering of statistics, etc. I am actually numerate by comparison with many of my colleagues. I enjoy financial planning (of my own affairs) and cope with managing budgets at work. However, I still avoid work that involves a lot of figures."
"I am constantly worried about the use of maths – I always presume that I will get simple problems wrong if numbers are involved. I have looked at the set book – the recommended reading is downright scary. I am just grateful that there is not an exam to do because I would never be able to pass at this level on my own."
What sort of help would be useful?
This one may be more difficult to answer. It depends on your ability and confidence in numerical work. You may feel that you need all the help that you can get and simply hope that this will be useful in some way that you can't yet define. We believe that, the more that you can decide on the answer to this sort of question at this stage, the more likely you are to gain from any help you do find.
What do I hope to gain by seeking help?
You might have included things like the students quoted below.
"The skills I have needed as a student with the OU have been to do with interpreting information from research – both numeric and written – and judging the validity and reliability. I always shy away from quantitative research."
"I have been studying for several years now, starting with ‘O’ levels (as was), ‘A’ levels and, more recently the OU. The three courses I have completed are two in biology and one in chemistry. In both subjects, the unfamiliar units used gave me pause for thought."
"I am not very confident with algebra, and I know that I will need to learn how to do it for the next assignment."
One reason that you may need help is that you realise that your course requires you to carry out some numerical calculations, and you don't feel very confident with this. The next activity asks you to think about the use of mathematics in your current piece of assessed work. To find out more look at what help do I need RIGHT NOW?!