Stewart Townend has been a part-time Research Fellow within the Centre for Teaching Mathematics since 1997 following his early retirement from the post of Reader in Mathematics Education at John Moores University, Liverpool.

He obtained a First Class Honours B.Sc. degree in Mathematics from the University of Liverpool in 1964 followed by an M.Sc. awarded in 1966 for research work into slow flows.

Research Interests

His early research interests at John Moores were in the teaching and learning of the Mathematics of Sport (within the field of Sports Science) and mathematical modelling of the Drug Transport Phenomenon ( within the School of Pharmacy). In his final years at John Moores he developed modules whose delivery involved the fully integrated use of computer algebra packages, notably with DERIVE, and took his first steps in investigating the effects of a technology based approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics.

The use of technology to support the teaching and learning of mathematics (especially by engineers and other non-specialist mathematicians) is a major area of current research activity.

His other area of interest is the teaching and learning of mathematics in Higher Education. His thesis is that a case study, whose origins are in the students’ main area of study and which is used in an integrated way to introduce the topics of the module, will :

• enhance student motivation,
• promote a realisation of their need for mathematics,
• promote a culture of student centred learning.

Stewart is associated with two journals.He is an Assistant Editor of IJTME and a reviewer for the Journal of Sports Science.

Teaching Interests

Stewart is also a part-time member of the teaching staff of the University and teaches one modules per year within the Department of Mathematics and Statistics - Applied Mathematics (Math2006/2106) which provides an introduction to Mechanics for second year undergraduate mathematicians. Throughout the Mechanics modules considerable use is made of 'concept questions' in order to rapidly identify and address any student misconceptions.

Projects and Other Interests

Stewart is a Governor at a primary school in West Cornwall. Amongst his responsibilities are Numeracy (no surprise there!) and arranging the provision of enrichment activities for the Able and Talented pupils, within the school’s Special Needs provision.

This provision is very definitely enrichment (as opposed to acceleration) and he runs a weekly mathematics enrichment class with subsets of Years 5 and 6 (ages 9 - 11 years.)

He is also involved in the programme of Masterclasses delivered by the Centre.
He has authored four textbooks and contributed to seven others written to support students who are studying A - level Mathematics.

stownend@plymouth.ac.uk