Student learning through collaborative design and teaching of STEM Foundation Mathematics: Catalyst Project

We introduce our Catalyst A Project focusing on innovation in teaching of mathematics with university students in a Foundation Studies programme. The innovation involves the inclusion of Student-Partners (SPs), former Foundation students, in design of tasks for their current peers. Tasks are designed for two topics, Complex Numbers and Matrices, using computer learning environments Autograph and GeoGebra. We study the task design process and the involvement of students, seeking to understand students’ perceptions of tasks that are helpful for conceptual learning. The SPs also join us in tutorials for the current cohort. Our research is developmental in feeding back to current practice from what we learn in studying it.