From uncertainty to understanding: building quantitative skills in forensics

Pedagogy

Mia Thorne

January 9, 2026

Rebuilding numeracy confidence across Forensic Science

Each year, dedicated students begin their degree in Forensic Science, drawn by the chance to investigate crimes and apply scientific thinking to real-world problems. Yet many encounter an unexpected obstacle: maths anxiety. For lots of students, the transition to university-level study involves applying numerical skills in ways that feel abstract, and the fear of making a high-stakes mistake can quickly overshadow their enthusiasm.

The good news is that educators across disciplines are recognising this challenge and finding that it’s often a confidence gap, not a skills gap. By embedding numeracy within real-world, discipline-specific contexts, they are turning maths anxiety into practical understanding.

The confidence gap in forensic science

In forensic science, maths anxiety often emerges when students are asked to interpret data or draw conclusions from statistical information, situations that require them to apply quantitative reasoning with understanding rather than rote calculation. Many students don’t have a strong background in maths, and when numerical reasoning is required, some switch off. One common pattern is hesitation in class discussions, as students worry about giving a wrong answer aloud.

This illustrates a wider confidence gap: students may have the underlying skills to complete calculations correctly, but past negative experiences with maths make them less likely to trust their ability in a subject-specific context. The challenge, as educators report, is not ability, but prior exposure and confidence.

Making maths relevant in forensic science

Across forensic science programmes, educators are finding that confidence grows when numerical work is connected to real scientific tasks. Rather than treating maths as a separate hurdle, it is embedded within the authentic problems students encounter in their forensic modules.

This principle underpins the design of our Quantitative Skills Smart Worksheets for Forensics, co-developed with academics to reflect the specific calculation, decisions, and reasoning students must use in real contexts. For example, students may need to plot graphs to create standard curves for determining the concentrations of unknown samples. Providing the context of “why” these calculations matter helps students understand the purpose behind the maths and interpret their results more effectively.

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“I have found that giving the maths a forensic context is the most helpful thing to do. A lot of students have had a bad experience with maths earlier in their education, so putting it in context and showing why it is helpful to what they are doing makes it more accessible. Also, the fixed context makes it less abstract and feedback has made more sense to the students.”

Dr Anna Kirkham, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Chemistry at the University of Lancashire

To support this, Smart Worksheets enable students to repeatedly practise plotting standard curves, calculating concentrations, and interpreting data, all within a clear forensic context. Immediate feedback helps learners understand not just whether an answer is correct, but why, reinforcing both competence and confidence. This structured, contextualised practice helps students see the relevance of numerical reasoning and makes engaging with calculation feel purposeful rather than intimidating.

Safe practice builds confidence

Building confidence in quantitative skills requires more than exposure to content; students need space to try, reflect and try again. When students practise without fear of judgement, their understanding deepens and their confidence begins to grow. This is the value of a genuinely low-stakes environment; it turns practice into exploration rather than performance.

Our Quantitative Skills Smart Worksheets support this by offering interactive, repeatable practice with immediate, structured feedback. Students can work through calculations at their own pace, check their reasoning, and learn from errors in real time, reflecting the learning cycle that underpins long-term conceptual understanding.

Since their launch in 2024, the Quantitative Skills resources have seen more than 6,000 attempts by 3,000 learners, generating approximately 181,000 answers. Each attempt represents a moment of practice that helps students build both competence and trust in their own work.

Collaboration, context and confidence

Addressing maths anxiety in forensics isn’t about simplifying the content, it’s about making learning feel meaningful. That is why each Quantitative Skills resource is created in close collaboration with academics who understand the nuances of numeracy in their discipline. Their insight ensures the support isn’t generic; it reflects the real challenges students encounter in their lectures, labs, and assessments.

Working alongside educators like Dr Kirkham means the resources carry the same principle that guides their teaching: confidence grows when students can see how maths fits into the story of their science, not as something separate from it.

As more departments embed contextualised numeracy into their teaching, the message becomes clear: when students are supported to make sense of the numbers, they begin to trust themselves, and that confidence transforms how they learn.

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