Building confidence in scientific numeracy: early support for STEM students
Pedagogy
Mia Thorne
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December 10, 2025
Scientific Numeracy
Each year, science departments welcome new cohorts of students whose enthusiasm for their subject is clear, but whose confidence with numbers often isn’t. Behind that hesitation sits a growing issue familiar to many educators: maths anxiety.
For incoming undergraduates, particularly those arriving from varied school systems or returning to study after time away, the jump to university-level numeracy can feel steep. Core skills such as interpreting data, calculating concentrations, or converting units, all essential to lab work, can quickly become barriers if students begin their studies already doubting their ability.
Understanding the challenge
In recent years, the variation in students’ mathematical backgrounds has widened. Changing entry requirements, reduced maths exposure in pre-university courses, and disruptions to teaching have all contributed to first-year students arriving with varied levels of numeracy. When students begin a chemistry or bioscience course believing they are “bad at maths”, anxiety often limits their willingness to engage, even when the underlying skills are within reach. This lack of confidence doesn’t just affect test performance, it shapes participation, independence, and even progression throughout a degree.
Early intervention, lasting impact
At the University of Kent, educators in the Division of Natural Sciences recognised that many first-year bioscience students arrive with differing levels of numeracy confidence. To support their transition, Dr Alexandra Moores and Dr Emma Hargreaves introduced a pre-arrival hub designed to familiarise students with key scientific concepts and expectations before term began.
As part of this initiative, students completed early numeracy activities using a numeracy Smart Worksheet, providing a low-stakes opportunity to practise core skills and identify areas where support might be needed. By analysing the results before term began, teaching teams were able to identify that 40% of incoming students required additional help. This valuable evidence enabled staff to reach out to those specific learners, adapt first-year teaching materials accordingly, and efficiently target resources where they would have the greatest impact. Ultimately, the Smart Worksheet provided the data that drove this improved teaching focus and support.
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"Our Pre-Arrival Hub and the Numeracy Skills workshops have shown a clear and positive impact on students’ confidence. Launching the Hub four weeks before term meant that students could revise and test their core mathematical skills in their own time, including revisiting topics they felt rusty on, and familiarising themselves with the kind of thinking required in scientific degrees. Engagement tracking helped us identify students who might benefit from early contact, which supported both preparedness and retention. Once on campus, the Biosciences numeracy workshops built on this foundation. We framed the sessions as collaborative and practical, closely tied to real analytical tasks that students encounter in their modules. Workshop attendance averaged 63%, and by the end of term, students reported feeling significantly more confident in applying mathematical skills to their coursework."
Dr Alexandra Moores, Lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Kent
At Rhodes University, similar principles underpin their use of a Scientific Numeracy Smart Worksheet as part of a structured approach to strengthening quantitative readiness in first-year science students. Their curriculum redesign emphasised development of mathematical and data-handling skills, underpinned by research showing that students often enter university without the foundational numeracy required for scientific study. The Smart Worksheet offers students a guided, low-stakes space to practise these fundamentals while giving educators clearer insight into the common gaps and misconceptions highlighted in the SAJS study. As the authors note, improving scientific numeracy requires early, intentional support; tools like the Smart Worksheet help make that support consistent, transparent, and accessible to all students.
Tools such as our Numeracy Smart Worksheets now make these approaches easier to scale across departments. Their interactive, feedback-driven design helps students practise and learn through immediate feedback, while educators can review cohort data through LearnSci Analytics to identify trends and pinpoint where additional support will have the most impact.
These early data-informed interventions show that tackling maths anxiety is not about teaching more content, but about helping students see that confidence grows through context, feedback, and early support.
What effective early support looks like
Successful interventions that target maths anxiety share a few core principles. They prioritise low-stakes, repeatable practice, connect numeracy to real scientific problems, and provide immediate feedback. This approach allows students to test their understanding safely, learn from mistakes, and build confidence at their own pace.
Diagnostic activities, whether delivered through workshops or digital tools, become digital resources of self awareness rather than assessment. They help students see numeracy as part of the scientific language they are learning, not as a separate hurdle.
When universities integrate digital resources alongside contextualised teaching, the result is a smoother, more confident start to university. Students begin to overcome maths anxiety and gain confidence, and educators gain a clearer picture of where to focus support.
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A small change with a big difference
Every new cohort includes students who carry some anxiety about numbers. The difference lies in how early that anxiety is recognised and addressed. Universities that embed numeracy support within the transition process are finding that confidence can be rebuilt with small but meaningful shifts: a diagnostic activity before term, a contextual example in the first lab, or a feedback loop that rewards curiosity rather than correctness.
By embedding numeracy practice into early, contextual experiences, universities such as Kent and Rhodes are helping students enter their scientific learning with greater confidence. It’s a simple idea, but one that can transform the way students experience science and view themselves as future scientists.
If you’d like to strengthen numeracy confidence in your own cohorts, you can explore the Scientific Numeracy section of the Smart Worksheet Library or get in touch to discuss how these approaches could support your students.
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