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Completed miniprojects

Title Project leads Year of completion Body
Java applets for pure mathematics Jordan, Camilla; Jordan, David 2004

This miniproject aimed to develop, test and publish a bank of configurable java applets, with appropriate documentation including worksheets.


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Mathematical Motivators: using the history of mathematics to enrich the curriculum McCartney, Mark; Bradshaw, Noel-Ann; Mann, Tony 2011

The miniproject holders noted in their own teaching that motivating students to the study of a new topic in mathematics can often be aided by setting the subject in a historical context. Indeed, it had been...

Mathematicians as educational co-researchers (MECR) Nardi, Elena; Iannone, Paola 2006

This miniproject aimed to support the MSOR community’s teaching of proof to pure mathematicians through: research in this area, producing a comprehensive guide, and promoting the guide to the MSOR community...

Mathletics: development of online objective tests in mathematics Greenhow, Martin; Browne, Sue 2008

This miniproject aimed to upgrade and develop substantially the existing Mathletics suite of online objective tests in the area of GCSE to level 2 undergraduate mathematics. Mathletics is not a teaching...

MSOR Network peer mentoring guide Kane, Stephen; Sinka, Indra 2011

This miniproject resulted in a good practice guide for those interested in developing or supporting formal and/or informal peer-assisted learning in HEIs.


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Pedagogical content knowledge for undergraduate mathematics: a book for mathematicians Alcock, Lara; Simpson, Adrian 2009

The miniproject team wrote a short book entitled ‘Ideas from Mathematics Education: An Introduction for Mathematicians’ designed to be an accessible introduction to three main ideas that can help...

PiSA - Plagiarism in Statistics Assessment Bidgood, Penelope; Hunt, Neville; Payne, Bradley; Simonite, Vanessa

There is much concern in UK HE that instances of plagiarism are on the increase. Forms of assessment such as the traditional examination and online testing using large question banks and randomly created...

Statistics in medicine: a risky business? MacDougall, Margaret 2009

Three fundamental problems encountered by statisticians in the training of undergraduate medical (MBChB) students and qualified doctors are:


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Supporting students studying advanced calculus using screencasts Jordan, Camilla; Wilkins, Cath; Loch, Birgit; Lowe, Tim; Mestel, Ben 2011

Screencasts are video recordings of activity on a computer screen which can include narrator audio. They can be watched on a computer or on a mobile device with video playback capabilities. The video...

TalkMaths: developing a speech user-interface for spoken mathematics Pfluegel, Eckhard; Hunter, Gordon; Denholm-Price, James; Edwards, Alistair; Rowlett, Emma 2011

Progress in the availability of efficient and accurate automatic speech recognisers (ASR) has meant that many computer-based tasks, such as editing text documents, can now be carried out without the use of...

Understanding the UK mathematics curriculum pre-university: a guide for academic members of staff Lee, Stephen 2010

In order to study a wide range of undergraduate programmes (including those in the biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science, mathematics and physics), students need to...

Use of projects in mathematics Hibberd, Stephen 2005

Building on the MathSkills Network, this miniproject aimed to identify good practice in developing project briefs, implementing individual and group projects, and supporting students during projects and project...

Validity and value of forms of assessment in mathematics at university level Iannone, Paola; Simpson, Adrian 2011

This miniproject aimed to determine how forms of assessment measure what is valued and whether students recognise this.


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Variety in Statistics Assessment (ViSA) Hunt, Neville; Bidgood, Penelope; Jolliffe, Flavia

It is widely recognised that it is beneficial to employ a variety of methods when assessing students. Since students have different strengths and different approaches to learning, the assessment process...

Water Quality in the River Clyde Bowman, Adrian 2011

This project addresses the need for teaching materials in the mathematical sciences which relate to the sustainability theme promoted by the HEA. The origin of the material is a collaborative study undertaken by the Department of Statistics in conjunction with the Scottish Environment Protection...

Where are we now?: analysis of relevant QAA reports Cox, Bill; Bidgood, Penny; Davies, Neville; Goldfinch, Judy 2003

This miniproject analysed QAA reports to identify good practice which is capable of dissemination in the areas of: Curriculum Design, Content and Organisation; Teaching, Learning and Assessment; Student...

Wider use of DyscalculiUM: an electronic screening tool to identify students who may be dyscalculic Beacham, Nigel; Trott, Clare 2006

The purpose of this miniproject was to investigate the wider use of DyscalculiUM, which is a first-line screening tool for dyscalculia in HE and to further develop and evaluate this electronic tool....

Workbooks for reading, understanding and writing proof Brown, Gavin; Alcock, Lara; Dunning, Clare 2009

This miniproject aimed to analyse the use of dedicated self-study workbooks in the teaching of elementary abstract proof to second-year undergraduates. The project’s educational research dimension evaluated...