Unravelling the Myth of Effective Teaching in Mathematics

Effective teaching is the backbone of any successful education system with many arguing that it is the single biggest contributor to student success. However despite such importance, significant differences in teacher effectiveness are still evident in Irish classrooms at all levels of education. This research investigates the influence that individual teachers can have on students’ enjoyment of mathematics at second level and attempts to unravel the myth of effective teaching. The research started out as a followon study that further analysed data collected by the authors when they designed a pedagogical framework with the aim of promoting student interest in algebra through effective teaching of the domain. This paper focuses entirely upon the quantitative results of the evaluation of that study with regard to whether there are differences in the enjoyment scores of students’ in different classes as a result of their individual teachers. The paper also looks to unravel the myth of effective teaching through a series of focus group interviews and a detailed literature review

A quick and reliable estimate of extended high-frequency hearing

Objective: To encourage researchers to perform high-frequency threshold estimation using a technique outlined by Rieke and colleagues, described as fixed-level frequency threshold estimation. Their method used a Bekesy-style roving tone to estimate the highest audible frequency of a listener. The tone was fixed in its intensity (SPL) and changed in frequency as the participant indicated whether they could perceive the tone, or not. This was developed specifically for ototoxicity monitoring in the extended high-frequency region. Rieke and colleagues established that this approach to measuring hearing thresholds is both fast and reliable. Design: The current article extends this approach to using a simple PC-soundcard-transducer setup and the method of limits to rapidly establish the highest audible frequency of a listener. Study sample: 24 listeners performed standard and fixed-level audiometry in the extended high-frequency range. Results: The method described is rapid and reliable and a single summary metric is obtained for each listener. Conclusions: The advantage of the described approach over standard pure-tone audiometry in the extended high-frequency range is the time taken, the ability to avoid missing data points and the risk of distortions or electrical noise when close to maximal system output

Staying the Course: Factors Affecting the Progression of Access Foundation Students at Technological University Dublin

This study examined the factors affecting the progression of Access Foundation students to undergraduate studies, as there is little research on the progression of such students in the empirical literature. Access education has been developed for marginalized students who are traditionally under-represented in higher education. A pragmatic, mixed-methods approach was used to determine the factors that affect the progression of Access Foundation students at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) over three academic years (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data was analysed using a range of descriptive and inferential statistics. The grounded theory approach recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1990) was adopted for qualitative analysis. Findings revealed that demographic, psychosocial, environmental, institutional and educational factors play a role in students’ progression from Access education to undergraduate studies. Factors such as housemates, attendance and working during the Access programme were found to be predictors of Access student progression in a binary logistic regression. Additionally, progression rates were higher when there was a higher proportion of mature students in the Access programme. Quantitative and qualitative models of Access student progression were developed

Teachers’ Perspectives on Achieving an Integrated Curricular Model of Primary STEM Education in Ireland: Authentic or Utopian Ideology?

Integrative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is heralded as a promising model for effective learning of 21st century STEM literacies and has been suggested as an approach that increases student motivation and engagement. In recent years Ireland has introduced policy with a renewed emphasis on integrated STEM education across all levels of schooling and paying particular attention to the early years and primary settings. The available international literature cites many concerns with potential barriers and failures to achieve authentic integration of the various STEM disciplines in educational contexts. An important determinant of the success of integrated STEM curricula are the backgrounds and attitudes of the individual teachers, as well as supports/experiences in designing and implementing an integrated curricular approach. In the Irish context, this is often in conflict with prescribed overloaded curricula and a subject focused education system. Therefore, research is required into primary school teachers’ perspectives on achieving a truly integrated model of STEM education, particularly in the Irish context. This study employed a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with a sample of practicing teachers (N = 6) to gather perspectives on the potential and challenge of integrating STEM in their respective experiences. These teachers were enrolled in a practice orientated module on STEM education as part of their postgraduate studies. The data gathered was analysed to ascertain these teachers’ perspectives on the supports needed to overcome the challenges of integrating STEM subjects within their professional settings. Essentially, the findings of this study will discuss whether such an integrated STEM model is an authentic or utopian ideology

MEDIUM-TERM ANALYSIS OF FISCAL POLICY IN IRELAND: A MACROECONOMETRIC STUDY OF THE PERIOD 1967-1980. ESRI General Research Series Paper No. 122, July 1985

The decade of the 1970s was characterised by fluctuations in the world economy of a kind whicb had not been experienced in peacetime since the 1930s. Even with the wisest and most prudent fiscal and monetary policies it would have been impossible to protect the Irish economy fully from the world-wide recession. Our objective in this paper is to investigate what effect fiscal policies had on tile evolution of the Irish economy over the period 1967 to 1980 and, with the benefit of hindsight, to attempt to formulate a judgement as to the manner in which fiscal policy was planned and executed. The "hindsight" from which we benefit has two major components: first our access to data which are at once more detailed and accurate than those available to successive Ministers of Finance at the time when they planned their budget strategies and second our use of a formal model of how the various sectors and agents in the economy interact with each other and evolve over time. While the first component (more accurate data) is an unqualified benefit, the second component (the model) is much more controversial since there is no absolute consensus in the economics profession on broad areas of macroeconomic theory and modelling practice. We are fully conscious of this problem and hope that the reader will not interpret our formal and detailed quantitative analysis as implying either ignorance or arrogance on our part in respect of the current very active international research into the foundations of macroeconomic theory and practice. It remains, of course, for the reader to decide whether our judgement, in relation to the gross simplifications needed in order to construct an operation’,d model of the economy, has been good or bad

How Well Do Engineering Students Retain Core Mathematical Knowledge after a Series of High Threshold Online Mathematics Tests

In the Technological University Dublin, high threshold core skills assessments are run in mathematics for third year engineering students. Such tests require students to reach a threshold of 90% on a multiple-choice test based on a randomised question bank. The material covered by the test consists of the more important aspects of undergraduate engineering mathematics covered in the first two years of the Honours degree programme and/or the three years of the Ordinary degree programme . Students are allowed to re-sit the assessment as frequently as required until they pass. In order to measure the effectiveness of such an exercise a follow up assessment was given to students on their first day of fourth year. A comparison is made with the level of basic mathematical knowledge of these students on their first day in Third year, exactly a year previously. In addition students were surveyed on their view of, how much knowledge had been retained and how effective they felt that this approach had been