Increasing learning by decreasing choice: what do students think?

In first-year engineering mathematics programmes in Dublin Institute of Technology, students were commonly required to attempt five out of eight questions in their end-of-year examination. As these questions are based on well-defined areas, this allows students to entirely omit certain topics and still perform impressively. This approach causes serious problems in later years, as students lack the basic knowledge required to attempt more advanced mathematics. A common example of this is differential equations: many students skip integration in first year, only to discover this is a pre-requisite for second and third year material. This observation is borne out by the fact that the most common problem for which engineering students sought help in the Students’ Maths Learning Centre last year was basic integration, with 56% of those coming from second or third year.\ud One way to address this problem would be by reducing (or even eliminating) choice questions on mathematics papers in first-year: if the material covered is necessary groundwork for later years, it should not be possible for students to omit it entirely. In this study, the results of an anonymous survey completed by students to determine their opinions of reduced choice in early years are presented