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Learning techniques have changed over time in order to try and improve student engagement across different subjects in higher education. Mathematics has dominantly adhered to certain learning methods that use a more conventional approach. Interactive and active learning in Mathematics tend to be more common in further education yet, university level Mathematics is more complex, heavy in content and poses more difficulty in applying active learning approaches as a passive approach of traditional lectures has always been applied. The issues of learning problems in mathematics is ignored and the lack of metacognitive awareness of mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills seem to persist despite differences amongst educators on an effective learning methodology. Following the reform movement in mathematics education in the mid 1980’s, resulting from the dissatisfaction of conventional approaches, recommending the restructuring of mathematical delivery marked the need for modifications in teaching methodology. Employing multiple models to deliver lessons may implement the changes needed to drive student engagement and satisfaction to improve the experience in learning mathematics. In order for these methods to become applicable and effective in students’ experiences in mathematical education, educators need to be encouraged to present active learning techniques so that students can begin to facilitate their own learning which can be done through introducing approaches specific to the individual such as student-centred approaches. This paper evaluates the techniques used by mathematicians to deliver lessons and how it reflects on learning and engagement of students in comparison to the flipped classroom approach which inverts the common traditional lecture style used in classrooms. The flipped classroom model in this study is adopted to a topic from the university foundation level module, Analytical Mathematics, whereby results from the quantitative analysis undertaken show a decrease in the success of students’ performance suggesting a lesser impact on improved learning. With regards to engagement, observations from the qualitative analysis of the study highlight positive aspects of the flipped classroom model, specifically an optimistic engagement amongst peers.
Anastasia Sofroniou. Learning and Engagement in the Flipped Classroom of Analytical Mathematics. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science 2020, 93 -111.
AMA StyleAnastasia Sofroniou. Learning and Engagement in the Flipped Classroom of Analytical Mathematics. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science. 2020; ():93-111.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnastasia Sofroniou. 2020. "Learning and Engagement in the Flipped Classroom of Analytical Mathematics." Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science , no. : 93-111.
The UK higher education has been one of the top destinations for international students over the last few decades, and it is beneficial to the UK local and national economy. However, recent changes of the governmental policies on the way UK universities are funded and the recession that still affects economies around the world have left many universities around the UK at financial survival risk. With relatively limited access to reduced research funds, student recruitment has a vital importance for most universities. It has been well established in the literature that academic reputation and the level of services have the most significant impact on national and international students. Thus, universities, to maintain their market share, must spend much energy and resources to improve the level of services offered to their students. The recently introduced National Student Survey (NSS) has become one of the most important metrics to assess student satisfaction that influences directly the university league tables and the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), which in turn effects international and national student recruitment. It is not surprising that underpinning student satisfaction has become the major target of UK universities. Therefore, a research investigation has been carried out to identify the most influential factors that comprise to the decision of overall satisfaction for the students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. On this purpose, a detailed statistical analysis was carried out on the NSS results and it was concluded that there is strong evidence, that “teaching” and “organisation and management” are the vital influential factors on the overall satisfaction of students.
Anastasia Sofroniou; Bhairavi Premnath; Konstantinos Poutos. Capturing Student Satisfaction: A Case Study on the National Student Survey Results to Identify the Needs of Students in STEM Related Courses for a Better Learning Experience. Education Sciences 2020, 10, 378 .
AMA StyleAnastasia Sofroniou, Bhairavi Premnath, Konstantinos Poutos. Capturing Student Satisfaction: A Case Study on the National Student Survey Results to Identify the Needs of Students in STEM Related Courses for a Better Learning Experience. Education Sciences. 2020; 10 (12):378.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnastasia Sofroniou; Bhairavi Premnath; Konstantinos Poutos. 2020. "Capturing Student Satisfaction: A Case Study on the National Student Survey Results to Identify the Needs of Students in STEM Related Courses for a Better Learning Experience." Education Sciences 10, no. 12: 378.
Group work permits students to develop a range of critical thinking, analytical and communication skills; effective team work; appreciation and respect for other views, techniques and problem-solving methods, all of which promote active learning and enhance student learning. This paper presents an evaluation of employing the didactic and pedagogical customs of group work in mathematics with the aim of improving student performance as well as exploring students’ perceptions of working in groups. The evaluation of group work was carried out during tutorial time with first year civil engineering students undertaking a mathematics module in their second semester. The aim was to investigate whether group work learning can help students gain a deeper understanding of the module content, develop improved critical and analytical thinking skills and see if this method of pedagogy can produce higher performance levels. The group work sessions were conducted over four weeks whilst studying the topic of integration. Evaluation surveys were collected at the end of the intervention along with an investigation into the examination results from the end of semester examinations. In order to derive plausible and reasonable conclusions, these examination results were compared with an analogous cohort of first year mathematics students, also studying integration in their engineering-based degree. The investigation into the effectiveness of group work showed interesting and encouraging positive outcomes, supported by a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Anastasia Sofroniou; Konstantinos Poutos. Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics. Education Sciences 2016, 6, 30 .
AMA StyleAnastasia Sofroniou, Konstantinos Poutos. Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics. Education Sciences. 2016; 6 (4):30.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnastasia Sofroniou; Konstantinos Poutos. 2016. "Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics." Education Sciences 6, no. 4: 30.
This article is a study of water scarcity in Cyprus, examining the implications on the demand and supply side of water under the transformations caused by economic development, urbanisation and environmental changes. Measures and actions taken by water stakeholders to tackle the water poverty issue are discussed and assessed, together with possible future solution methods. In the light of the success of global climate models to forecast future conditions and advances in integrated management tools, the suggestion here is the need for a global systems approach to help guide policy decisions.
Anastasia Sofroniou; Steven Bishop. Water Scarcity in Cyprus: A Review and Call for Integrated Policy. Water 2014, 6, 2898 -2928.
AMA StyleAnastasia Sofroniou, Steven Bishop. Water Scarcity in Cyprus: A Review and Call for Integrated Policy. Water. 2014; 6 (10):2898-2928.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnastasia Sofroniou; Steven Bishop. 2014. "Water Scarcity in Cyprus: A Review and Call for Integrated Policy." Water 6, no. 10: 2898-2928.
Motivated by the dynamics of a trimaran, an investigation of the dynamic behaviour of a double forcing parametrically excited system is carried out. Initially, we provide an outline of the stability regions, both numerically and analytically, for the undamped linear, extended version of the Mathieu equation. This paper then examines the anticipated form of response of our proposed nonlinear damped double forcing system, where periodic and quasiperiodic routes to chaos are graphically demonstrated and compared with the case of the single vertically-driven pendulum.
Anastasia Sofroniou; Steven Bishop. Dynamics of a Parametrically Excited System with Two Forcing Terms. Mathematics 2014, 2, 172 -195.
AMA StyleAnastasia Sofroniou, Steven Bishop. Dynamics of a Parametrically Excited System with Two Forcing Terms. Mathematics. 2014; 2 (3):172-195.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnastasia Sofroniou; Steven Bishop. 2014. "Dynamics of a Parametrically Excited System with Two Forcing Terms." Mathematics 2, no. 3: 172-195.