1. Characterising the mathematical confidence
of undergraduate biology students
Nikola S. Markovinaa, Leon Poladianb, Rebecca LeBardc, Rosanne Quinnella
aSchool of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, bSchool of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney; cSchool of Biotechnology &Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales
Introduction
The link between attitudes, behaviours and outcomes is encapsulated in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (1977). Studies from the past decade or more have demonstrated that approx. 50% of life science students lack confidence in in their mathematical abilities (Tariq, 2002; Quinnell & Wong, 2007; McMullan, et al., 2012), this has implications for students actively engaging in biology when it looks to them like maths.
Results
~ 50% of first year Biology students surveyed (n = 254) self-reported that they were not confident.
female students (n =174) are less confident than male students (n = 80).
advanced students (n = 19) and those in the standard stream (n = 235) had similar confidence levels.
Figure 2. Stacked percentage frequency distribution of confidence levels of standard and advanced students. X2 analysis revealed that there were no significant differences between the proportions of standard ( ) and advanced students ( ) within any confidence level X2=3.70, df=2, p=0.16.
Figure 1. Stacked percentage frequency distribution of male and female student confidence levels. X2 analysis revealed a higher proportion of female students ( ) with low confidence compared to male students ( ), X2=5.29, df=1, p=0.02. There were equal proportions of male and female students reporting neutral confidence levels, X2=.01, df=1, p=0.90; male students reported high confidence compared to female students, X2=4.00, df=1, p=.04.
Question:
Do undergraduate biology students exhibit differential mathematical confidence levels, with respect to:
a) gender
b) unit of study stream (adv. or standard)?
Discussion
Our 2015 findings:
align to previous studies (Tariq, 2002; Quinnell & Wong, 2007; McMullan et al., 2012) and highlight that the issue of maths confidence is persistent within the sub-disciplines of Life Sciences.
support results found in UK (Durrani & Tariq, 2009, Tariq et al., 2013) and Australia (Hudson & Matthews, 2012) that show first year female students have lower mathematical confidence, compared to male students.
suggest that HSC performance is not a likely predictor of mathematical confidence as advanced students require ATAR = 90+ compared to ATAR = 70 (min) for standard.
Conclusions
Follow up analyses to determine how students’ mathematical background shapes their confidence, and in turn may influence their performance at university. Can mathematical confidence predict academic performance in tertiary biology and mathematics?
Confidence
High School Experience
University Experience ?
Figure 3. Conceptual mind-map showing how students’ mathematical confidence may be influenced by high school performance and in turn influence university performance
Methods
We surveyed first year biology students enrolled in standard (min. ATAR 70) and advanced (min. ATAR 90) streams of Living Systems. A modified version of the Fennema-Sherman (1976) Mathematics Attitude Scale, developed by Doepken, (2003), which measured confidence using a 5 point Likert Scale.
Students were categorised either as low, neutral or highly confident based on their responses to Likert-scale items.
Chi-Square analyses used the modal Likert scores.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioural change. Psychological review, 84(2), 191.
Doepken, D., Lawsky, E. and Padwa, L. (2003). Modified Fennema-Sherman Attitude Scale. Retrieved 11th August, 2015, 2015, from teacherleaders.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/modified-fennema-math-attitude.doc
Durrani, N., & Tariq, V. N. (2009). Relationships between undergraduates’ mathematics anxiety and their attitudes towards developing numeracy skills and perceptions of numerical competence. In International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation.
Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. A. (1976). Fennema-Sherman mathematics attitudes scales: Instruments designed to measure attitudes toward the learning of mathematics by females and males. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,
Hudson, P. B., & Matthews, K. (2012). Identities and transformational experiences for quantitative problem solving: gender comparisons of first-year university science students. Journal of Science and Mathematics in Southeast Asia, 35(1),
McMullan, M., Jones, R., & Lea, S., (2012). Math anxiety, self‐efficacy, and ability in British undergraduate nursing students. Research in nursing & health, 35(2),
Quinnell, R., & Wong, E., (2007). Can intervention strategies engage biology students in their numeric skills development? Paper presented at the ISSoTL, Sydney.
Tariq, V. (2002). A decline in numeracy skills among bioscience undergraduates. Journal of Biological Education, 36(2),
Tariq, V., Qualter, P., Roberts, S., Appleby, Y., & Barnes, L., (2013). Mathematical literacy in undergraduates: role of gender, emotional intelligence and emotional self-efficacy. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44(8),