The use of personal response systems to renegotiate the didactical contract in tertiary mathematics education

Abstract

Challenges experienced by first year students transitioning from secondary to tertiary mathematics education are examined through the lens of the didactical contract or agreement between the lecturer and students that is founded on beliefs about mutual obligations. First year students’ fundamental beliefs about the nature of mathematics and mathematics teaching/learning must be challenged to renegotiate the didactical contract at tertiary level. Through pedagogy aimed at self-directed learning personal response systems (PRS) are periodically used to make students aware of their own learning and their responsibility for learning. A Likert scale questionnaire is administered at the beginning of the students’ first year to gauge their beliefs about mathematics and mathematics teaching/learning and again at the end of the first semester (or term) to observe possible changes in beliefs and hence the didactical contract. The intervention consists of PRS sessions or so called Time-out sessions, regularly incorporated into the traditional transmission mode lecture to create a student-centred learning environment, aimed at influencing students’ beliefs. Questionnaire data is quantified and compared for the two surveys. There is evidence of a shift towards students taking ownership of their learning and a renegotiation of the didactical contract. Qualitative data generated by focus group interviews confirms the role of the PRS sessions in student beliefs.