Factors influencing the transition to university service mathematics: part 1 a quantitative study

This article reports on a quantitative study carried out into the influence of affective variables, the role of conceptions of mathematics and approaches to learning on students in the transition to Service mathematics at the University of Limerick (UL). Questionnaires were distributed to three groups of first year students on Service mathematics programmes (degree courses where mathematics plays a part in the students’ studies but is not the main focus) at UL, at the beginning of the university academic year 2006/2007. Their attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, conceptions of mathematics and approaches to learning are examined and relationships between specific variables are reported on. The impact these concepts, as well as final secondary school mathematics exam results, have on performance are also discussed.