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• This paper explores whether ability grouping in UK primary schools at age 7 affects how much pupils like Maths, English and school generally by age 11. • How much pupils like particular school subjects and school generally is an important outcome to consider because there is no a priori reason why those in higher and lower ability groups should diverge over time with respect to the degree to which they enjoy their studies (as distinct from their perception of how well they are doing academically relative to other pupils). • Our key finding is that pupils placed in the lower ability groups were less likely than their peers in the high ability group to come to enjoy, continue to enjoy, or increase their enjoyment of Maths between the ages of 7 and 11, both before and after controlling for maths ability at age 7, sex and social class background. Similar patterns were evident in relation to liking of English and school generally before controlling for these factors, but were largely statistically insignificant after the inclusion of control variables. • This finding is robust to different modelling strategies including individual fixed effects. • Given that the extent to which pupils like their studies is known to influence their level of academic engagement and achievement, our findings lend support to the wealth of evidence indicating that ability grouping - at least as currently practiced in UK primary schools - is harmful for those judged to be of lower ability. Advocates of grouping pupils by measured ability for instructional purposes claim that ability-homogeneous classrooms increase the attainment of high-ability pupils without detriment to the attainment of pupils judged to be of lower ability. Opponents of ability grouping, in contrast, argue that high-ability pupils do at best only marginally better in ability-homogeneous classrooms than they would have done in mixed-ability settings, whereas low-ability pupils do significantly worse. One mechanism posited by the critics of ability grouping is that this practice causes psychological harm to those labelled low-ability, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy of low attainment. Most previous studies have measured this posited psychological impact of ability grouping in terms of pupils' "academic self-concept", a term which refers to pupils' perceptions of how good they are in relation to particular subjects or to academic study generally. This paper explores the related but distinct concept of "academic enjoyment", which refers to the extent to which pupils like the particular subjects they study, and like school generally, which has been shown to be positively correlated with academic engagement and achievement. While academic self-concept may change over time as pupils become aware of their level of academic performance, as indicated by test scores and/or their placement in particular ability groups, this need not be the case for change over time in pupils' enjoyment of their studies which could, in theory at least, remain stable or change in a uniform direction regardless of the ability group in which pupils are taught. In this paper we explore whether pupils' enjoyment of Maths, English, and school generally, changes in a differential manner between the ages of 7 and 11 depending on the ability group in which pupils were placed at age 7. We do so by drawing on data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) which has followed a nationally representative sample of children in the UK born between 2000 and 2002. Compared to pupils in the high ability group, those in the low ability group were less likely to come to enjoy, continue to enjoy, or increase their enjoyment of Maths between the ages of 7 and 11, both before and after controlling for pupils' measured ability in Maths at age 7 and the key demographic variables of gender and social class background. Similar divergences with respect to enjoyment of English and school generally were evident before controlling for these additional factors, but were largely statistically insignificant after the inclusion of these controls. Overall our findings suggest that ability grouping in primary schools does more harm than good, at least in relation to pupils' enjoyment of Maths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an established part of the infrastructure of many higher education institutions in the UK and across the world, Mathematics and Statistics Support (MSS), was forced to move to an online setting as a result of restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With institutions offering limited online support prior to the pandemic, MSS practitioners were mostly unprepared to deliver online provisions. Survey data from May 2020 gives a first look at the immediate response of practitioners to online MSS. Interview data from January/February 2021 explores opinions after a period of reflection, and survey data from June 2021, over a year on from the initial sample, provides a direct comparison in opinion of online support a year later. This paper explores these three datasets, investigating the practitioner perspective and offers an overall reflection of how MSS practitioners' opinions of online support measures have changed from their "crisis-reaction" at the beginning of the pandemic to a more considered response as COVID-19 prevention measures are beginning to ease a year later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, teacher recruitment and retention has been the focus of the government and a step taken to support recruitment was the abolishing of the skills tests. Initial teacher training providers became responsible for assessing trainees' mathematics rather than having it externally assessed. The purpose of this literature review is to synthesise the findings of recent studies conducted in the UK about the trainees' competence in mathematics and confidence in teaching it. Six electronic databases were searched, utilising a systematic approach, which identified only six relevant articles. This is significant as it demonstrates that, despite the evidence about the urgent need for intervention, there is limited research that explore how to address the issue of improving prospective primary school