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Tackling the maths crisis Pupils with strong hearts and lungs ‘score better grades’
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Tackling the maths crisis MaTHEMATICS should be a compulsory subject for everyone aged 16 to 18 whether they are doing A-levels in humanities or training courses to become beauticians or plumbers, according to leading scientists. A dire lack of mathematical understanding permeates all levels of society — and even science students who have maths A-level still find that they fall short of what is required when they enter university, experts found. Lords Rees, the Astronomer Royal and master of Trinity College, Cambridge, said: “We need to ensure that fewer people are bewildered and bamboozled by numbers.” Lord Winston, the television presenter and Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College London, said mathematics lies at the heart of rational decision making and everyone should aspire to understand its basic principles. “Our economy increasingly needs people who are really well-trained in mathematics and science,” he said. “Even some first-year undergraduates require remedial maths teaching for certain courses at several leading universities — even after taking A-level double maths successfully.” Britain continues to lag far behind other countries when it comes to maths education, even though the problems were identified more than a decade ago. In 2009, the UK came 28th in an international educational league table in maths based on the skills of 15-year-olds — well behind many European and East Asian countries. Forcing all students over 16 to continue with mathematics would be one way of addressing a problem that is viewed as one of the greatest challenges to producing a generation of young people who can compete in the global knowledge economy. The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology has recommended that drastic action be taken to promote a greater awareness and understanding of mathematics in schools. Making maths compulsory beyond the age of 16 is one way of helping to solve the problem, it says. “There is no doubt at all that we have a major problem with mathematics and we recommend that the government should make it compulsory for maths to be studied in some form by all students over the age of 16,” said Lord Willis, chairman of the Lords subcommittee on higher education, and a former Leeds Headmaster. “When you’ve got the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University saying that ‘We’ve got nothing but A* students coming in and yet we have to do remedial mathematics for them to engage in engineering and physics’, there is something seriously wrong.” He said non-science students, whether taking A-levels in humanities or vocational training courses, would benefit from lessons in maths after the age of 16. “There is hardly any area that doesn’t have mathematics to underpin it.” About 85 per cent of students in England give up maths at 16. Many A-level science students are dropping maths as early as they can, the Lords found. Leading scientists agree that making maths compulsory between 16 and 18 would help to compensate for the poor maths teaching in primary and secondary state schools. “We were absolutely gobsmacked to find that 20 per cent of engineering undergraduates, 38 per cent of chemistry and economics undergraduates and 70 per cent of biology undergraduates do not have A-level mathematics,” Lord Willis said. Lord Winston said maths teachers need to find more engaging way of teaching, while Lord Willis said: “Many commentators would say that maths teaching in our schools is really glorified numeracy.” How to tackle the crisis Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, physicist and television presenter: “I am really heartened by this proposal. So many areas of our lives today are governed by maths and science, so having an awareness of these subjects is crucial in order to make the right decisions. Many younger students feel that maths is irrelevant to everyday life, so teaching the subject in an engaging and accessible way is vital.” Lord (Robert) Winston, Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College London: “It is the basis for rational decision-making as well as the basis of all science. We live in a society that, to some extent is mathematically, as well as scientifically, illiterate. Yet, our economy increasingly needs people who are really well trained in mathematics and science. “Maths teaching at all ages should be more exciting. It would engage the enthusiasm of more students. One way of involving them is to introduce mathematical concepts into all science and engineering practicals to make maths more relevant. Most schools are still not doing nearly enough practical and experimental science.” Lord (Martin) Rees, Astronomer Royal, Master of Trinity College Cambridge: “This country is very much out of line with others in the very low proportion of young people studying any kind of mathematics after the age of 16. Our secondary education system is weak compared to that of other nations in Europe and the far East. Moreover, our system is over-specialised in its later stages. “But we shouldn’t just worry about those who go on to higher education. Everyone, whatever career they take up, needs to be at ease with quantitative reasoning. Not all will be suited to the same curriculum, but we need to ensure that fewer people are bewildered and bamboozled by numbers. — The Independent |
