New Initiative at DCU to help with basic maths skills
10 February 2004

Donal Dowling

The school of Mathematics in Dublin City University has just opened a new initiative to help students with their basic maths skills. The Mathematics Learning Centre has just opened to provide an additional resource to DCU students who take mathematics courses as part of their degree programme.

Donal Dowling, a graduate from DCU, is the Mathematics Learning Centre Co-ordinator. Explaining what the Mathematics Learning Centre is about, Donal says "Many capable students, for a variety of reasons, may find it difficult to achieve the required standards in mathematics to support their degree studies. The Mathematics Learning Centre is a new initiative, which provides an additional teaching resource to these students. The initiative has been tried with success in various universities throughout the world."

In its initial phase the Mathematics Learning Centre will act as a drop in centre for students to get additional help with basic maths skills on an informal basis. The centre will offer one-to-one tuition with the student in a friendly and non-judgemental environment. Explaining the benefits of the Centre Donal said, "Students will receive extra tuition on a one-to-one basis. They will be able to work at their own pace and know that that there is staff member on hand to help them with any problems they have. Also experience shows that there are always students who can be intimidated by the 'formal' nature of lectures and tutorials and who engage much better in the more informal setting of a learning centre."

Some of the most common problems that students have with basic mathematics skills are covered. In dealing with the basic grammar of maths and the solving of different types of equations, algebra and logarithms are studied. Many might ask why is this important? In answering Donal said "This is the basic grammar of maths that allows us to use mathematical language in science, business and engineering."

Some students have problems with using scientific calculators or they might not know what a scientific calculator is. "For these students calculations and calculators are covered, the aim of this is to ensure that the students know how to use a scientific calculator properly" said Donal.

Some students have problems with the understanding of the different ways of representing data and converting between them. "With this aim fractions, decimals and percentages are studied to show the different ways of writing and calculating numbers." said Donal. Another area that students may need to revise is functions and graphs. The students can revise the important ideas of functions and their graphs and look at their application.

Speaking about why there is a need for this type of service at University, Donal said "In many courses the level of mathematical ability is quite diverse. Hence, there are always students who feel their maths class is moving too fast and a one hours tutorial once a week is not enough. The Maths Learning Centre will be open 12 noon to 4pm, Monday to Friday so they can receive extra tuition."

This great service is open to anyone who wants to use it, and plans for its development are already in place. Summarising the new Mathematics Learning centre Donal said, "All students who feel they need extra help with their maths are welcome. As the Centre develops, we hope to add other features which have proved successful in other universities such as computer-based tutorials."

Eoin Geraghty