teachers' mathematics competence and confidence, especially in England. This systematic review contributes to the field by bringing attention to the important findings of these studies. Findings suggest that while some primary ITT trainees' competence and confidence about teaching mathematics is low, holding advanced level mathematics qualifications does not guarantee knowledge required to teach primary mathematics effectively. Some trainees have positive attitudes towards mathematics and, more importantly when this is not the case, both trainees' attitude towards learning and teaching mathematics can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of mobile applications (apps) for learning has been heavily relied on customer and teacher reviews, designers' descriptions, and alignment with existing learning and human-computer interaction theories. There is limited empirical evidence to advise on the educational value of mobile apps as these are used by children. Understanding the impact of mobile apps on young children's learning is timely given the lack of evidence-based recommendations that could guide parents and teachers in selecting apps for their children. In this paper, we present the results of a series of Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) with 376 children aged 5 to 6 years old who interacted with two maths apps in three schools in the UK. Pre/post-test comparisons revealed learning gains in both the control and intervention groups, suggesting that the selected applications are equally good to standard maths practice. Implications for the selection and use of mobile apps are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we trace how mathematical models are made 'evidence enough' and 'useful for policy'. Working with the interview accounts of mathematical modellers and other scientists engaged in the UK Covid-19 response, we focus on two weeks in March 2020 prior to the announcement of an unprecedented national lockdown. A key thread in our analysis is how pandemics are made 'big'. We follow the work of one particular device, that of modelled 'doubling-time'. By following how modelled doubling-time entangles in its assemblage of evidence-making, we draw attention to multiple actors, including beyond models and metrics, which affect how evidence is performed in relation to the scale of epidemic and its policy response. We draw attention to: policy; Government scientific advice infrastructure; time; uncertainty; and leaps of faith. The 'bigness' of the pandemic, and its evidencing, is situated in social and affective practices, in which uncertainty and dis-ease are inseparable from calculus. This materialises modelling in policy as an 'uncomfortable science'. We argue that situational fit in-the-moment is at least as important as empirical fit when attending to what models perform in policy. • Pandemics are performed as crises of uncertain yet catastrophic potential. • Mathematical models are forms of scalar narrative affording epidemics their scale. • Models and projections are made useful as evidence in their situated policy events. • Calculations are given agency as affects in the evidencing of pandemics. • Modelling pandemics is a site of 'uncomfortable science' and 'dis-ease'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the approach used to assess the performance of a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and principal component regression (PCR) chemometric method when measuring respirable quartz, kaolinite, and coal in samples from a variety of mines from different countries; relative to target assigned values determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). For comparison, FTIR results using the partial least squares regression (PLSR) method are also available. Bulk dusts from 10 Australian mines were scanned using XRD and grouped into three sets based on the levels of quartz, kaolinite, and feldspar within their crystalline mineral composition. Prediction samples were generated from 5 of these Australian mine dusts, Durrans coal dust, 2 mine dusts from the UK, and a single South African mine dust (71 samples in total) by collecting the aerosolized respirable dust onto 25-mm diameter polyvinylchloride filters using the Safety in Mines Personal Dust Sampler (SIMPEDS) operating at 2.2 l min−1. The predicted values from the FTIR chemometric methods were compared with assigned target values determined using a direct on-aerosol filter XRD analysis method described in Method for the Determination of Hazardous Substances (MDHS) 101. Limits of detection (LOD) and uncertainty values for each analyte were calculated from a linear regression between target and predicted values. The uncertainty was determined using the calibration uncertainty equation for an unweighted regression. FTIR results from PCR and PLSR are very similar. For the PCR method, the LOD for quartz, kaolinite, and coal were 5, 25, and 71 µg, respectively. For quartz, an LOD of 5 µg corresponds to an airborne quartz concentration of 10 µg m−3, assuming a 4-h sampling time and collection flow rate of 2.2 l min−1. The FTIR measurement met the expected performance criteria outlined in ISO 20581 when sampling quartz for more than 4 h using a flow rate of 2.2 l min−1 at a concentration of 0.1 mg m−3 (100 µg m−3), the current workplace exposure limit in Great Britain. This method met the same performance criteria when measuring exposures at the Australian Workplace Exposure Standard (WES) concentration of 0.05 mg m−3, although in this case a sampling period greater than 8 h was needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on an action research study conducted by two mathematics teacher educators in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The project consisted of three phases, the first two taking place in our respective teacher education courses and a final phase in which prospective mathematics teachers from both locations engaged in dialogue through a speculative fiction task. Our aim was to explore how our prospective mathematics teachers can be supported in becoming mathematics teachers for sustainable futures by innovating our own mathematics teacher education curricula. This study suggests that generative methods which support teachers in speculating on paths to potential futures