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Pupils with strong hearts and lungs ‘score better grades’ HAVING a healthy heart and lungs may be one of the most important factors for middle school students to make good grades in maths and reading, a new study has revealed. “Cardio respiratory fitness was the only factor that we consistently found to have an impact on both boys’ and girls’ grades on reading and maths tests,” said study co-author Trent A. Petrie, Ph.D, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Sport Psychology at the University of North Texas. “This provides more evidence that schools need to re-examine any policies that have limited students’ involvement in physical education classes,” Petrie said. The researchers gathered data at five Texas middle schools from 1,211 students, of whom 54 per cent were female with an average age of about 12. Overall, the group was 57 per cent white. While previous studies have found links between being physically fit and improved academic performance, this study also examined several other potential influences, including self-esteem and social support. It also took into account the students’ socio-economic status and their self-reported academic ability, Petrie said. In addition to cardio respiratory fitness, social support was related to better reading scores among boys, according to the study. It defined social support as reliable help from family and friends to solve problems or deal with emotions. For girls, having a larger body mass index was the only factor other than cardio respiratory fitness that predicted better reading scores. For boys and girls, cardio respiratory fitness was the only factor related to their performance on the maths tests. “The finding that a larger body mass index for girls was related to better performance on the reading exam may seem counterintuitive, however, past studies have found being overweight was not as important for understanding boys and girls performances on tests as was their level of physical fitness,” Petrie said. From one to five months before the students were to take annual standardised reading and maths tests, they answered questions about their level of physical activity, and how they viewed their academic ability, self-esteem and social support. The school district provided information on the students’ socio-economic status and reading and maths scores at the end of the year. To determine students’ physical fitness, the researchers worked with physical education teachers to administer a fitness assessment programme widely used in US schools. The programme includes a variety of tests to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition. — ANI
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Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar HAVING attained the coveted status of "University with Potential for Excellence", Guru Nanak Dev University has received an initial grant of Rs 30 crore from the University Grants Commission (UGC). The university has become one of the six best universities in the country and the first to bag the status in the state. The instalment, which is out of the Rs 50-crore grant awarded by the commission, would be used to set up four research centres on the campus. The first centre would be set up for research on material science, focusing on the development of innovative methodology for energy conversion and storage. New materials such as polymer electrolyte membranes, photovoltaic devices, molecular sensors, inorganic films for sensors, memory devices, magnetic materials, organic solar cells, protective, and corrosion resistant cutting tools would also be developed at the centre. The second center would focus on health and sports, with special emphasis on drug development and sports medicine, as well as developing new chemical entities such as anti-cancer, antimicrobial and anti-malarial agents. The third centre would focus on research for devising methods to improve the status of environment in the state while monitoring environmental changes, remediation for pollution, biodiversity assessment and conservation. The fourth centre would carry out interdisciplinary studies on language, literature and culture. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. A.S. Brar said a plan had been finalised to establish these centres to raise the academic as well as research graph of the university. Nod to increase seats
In view of high demand for professional courses, the university has given its nod to all affiliated colleges to increase seats in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. A communication to this effect has already been dispatched to around 150 colleges located in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr to increase five seats in those courses that are in high demand. However, the move will be applicable only for the current session 2012-2013. The undergraduate courses that are in demand include BCA, B.Sc (Information Technology), BBA, B.Com, B.Com (regular), B.Sc (Computer Science) and B.Sc (Biotechnology). At the postgraduate level, the most sought-after courses include MSc (Computer Science), M.Sc (Information Technology), M.Sc (Maths), M.Sc (Zoology) and M.Com. If the list released by the university was any indication, no increase in seats had been introduced in humanities, food science, and life science streams, which implied that there were few takers for these courses. Vice-Chancellor Ajaib Singh Brar confirmed that the seats had been increased to meet the increased demand for certain courses.
Workshop on exercise physiology
The Department of Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy organised a workshop on “Kinanthropometry and Exercise Physiology” at Guru Nanak Bhawan of the university recently. Kinanthropometry is the study of human body size, shape and form, and how these characteristics relate to human movement and sporting performance. Prof. Rajinder Kaur Pawar, Dean, Academic Affairs, inaugurated the workshop. She talked about the importance of kinanthropometry and exercise physiology for the better performance of sportspersons. Dr (Mrs) Sharda Sidhu, Professor of Human Genetics, described the applications of kinanthropometry in various disciplines. She also discussed about different techniques of measuring human body. Dr S.K. Verma, a former Professor of Sports Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala, described the physiological role of exercise prescriptions of diabetes mellitus. He explained different types of complications of metabolic disorders in detail. — Contributed by G. S. Paul
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MaTHEMATICS should be a compulsory subject for everyone aged 16 to 18 whether they are doing A-levels in humanities or training courses to become beauticians or plumbers, according to leading scientists.
A dire lack of mathematical understanding permeates all levels of society — and even science students who have maths A-level still find that they fall short of what is required when they enter university, experts found.
Lords Rees, the Astronomer Royal and master of Trinity College, Cambridge, said: “We need to ensure that fewer people are bewildered and bamboozled by numbers.”
