Students swap holidays for maths classes

About 30 Hervey Bay high school students swapped their last week of summer holiday freedom for maths classes.

The students attended maths workshops at the University of Southern Queensland Fraser Coast campus this week (Jan 22-25) in preparation for their senior studies. 
Free classes were offered in Maths B for students entering Years 11 and 12.

Year 12 Urangan High student Zoe May said she was keen to get back into study after spending Christmas in Singapore.

She said she wanted to be already in study-mode when school started next week, and attending maths classes for four mornings at the university would certainly do that.

USQ Fraser Coast Maths Lecturer John Murray said he was thrilled that so many high school students had given up their precious last days of their holidays to attend the classes.

'We had a couple of others too, who weren't secondary students, including a parent who wants to be able to help out with homework,' he said.

'Students often have difficulty in Year 11 foundation mathematics because they lack the necessary pre-requisite skills from their junior years. The classes provided those students with basic skills, particularly in the area of algebra.

'Meanwhile, Year 12 maths requires a firm foundation in calculus. Those classes aimed to review differential calculus and to develop new skills in integral calculus, with an emphasis on graphing and optimisation.'

Mr Murray, who spent 25 years teaching high school maths, said it was important to encourage and nurture students in maths-based professions because of a skills shortage in those areas.

Media Contact: Katrina Corcoran, USQ Fraser Coast Media Contact   Phone: 07 4120 6167