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Building on Murphy (2002), the study uses the didactical contract concept to identify a hidden learning contract and develops a preliminary characterization of service mathematics, also linking it to adult mathematics education impacts.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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investigate about service mathematics in Irish universities?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It examines how service mathematics courses are perceived, planned, delivered, evaluated, assessed, and experienced by both lecturers and students in selected courses across all seven Irish universities.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How is the didactical contract concept used in the research?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Following Murphy (2002), the authors use Brousseau’s didactical contract idea to uncover an implicit learning contract within university service mathematics lectures.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What outcomes does the paper report from the study?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The study provides insights into the didactical contract operating in the surveyed service mathematics courses and develops a preliminary characterization of service mathematics in Irish 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O‟Donoghue  \nUniversity of Limerick, Ireland  \n\u003C[olivia.gill@ul.ie](olivia.gill@ul.ie)>; \u003C[john.odonoghue@ul.ie](john.odonoghue@ul.ie)>  \nAbstract  \nIn this paper the authors report on a qualitative investigation into service mathematics carried out in Irish universities against a backdrop of major concerns nationally and internationally embodied in the so-called “Mathematics problem ‖. The enquiry involved a close inspection of how service mathematics is perceived, planned, delivered, evaluated, assessed and experienced by both lecturers and students in selected service mathematics courses in all seven Irish universities. Murphy (2002) used Brousseau‟s concept of didactical contract to uncover the implicit contract present in Irish second level classrooms. The authors emulated this work to discover the hidden learning contract in university service mathematics lectures in Ireland. Major outcomes of the study include insight into the nature of the didactical contract at work in the service mathematics courses surveyed, and the development of a preliminary characterisation of service mathematics in Irish universities. Service mathematics is also an issue for adult mathematics education and impacts on it.  \nKeywords: university mathematics, first year, pre-requisite knowledge  \nIntroduction  \nIt is generally acknowledged that adult mathematics education (AME) is not well conceptualised in the research literature. However, there has been progress in this regard as evidenced in the work of researchers, such as, Coben (2006), FitzSimons, Coben and O‟Donoghue (2003) and Wedege, Benn and Maa􀁅 (1999) . Indeed, it is clear from the work of FitzSimons et al. (2003) that a broad view of adult mathematics education is accepted and includes, inter alia,”specialized mathematics and service mathematics (as in higher education), school mathematics, vocational mathematics ―(p. 117) .  \nThe authors, who are based in the Mathematics Learning Centre (MLC) at the University of Limerick (UL) have a deep professional stake in service mathematics. Service mathematics isone of those crossover areas between mathematics, mathematics education and adult  \nmathematics education and is grossly under-theorised and under-conceptualised. As researchers in AME we should be engaged in service mathematics research for the following reasons:  \n􀁸 It is identified as being under the umbrella ofAME;  \n􀁸 It is under-theorised and under-conceptualised;  \n􀁸 Elucidation of the nature of service mathematics and its practices can contribute to improvements in AME;  \n􀁸 Considerable numbers of adults engage in service mathematics courses around the world having entered through a variety of routes ([e.g. as](e.g. as) adult returners, mature students entering via successful Access, Bridging or Transition programmes, direct mature student entry);  \n􀁸 Service mathematics is an academic environment that needs to be better understood because it impacts on significant numbers of adult learners.  \nThe importance of service mathematics for AME is captured and highlighted by the situation atthe University of Limerick which is by no means unique in this regard. Adult learners of mathematics (e.g. mature students, access students) comprise a significant group of the student service mathematics population in the University. Fifty-one mature students were admitted to first year undergraduate programmes in 1999-2000 and this number rose to 155 in 2004-5. A total of 474 mature students were registered in UL in 2004-05 (Callaghan, 2005) . This number rose to 614 in the subsequent academic year (Coveney O‟Beirne, 2006) . Most degree programmes in UL (with the exception of the humanities) contain some mathematics modules, so many of these mature students will have mathematics throughout their study.  \nThe UL Mathematics Learning Centre provides support for all students participating in mathematic","cbCaibEygbEbTdeU","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibEygbEbTdeU","pdf",314248,14,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What does the study investigate about service mathematics in Irish universities?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how service mathematics courses are perceived, planned, delivered, evaluated, assessed, and experienced by both lecturers and students in selected courses across all seven Irish universities.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the didactical contract concept used in the research?\",\"answer\":\"Following Murphy (2002), the authors use Brousseau’s didactical contract idea to uncover an implicit learning contract within university service mathematics lectures.\"},{\"question\":\"What outcomes does the paper report from the study?\",\"answer\":\"The study provides insights into the didactical contract operating in the surveyed service mathematics courses and develops a preliminary characterization of service mathematics in Irish universities.\"}]","Service Mathematics in Irish Universities - Some Findings from a Recent Study | PDF",1792065385,35]