Mathematics Education that Better Develops Problem-Solving Skills
| Dates: | 18 March 2024 |
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| Times: | All day |
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| What is it: | Workshop |
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| Organiser: | Department of Mathematics |
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For many years now, employers of STEM graduates have been shifting from desiring academic knowledge to desiring skills (e.g. see here https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/HESWBL-10-2019-0148/full/html emerald.com). In an age where facts can be found at the click of a button and rudimentary mathematical processes can be carried out by home computers, it is the quality of a graduate’s transferable skills that distinguishes them. Thus, it is imperative that undergraduate mathematics programmes hone these skills as much as they possibly can. Arguably, skill development should be the focus of teaching and curricula. Yet much of mathematics education in higher education still focuses on the acquisition of raw knowledge e.g. theorems, proofs and processes for calculations. This leads to a large disparity between what graduates need and what our degrees are providing. The purpose of this workshop is to reflect on this disparity and consider how we can bridge it. What changes can we make? What are the obstacles are there to making these changes? Why do we currently do things the way we do (after all, we started doing it this way for a reason)? These are the kinds of questions the workshop would (start to) explore.
We will particularly focus on problem-solving skills, which are some of the most desirable skills for employers (e.g. see the article linked above). Moreover, it is a skill that mathematics education lends itself to powerfully and arguably in a quite unique way. Therefore it is a skill by which our graduates can strongly set themselves apart from others.
Whilst we may not be able to provide conclusive answers to such a large question in one day, the workshop will provide a forum for fresh discussion, thoughts and even partnership addressing this issue. We will be bringing together people from different disciplines (e.g. mathematicians, cognitive scientists, mathematics educators from other sectors) all in the hope of starting new dialogue and new ideas on the topic. We hope this will lead to new evidence-based practice within our programmes that better develop problem-solving skills.
A link to the full site and a registration form will be shared soon. In the meantime, if you have questions or are interested in speaking at the event please email Nikesh Solanki at nikesh.solanki@manchester.ac.uk.
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Alan Turing Building
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