as teachers of mathematics, can provide access to how prospective teachers negotiate issues in relation to the climate crisis and ways in which they conceive of related changes in their practices. By identifying the aspects of mathematics teaching that are viewed by the prospective teachers as contingent, and through offering tasks that support an expansion of this view, teacher educators are better placed to support the development of teaching practices needed for sustainable futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) occupations is a world‐wide phenomenon. The UK is simultaneously encountering a shortage of STEM skills. While gender imbalances in STEM study in higher education and A‐level study are widely documented, gender imbalances are apparent in vocational post‐16 education, though the existence and causes of these imbalances have received little attention. This paper uses administrative data to explore the extent of gender imbalances in STEM qualifications attempted and achieved in vocational post‐16 education routes. Gender differentials in the uptake of vocational STEM qualifications are much starker than they are in A‐levels and the roles of ability, socio‐economic status and school characteristics in explaining gender differentials differ with the education route taken, though their power in explaining these gaps is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Open University in the UK, students taking undergraduate degree qualifications in areas such as Data Science and Economics are now the largest cohort of students on a second-year undergraduate statistics module, originally written for specialist mathematics and statistics students. This paper outlines an ongoing project to identify how more targeted support could be provided to students who are studying non-mathematics and statistics qualifications. This has involved engaging all the tutors who provided support in the project to create a new way of adapting their teaching styles and tutorial content. By grouping students who had similar qualification goals together and linking these groups to individual tutors, the new way of working created an atmosphere where students feel able to share their own misunderstandings and see how statistics is useful within their chosen qualifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a small-scale, comparative study on the perceived impact that having students enter Mathematics competitions has on Mathematics teachers in Puerto Rico, Switzerland and the UK and on their classroom practice. The study surveyed a small number of Mathematics teachers in the three countries who teach in both public and private schools and in both rural and urban regions. The perceived advantages and disadvantages to students from taking part in competitions and to teachers who have students taking part in competitions are discussed and the findings compared across the three countries. The effect that Mathematics competitions have on the identification and development of the mathematical talent of students is considered together with the contribution of these activities to the academic environment of the classroom. For the teachers who did have students taking Mathematics competitions, the limitations of entry and the different methods in which teachers prepare or assist students to prepare for the competitions are compared between countries. Since the study is small in scale, no firm conclusions are drawn but suggestions are made as to where future, larger scale, studies might be carried out to see if the classroom experiences of all could be positively influenced by exposure to Mathematics competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates semiotics as an integrative, foundational framework for operational research (OR). To this end, the semiotics of the pragmatist C.S. Peirce is explained and its application in OR research, and consulting practice is explored. It is the fourth in a series of papers each seeking to ground OR in a different logic: philosophic/mathematical logic, pragmatic logic, economic logic and now semiotic logic. For Peirce, semiotics is a logic, and as such it is argued in the paper that it can embrace philosophical/mathematical, pragmatic and economic logics. The comprehensive nature of semiotics is such that it brings to a close the research programme aimed at establishing foundations for OR. However, the closure of one programme opens up another—the application of semiotics in OR practice and academic research. Possible avenues for further research include learning from, and collaboration with, neighbouring disciplines such as information systems and computer science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Coordination of scientific research communities supported mathematical modelling of COVID-19. • Pre-existing research collaborations contributed to the success of coordination initiatives. • National infrastructure is key to support nationwide research networks. • Evidence synthesis important in supporting scientists providing advice to government. In March 2020 mathematics became a key part of the scientific advice to the UK government on the pandemic response to COVID-19. Mathematical and statistical modelling provided critical information on the spread of the virus and the potential impact of different interventions. The unprecedented scale of the challenge led the epidemiological modelling community in the UK to be pushed to its limits. At the same time, mathematical modellers across the country were keen to use their knowledge and skills to support the COVID-19 modelling effort. However, this sudden great interest in epidemiological modelling needed to be coordinated to provide much-needed support, and to limit the burden on epidemiological modellers already very stretched for time. In this paper we describe three initiatives set up in the UK in spring 2020 to coordinate the mathematical sciences research community in supporting mathematical modelling of COVID-19. Each initiative had different primary aims and worked to maximise synergies between the various projects. We reflect on the lessons learnt, highlighting the key roles of pre-existing research collaborations and focal centres of coordination in contributing to the success of these initiatives. We conclude with recommendations about important ways in which the scientific research community could be better prepared for future pandemics. This manuscript was submitted as part of a theme issue on "Modelling COVID-19 and Preparedness for Future Pandemics". