Teaching and learning mathematics in higher education
The Department of Mathematical Sciences is host to MatRIC, Centre for Research, Innovation and Coordination of mathematics Teaching, a national Centre for Excellence in (higher) Education. MatRIC is the principal locus of MERGA’s research into university mathematics education. MatRIC promotes and supports research aligned with the vision “Students enjoying transformed and improved learning experiences of mathematics in higher education.” Research projects include both qualitative and quantitative studies that explore students’ learning and approaches to learning in a variety of instructional contexts. Classroom based studies, large scale survey approaches, and correlational studies examining students’ learning approaches, attributions and learning are pursued. Research is also an integral part of the learning and teaching innovations promoted by MatRIC, for example in the use of digital technologies and active learning approaches. We connect with a broad network of international researchers working in the area of undergraduate mathematics education.
The Department also includes leading researchers in the History of Mathematics, their research focuses on both cognitive and social aspects, mainly modern period, but including publications on antiquity and early modern (Descartes).