‘Effective strategies’ for teaching mathematics in economics: testing prior knowledge, scaffolding and practical applications

Abstract Recent literature highlights increasing concerns around various issues related to students transitioning from secondary to tertiary education and their learning of mathematics within economics courses. This article explores how scaffolding complex concepts offering students step-by-step guidance and mapping mathematical concepts to economic applications can provide effective pedagogical strategies that help to address problems occurring during the transition from school to mathematics for economics at university, such as a mismatch between expectations and actual demand or a perceived gap between abstract mathematical concepts and their applications in economics. Testing prior knowledge and modelling techniques such as using Excel are also considered in the article. The pedagogical techniques discussed in this article have the potential to address challenges related to students’ heterogeneity; the abstract nature of mathematical concepts and alleviate the discrepancy between expectations regarding mathematics prerequisites and the actual demand. These represent crucial aspects for the success of undergraduate courses.