Investigating the academic maturity of students in an extended programme in mathematics

Abstract

This study focuses on students who are registered for the University of Pretoria’s academic development programme, the Four-year Programme (FYP). The programme was introduced as a gateway for students who are under-prepared but have the potential to succeed. This programme helps them to then continue their studies in mainstream science programmes. My research focuses on measuring the change in the academic maturity of these students. In the theoretical framework that I developed, academic maturity is subdivided into two components, namely, non-subject based maturity, and subject based maturity (mathematical maturity). The Student Academic Readiness Survey (STARS), taken at the beginning of the year (pre-survey) and again after the first semester (post-survey), was adapted and used to measure non-subject based maturity. The results of the pre- and post-surveys were compared to measure the change in students’ perceptions regarding their non-subject based maturity. The results show that in all of the constructs, there was a surprising decline in students’ perceptions regarding their own abilities over the first semester at university. I refer to the Dunning–Kruger effect to explain this unexpected decline as the students seemed to develop a more realistic view of their own maturity, which in itself can be seen as growth in academic maturity. A mathematics test was also administered twice (at the beginning of the year and after the first semester) and was used to measure the subject based maturity of students. The results of the pre- and post-tests were compared to measure the improvement in students’ mathematical skills. The results showed that in all of the topics and constructs, there was an improvement in students’ mathematical abilities. The study also shows that students still struggle with the fundamentals of some mathematics topics, even after a semester of tuition in the FYP.