Jacob Strauss
Current student
- Course
- Mathematical Cognition PhD
- Subject area
- Department of Mathematics Education
The students in our departments are extremely friendly. We often organise socials, such as bowling or dinner, that are well attended. I have made some amazing friends here at Loughborough that have made our centre feel like a family.
What were you doing before starting your PhD?
In 2015 I finished a mathematics undergraduate at the University of Nottingham. After this I taught secondary mathematics at a school in Manchester for two years. In 2018 I did a masters in Education at the University of Cambridge, before finally coming to Loughborough University to do a PhD.
What is your research project about?
I am interested in how different teaching approaches can be used to improve secondary school students’ procedural fluency. One such method, popular in primary schools, is Cover, Copy and Compare (CCC). In order to investigate this I have developed an iPad app that uses CCC students to teach them how to find the equation of a straight line given two coordinates.
What's your experience been like so far at Loughborough?
Since starting at Loughborough I have been involved in a lot of things, including:
- I have submitted a structured literature review of procedural fluency in secondary schools to several journals.
- I have worked with Dr. Colin Foster to survey the research questions posed in papers published in notable journal between 2016 – 2020.
- I have worked with Dr. Matthew Inglis on the use of present and past tense in mathematics papers.
Can you tell us what support you've received in your PhD?
The teaching and research facilities at Loughborough are second to none. I make apps for my PhD and our centre has not only provided me with a class set of iPads but have also funded the transport of them from school to school. Our centre managers are very accommodating and go out of their way to facilitate our research. They buy equipment, software and pay for specialist training to ensure that we can conduct our research to the highest possible standard.
