Science Students with Numerical Difficulties: what are we doing for them

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Science Students with Numerical Difficulties
what are we doing for them?
Corinne M. Spickett, John Wilson, Jim Boyle
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
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OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENTATION
Numerical difficulties extent of the
problem Overall incidence Range of
problems Strathclyde study
Support for numerical difficulties Typical
accommodation in HE Is it enough?
Alternative Support Approach BCalc Description
of BCalc Development of BCalc
Accommodation versus Academic Standards
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Difficulties in Mathematics

• There has been an acknowledged decline in
  standards of numeracy and mathematical ability in
  recent years.
• Much of this may relate to changes in teaching
  practice in schools
• Class size
• Use of calculators
• teaching methods lack of drill and practice
• This has led to anxiety about mathematics, lack
  of experience and poor motivation.
• A sub-set of these have extreme problems
  resulting from the learning disability
  DYSCALCULIA.

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Dyscalculia or Mathematics Disorder
A learning disability that affects numerical and
mathematical skills
Mathematical ability. is substantially below
that expected given the persons age and
age-appropriate education .
. whereas intellectual functioning falls within
or above the normal range.
Dyscalculia has genetic, cognitive and
neurological causes.
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Manifestations of Dyscalculia

• FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS
• Counting
• Reading and writing numerals
• Number seriation
• Numerical procedures
• Principles, concepts and laws of arithmetic

• PROBLEMS IN APPLICATION
• Telling the time and judging elapsed time
• Calculating prices and handling change
• Measuring (e.g. temperature or speed)
• Problems with ratios, fractions, decimals,
  changing units

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Incidence of Dyscalculia

• Large-scale surveys of school-children suggest a
  prevalence of around 6-7 with no gender
  differences.
• 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 largely unknown.

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Strathclyde Study to assess Numerical
Difficulties in University Students (2003)
A self-report questionnaire was distributed to
1st and 2nd Year bioscience and pharmacy students
in practical laboratories at Strathclyde.
1st Year bioscience science students at
calculations tutorials at Coventry.
1st and 3rd Year biological science and biology
students surveyed in practical classes at
Liverpool Hope.
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Format of the Questionnaire - General
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Format of the Questionnaire - Specific
Algebraic functions Manipulating
Equations Logarithms Powers of 10 Decimal
places Fractions Mental arithmetic
Moles and Molarity Conversions between
units Drawing Graphs Dilutions
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Findings of the Strathclyde Survey
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Implications of the Strathclyde Survey
Prevalence of numerical difficulties among
biological science students differs between 3
universities in the UK.
Lower-bound prevalence rate of at least 10
amongst 1st and 2nd years at Strathclyde.
Dyscalculic students will represent a fraction of
this (1/10 ?)
Algebra and logs significantly discriminated
those reporting problems (75)
At Strathclyde, numerical skills seem to have
declined even further since 2003!
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Support for Students with Numerical
Difficulties Remedial Mathematics Support
Various approaches in many UK universities

• Pre-entry classes and testing (e.g. Queen
  Margaret)
• Central support schemes for voluntary
  participation (e.g. Maths Learning Support
  Centre, Loughborough)
• Remedial classes for specific courses on a
  voluntary basis.
• Incorporation of remedial maths / numerical
  skills teaching into curriculum

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Remedial Support is it working?
POSITIVE POINT
For most students, remedial classes in numerical
skills allow them to achieve acceptable standards
CONCERNS
Remedial classes are becoming incorporated into
the curriculum as standard teaching.
Time required to teach numerical skills is
detracting from teaching of the main subject
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Support for Students with Dyscalculia
Dyscalculic students are entitled to
accommodations that are intended to compensate
for their disability.
These are generally similar to those offered to
students with other disabilities such as dyslexia.

• extra time in examinations
• use of a calculator
• access to notes/memory aids
• alternative formats for questions and answers

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Is the Support for Dyscalculia Enough?
Remedial classes are of limited value in this
case.
Accommodations such as use of calculators / crib
sheets are of limited use as they still require
mathematical ability, number recognition, etc.
We attempted to offer a technology-based support
for a dyscalculic student who presented on a
biological science course at Strathclyde..
BCalc
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The Development of BCalc
Collaborative project between departments of
Bioscience, CIS, Special Needs and Psychology
Aimed to produce a software system to help answer
specific questions for 2nd year biological
calculations

• Interconversions of scientific units
• Preparation of solutions
• Dilutions

Did not attempt to include pH and pKa
calculations
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Examples of Biological Calculations
PREPARING A SOLUTION How much potassium sulfate
(MW 174) would you weigh out to prepare 200 mL of
a 50 mM solution? Weight (g) MW x Conc (M) x
Vol (L)

• DILUTIONS
• What volumes of stock and diluent are needed to
  prepare 100 mL of 2 mM solution from a 50 mM
  stock
• What is the dilution factor?
• C1 x V1 C2 x V2 Diluent V2 V1
• Dilution Factor C2/C1

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BCalc was initially developed for the HP Jornada

• MFC AppWizard to create dialog-based project
• Microsoft eMbedded Visual C
• 7 separate functions are called from main dialog
  box
• 8 person-weeks of development effort (CIS project
  student)

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The HP Jornada Screen
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Evaluation of BCalc on the HP Jornada

• The need for training
• Less confident than with paper conversion tables
• More step by step help
• Scientific notation vs powers of ten
• 5.000e-002 vs 5 x 10-2
• Rounding errors difficult to detect and control
• New user interfaces are required

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Adaptation of BCalc to more convenient user
interfaces
Pocket PC and PalmOS versions
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Latest application mobile phones
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Further Research and Directions

• Extend the evaluation of current BCalc by MD
  students.
• Extend the study to other subjects and
  organisations   
• Identify particular areas of need that can be
  used as a basis for developing systems to help
  with particular problems.
• Improve the user-interface of our pilot software
  support system and assess its value to students
  with MD.
• To investigate the feasibility of scalable
  software solutions (XCalc).

All currently hampered by lack of funding !!!
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Support versus Academic Standards

• Not all types of compensatory support are
  regarded as academically valid, depending on core
  learning and assessment criteria.
• Software to support specific academic/professional
  calculations could allow dyscalculic students to
  succeed in key tasks, but may be controversial
• Important to distinguish between inability to
  grasp theoretical concepts, and inability to
  conduct mathematical routines during application
  of the concepts.

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Is this a problem with Dyscalculic Biological
Sciencists?

• Many concepts that are fundamental are
  intrinsically numerical (e.g. moles, statistics)
• Can people learn to use BCalc if they dont
  understand the principles ?
• If they dont understand the principles, can they
  be biological scientists ?
• Potential for use in employment vs universities?

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• John Wilson
• Jim Boyle
• Deborah Finn
• Graham Martin
• Inga Tulloch
• Jan Coveney
• Simon Wagstaff
• Clare Trott

(CIS, Strathclyde) (Psychology) (Special Needs
Service) (CIS, Strathclyde) (Coventry) (Li
verpool Hope) (LTSN / HEA)
Strathclyde RD Fund