In the EPI•STEM PODCAST Episode 8, co-hosts Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD read from a letter sent to EPI•STEM by the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins. The President congratulates everyone connected to the Transition Year STEAM Education project entitled ‘Design a Sustainable Eco-Village in Ireland in 2050’, especially the students in the seven schools in Limerick.

Geraldine and Michelle chat today with special guest Associate Professor Olivia Fitzmaurice. Olivia is a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education in the School of Education, an Affiliate of EPI•STEM The National Centre for STEM Education and Academic Director of the Mathematics Learning Centre.

Olivia shares her passion for researching and teaching mathematics and how she was persuaded to select math in her undergraduate degree through listening to Professor John O’Donoghue on a UL Open Day, one of the original founders of EPI•STEM The National Centre for STEM Education.

Olivia’s research is interested in the social scientific problem of teaching math for understanding in the context of classrooms in Ireland, the deep learning and the multifaceted approach needed.

Many of Olivia’s research studies draw from Usiskin’s model, which includes the relational, procedural, conceptual, cultural historical, representational and the necessity to make the vital link to real world applications. Professor Fitzmaurice shares her insights from a joint research study on a diversity of careers and how they were all connected in one way or another to math. Finally, Olivia concludes with a brief summary of the findings from her recent national policy report examining the delicate transition for students of math between primary school and post-primary school.

The musical selection is the Kilnamona Barn Dance from County Clare and played on fiddle by Avril McLoughlin. Avril is a researcher and a lecturer in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Limerick.