Postgraduate Researchers

PhD Research Student - School of Tourism and Hospitality Management

Project Title: Enablers and Barriers: An Investigation of Students’ Thoughts when Engaging with Procedural and Problem-Solving Tasks in Mathematics 

Project Abstract:

Like many other countries internationally, the second level (12-18 years) mathematics curriculum in Ireland changed from one where rote learning and procedural skills were the focus to a curriculum which placed an emphasis on deep conceptual understanding and problem-solving in real life contexts (Cunningham, Close & Shiel, 2016; Faulkner et al., 2021). Faulkner et al. (2021) developed a diagnostic test to examine and compare beginning undergraduate students’ procedural and problem-solving skills after the introduction of these curriculum changes. This study found that incoming undergraduate students performed statistically lower on average when engaging with problem-solving questions when compared with their performance when engaging with procedural questions. The authors acknowledged that more longitudinal quantitative research, along with a qualitative investigation, needed to be carried out to examine this difference in performance. This research aims to carry out such an investigation using the Faulkner et. al (2021) diagnostic test combined with a ‘think-aloud’ protocol. The ‘think-aloud’ protocol requires students to verbalise their thoughts while engaging with a given mathematical task, allowing one to access what is happening in the student’s short-term memory (Cowan, 2019; Ericsson, 2003). Preliminary quantitative findings are in line with those found by Faulkner et. al (2021) while initial findings from interviews conducted during the 2023/24 academic year suggests that students felt that the presence of additional text had a negative impact on their performance for the problem-solving questions in comparison to the procedural questions.   

Supervisors:  Dr. Fiona Faulkner ,Dr. Paul Robinson 

Funder: AIB via the TU Dublin Foundation and TU Dublin.