This researcher has helped more economics students pass their maths exams

The course functions as a bridge between the mathematics from upper secondary school and the subject of mathematics for economists at the University of Agder's School of Business.

“There are many tough challenges when you go from a classroom with 30 pupils to an auditorium with up to 300 students,” says Ida Maria Landgärds-Tarvoll.

She is behind the course that has helped more economics students pass their exam.

Landgärds-Tarvoll teaches mathematics for economists and researches how teaching can support students in the transition from school to university. She has researched how various teaching measures can reduce dropout rates and strengthen learning.

“The transition is difficult, but it is caused neither by poor teachers nor lazy pupils,” she says.

Different backgrounds

“Many of the students simply have not had the type of mathematics required in economics. You can be admitted to the economics programme regardless of which maths you have taken at upper secondary school,” says Landgärds-Tarvoll.

The students have had either practical or theoretical maths at upper secondary school. 

This creates a gap in the knowledge students have in the first year of their economics education. 

It is precisely for this reason that the researcher has created the preparatory course. All students should receive an introduction to the fundamentals required to learn mathematics for economists and succeed in the exam.

Arguing with mathematics

Mathematics is used in a different way in economics than in other subjects, including as an essential part of economic modelling.

“We are not meant to prove numbers, but to analyse models and say what graphs and figures will look like in the future. In economics, mathematics is also a form of argumentation, where we for example show how a starting point will develop over time given certain conditions,” says Landgärds-Tarvoll.

Independent students

The introductory course begins with tests that show what the student can and cannot do. They can then choose to follow the entire course, or only the parts they need to learn more about.

The course lasts for eight weeks with 45 minutes of teaching and three hours of guidance each week. The rest is digital self-study.

Around 210 students participate in the course.

When the course was conducted for the first time in 2018, the failure rate in mathematics for economists fell from 35 to 10 per cent. 

In recent years it has remained around 8 to 11 per cent.

Research in practice

The preparatory course is based on research and experience from several years of teaching.

“What's special about the course is that it's carefully adapted to the students' needs. It gives them insight into and responsibility for their own learning through digital self-testing and clear objectives for the subject,” she says.

Landgärds-Tarvoll believes the results show that it is important to take seriously the fact that students arrive with different backgrounds.

“The students are intelligent and want to learn. When they receive enough information and autonomy, they choose to participate and engage,” she says.

Learning and community

The preparatory course has also strengthened the sense of community among the students.

"We have created a good and important social arena where people find friends to be with both on their studies and in their leisure time. We have students who have said they would have quit their studies, but who stayed because of the environment," says Landgärds-Tarvoll.

Reference:

Landgärds-Tarvoll, I.M. Institutional transitions related to mathematics in economics education: from school to university and from mathematics to economics, Doctoral dissertation at the University of Agder, 2025.

———

Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

This content is paid for and presented by the University of Agder

This content is created by the University of Agder's communication staff, who use this platform to communicate science and share results from research with the public. The University of Agder is one of more than 80 owners of ScienceNorway.no. Read more here.

More content from the University of Agder:

• 

  There are many cases of fathers and sons both reaching elite level in football. Why is that?

• 

  How we used plants to protect ourselves from evil

• 

  What is it like for nurses to promote health behind bars?

• 

  This can make life easier for new maths teachers

• 

  Norwegian women were burned at the stake here

• 

  Ticks can spread more than just Lyme disease and TBE virus