Reigniting mathematical and statistical thinking for final year science students

In a third-year capstone unit for science students, the curriculum is designed around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The assessments are structured such that the main assessment is a group based-project proposal that addresses one or more of the UN SDGs with a final written report and corresponding video pitch/presentation.

The majority of these students are enrolled in majors in which they may have completed a first-year mathematics and/or statistics unit, but no further studies in mathematics and/or statistics. The authors have used this opportunity to develop some student-centred activities that specifically address the mathematical and statistical critical thinking skills of these students before they graduate, and at the same time provide additional perspective on the importance of quantitative thinking in issues of sustainability.

The mathematical thinking component is based on Al Bartlett’s celebrated lecture Arithmetic, Population, and Energy (Bartlett, 1978), and evolves around several simple in-class activities that relate to linear and exponential growth, embedded into a minimum of theory to provide the conceptual framework. The statistical thinking is based on Wild and Pfannkuch (1999) and uses additional examples to emphasise how statistics should be reported.

In this presentation, we will provide more detail about these activities which might be adopted/adapted
by others for their classes.