Scientists and mathematicians collaborating to build quantitative skills in undergraduate science

Abstract

There is general agreement in Australia and beyond that quantitative skills (QS) in science, the ability to use mathematics and statistics in context, are important for science. QS in the life sciences are becoming ever more important as these sciences become more quantitative. Consequently, undergraduates studying the life sciences require better QS than at any time in the past. Ways in which mathematics and science academics are working together to build the QS of their undergraduate science students, together with the mathematics and statistics needed or desired in a science degree, are reported on in this paper. The emphasis is on the life sciences. Forty-eight academics from eleven Australian and two USA universities were interviewed about QS in science. Information is presented on: what QS academics want in their undergraduate science students; who is teaching QS; how mathematics and science departments work together to build QS in science and implications for building the QS of science students. This information leads to suggestions for improvement in QS within a science curriculum.

Keywords:

• quantitative skills
• science
• mathematics
• statistics
• interdisciplinary

Acknowledgements

We thank the committed and enthusiastic academics who took the time to be interviewed by our team. Support for this study has been provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, an initiative of the Australian Government, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

Notes

‘Mathematician’ and ‘mathematics’ in this paper includes statisticians and statistics.

http://mathbench.umd.edu/

http://serc.carleton.edu/mathyouneed/index.html.