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has examined the associations between perceived inclusivity within informal science learning sites, youth program belonging and perceptions of program career preparation. This study explored relations between these factors at three timepoints (T1 = start of program, T2 = 3 months and T3 = 12 months after start). Participants were a diverse sample of 209 adolescents participating in STEM youth programs within informal science learning sites situated in the United States and United Kingdom (70% females: Mage = 15.27, SDage = 1.60), with 53.1% British and 64.1% non-White. Path analysis revealed that only perceptions of inclusivity for own social identity group (i.e., gender, ethnicity) at T1 were associated with T2 STEM youth program belonging. There was a significant indirect effect of T1 perceptions of inclusivity for one's own social identity groups on T3 perceptions of program career preparation via T2 program belonging. This study highlights that, over time, perceptions of inclusivity around youth's own social identity groups (i.e., gender and ethnicity/culture) are related to a sense of youth program belonging, which in turn is later associated with perceptions of program career preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is genuine individuality for staff throughout U.K. academia in general, and mathematics by association, becoming eroded? This opinion piece suggests that it is most certainly on the decline, arguing for the accommodation of a wide variety of character types to enhance a workplace now dominated by frenetic busyness and inextricably tangled up with an overbearing compliance threatening to run riot in H.E. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers need both motivation and interpersonal skills in STEM disciplines. The aims of the study were to identify clusters of adolescents who vary in math and science motivation and interpersonal skills and to explore what factors are related to membership in a high math and science motivation and interpersonal skills cluster. Participants included 467 adolescents (312 female; M age = 15.12 to SD = 1.71 year) recruited from out-of-school STEM programs in the US and UK. Findings from latent class analyses revealed four clusters, including a "High Math and Science Motivation and Interpersonal Skills" group, as well as groups that exhibited lower levels of either motivation or interpersonal skills. STEM program belonging, and STEM identity are related to membership in the high motivation and skills cluster. Findings provide insight into factors that may encourage motivation and interpersonal skills in adolescents, preparing them for STEM workforce entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome sequencing is available as a clinical test in the UK through the Genomic Medicine Service (GMS). The GMS analytical strategy predominantly filters genome data on preselected gene panels. Whilst this reduces variants requiring assessment by reporting laboratories, pathogenic variants outside applied panels may be missed, and variants in genes without established disease–gene relationships are largely ignored. This study compares the analysis of a research exome to a GMS clinical genome for the same patients. For the research exome, we applied a panel-agnostic approach filtering for variants with High Pathogenic Potential (HiPPo) using ClinVar, allele frequency, and in silico prediction tools. We then restricted HiPPo variants to Gene Curation Coalition (GenCC) disease genes. These results were compared with the GMS genome panel-based approach. Twenty-four participants from eight families underwent parallel research exome and GMS genome sequencing. Exome HiPPo analysis identified a similar number of variants as the GMS panel-based approach. GMS genome analysis returned two pathogenic variants and one de novo variant. Exome HiPPo analysis returned the same variants plus an additional pathogenic variant and three further de novo variants in novel genes, where case series are underway. When HiPPo was restricted to GenCC disease genes, statistically fewer variants required assessment to identify more pathogenic variants than reported by the GMS, giving a diagnostic rate per variant assessed of 20% for HiPPo versus 3% for the GMS. With UK plans to sequence 5 million genomes, strategies are needed to optimise genome analysis beyond gene panels whilst minimising the burden of variants requiring clinical assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has shown that growth mindset and motivational beliefs have an important role in math and science career interest in adolescence. Drawing on situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), this study extends these findings by investigating the role of parental motivational beliefs (e.g., expectancy beliefs, utility values) and parent growth mindset in math on adolescent career interest in math-intensive fields (e.g., mathematics, computer science, statistics, and engineering; MCSE) through adolescent motivational beliefs in math. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model using data from 290 adolescents (201 girls, 69.3%; Mage = 15.20), who participate in informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) youth programs, and their parents (162 parents, 87.7% female) in the United Kingdom and the United States. As hypothesized, adolescent expectancy beliefs, utility values, and growth mindset in math had a significant direct effect on MCSE career interest. Further, there was a significant indirect effect of parental expectancy beliefs in math on MCSE career interest through adolescents' expectancy beliefs. Similarly, there was a significant indirect effect from parental utility values in math to MCSE career interest through adolescents' utility values. The findings suggest that parents' math motivational beliefs play a critical role in adolescent math motivational beliefs and their career interest in math-intensive fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]