Mathematics Education Research Group
The Mathematics Education Research Group is focused on developing and evaluating new modes of learning and teaching mathematics in response to ongoing social and technological change.
The group is interested in advancing the theory and practice of university mathematics education, actively gathers evidence to assess the effectiveness of different modes of teaching, and serves to support teachers and lecturers to develop their scholarship of learning and teaching.
We work closely with Athena SWAN and the Equality Challenge Unit to ensure that inclusivity and equality are properly considered when designing and assessing educational interventions. We collaborate with colleagues across Cardiff University, for example the School of Physics and School of Biosciences, and participate extensively with the University’s Academic Practice Programme.
We also engage with national networks such as the Higher Education Academy and the sigma network, and collaborate with institutions across the sector including Bath, Edinburgh, Loughborough, Newcastle and Sheffield Hallam.
Aims
The central question is: How can we facilitate effective learning in mathematics?
Broad areas of interest
- Student academic engagement and fostering active learning environments
- This incorporates encouraging students to attempt problems, share and discuss ideas, self-reflect and develop their own approaches to solving problems.
- Particular approaches identified include peer instruction (using "clickers" in large groups or students discussing questions in small groups during lectures), peer-assessment, online forums.
- Use of learning technology in teaching
- Questions include how can this be used effectively, and how do we evaluate its usefulness?
- Particular approaches identified include flipped learning, e-assessments, lecture capture, and the design and use of open source software
- Developing essential graduate skills
- Particular skills identified are literacy and communication, problem-solving
Specific areas of interest
- Provision of Mathematics Support across the university
- Supporting the transition from school to undergraduate level
- Personality dimensions and their effects on learning Math anxiety and the impact of mathematical confidence on learning.
- Innovative approaches to lecturing - e.g. the role of (lecturers’) performance in the quality of learning
- The analysis of student survey data
- Work-based learning
- People
Head of Group
Academic staff
Dr Dafydd Evans
Lecturer in Operational Research
- Email:
- evansd8@cardiff.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- +44 (0)29 2087 0621
Dr Jonathan Gillard
Reader in Statistics
Director of Admissions
- Email:
- gillardjw@cardiff.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- +44 (0)29 2087 0619
Dr Mathew Pugh
Senior Lecturer
- Welsh speaking
- Email:
- pughmj@cardiff.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- +44 (0)29 2087 6862
Dr Thomas Woolley
Lecturer in Applied Mathematics
- Email:
- woolleyt1@cardiff.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- 02920 870618
Seminars and workshops
The seminar/workshop programme is a combination of external and internal speakers. The ‘internal’ sessions will be Learning and Teaching Lunches which will typically start with a 15-20 minute presentation leaving the remaining time for discussion and debate.
These will be held at 13:00 on Fridays in M/1.02 unless otherwise stated.
Programme organisers and contacts are Dr Rob Wilson and Dr David McConnell.
Date | Speaker | Seminar |
|---|---|---|
22 March 2019 Begins 14:00 | David Aldous (Cardiff Metropolitan University) | Crisis and Creation The presentation will discuss the pedagogic research investigating the space provided to students to be in crisis. That is, how to create and develop an effective environment to encourage students to think freely and creatively when solving new and unseen problems. The context is not maths specific, and therefore will be of general interest across the full range of disciplines. |
Past events
Mathematics Education Research Group Seminars and workshops 2017-18 (PDF)