Introduction

Brief History of the Department of Mathematics/Statistics

As an integral part of the university, the evolutionary trajectory of the Department of Mathematics/Statistics, as it is now known, is synonymous with the three-stage metamorphosis of the Institution. It started as the Department of Mathematics when the Institution was established as the
Advanced Teacher Training College (T.T.C) in 1970. The Department took off with 17 students and 4 lecturers. In 1975 the name of the Institution was changed to Rivers State College of Education. By this change, the status and structure of the Institution also changed. By Edict NO.1 of 25^th February, 1975, Rivers state College of Education was statutorily empowered to award the Nigeria Certificate in Education (N.C.E) to graduating students.

Being one of the Departments in the then School of Natural and Applied Sciences, the Department of Mathematics prepared students for the award of the N.C.E. in affiliation with the University of Ibadan. Thus, the Department fielded 12 graduating students at the first graduation ceremony of Rivers State College of Education held in 1977, which covered four graduating sets (1977).

In 1984, the Department was considered competent to prepare students for the award of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in Mathematics. One student started this programme in 1984.

The third stage of the metamorphosis of the Institution happened in 2009. In that year, the Institution was elevated to university status. The name then changed first from Rivers State College of Education first to Rivers Stare University of Education and later to Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The change also brought about structural changes. In consonance with the new status, the Department also metamorphosed       from the Department of Mathematics to the Department of Mathematics/Statistics in the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences. Since 1984 when the B.Ed. Programme started, the Department has been training and graduating students, some coming out with First Class. In Fact, the best graduating student in the whole university in 2014 came from the Department of Mathematics/Statistics. Furthermore, the Department has a vibrant National Association of Mathematics Students (NAMS) which has won laurels to the department in inter-departmental and inter-faculty competitions.

A Peep into the Future It is the fervent desire of the department to make the Statistics curriculum option of the department fully operational in order to give students wider latitude of areas of specialization. The basic structures are being put in place to achieve this dream.

Furthermore, conscious of the dearth of Mathematics teachers in the upper echelon of the education system, it is the resolve of the department to work assiduously to commence post graduate programmes in Mathematics and Statistics in the near future. On the whole, the department of Mathematics/Statistics of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, being blessed with competent hands, requisite working materials and conducive atmosphere, is poised to contribute its quota of well trained teachers in Mathematics and Statistics for the well- deserved but as yet elusive scientific and technological development of Rivers State in particular and the nation in general.

Philosophy

The Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (lAUE) Department of Mathematics/Statistics curriculum option of Bachelor of Science in Education (Mathematics) and Bachelor of Science in Education (Statistics) are designed and run with the philosophically sound intention to prepare a new breed of exquisite professional graduate teachers of Mathematics (pure or applied) and Statistics (pure or applied) at the levels of basic education, comprehensive senior secondary education, the college of education NCE programmes and the polytechnic diploma programmes. It is reasonably expected then that in the contexts of NCE, ND or HND programmes, graduates of the IAUE B.Sc. Ed. (Mathematics) and B.Sc. Ed. (Statistics) curriculum options will always be found
worthy of their initial teaching appointments and still found capable of readily availing themselves of the employing institution's staff development programmes leading on to higher degrees In Mathematics Education, Statistics Education, Mathematics (pure or applied) or Statistics (pure or applied) as the job context may require in particular cases.

Vision of the Department

The Department of Mathematics/Statistics of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education envisions itself as the specific establishment of the university's Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences which is directly responsible for classroom teaching, research training and due graduation of top flight Mathematics/Statistics teachers for the Basic and the Senior Secondary levels of the total Nigerian Education system. The department views its responsibilities as stretching over and beyond the initial graduation of its Mathematics/Statistics undergraduate students to their in-service mentorship based professional career advancement in their post-graduation work life.

Mission

The mission of the lAUE Department of Mathematics/Statistics is to provide an atmosphere conducive for undergraduate student maximal learning benefits by instruction, theoretical discipline, laboratory/field research training and practice teaching exposures for flourishing graduate professional teaching careers in Mathematics/Statistics at the Basic and the Senior Secondary levels of Education. It is also intended by the typical student's learning gains in the department to fit him/her for curriculum innovation and field supervision of school Mathematics/Statistics instruction as well as for personal advancement to higher degrees in these teaching subjects.

Aim

OBJECTIVES

Hence, the following six salient curriculum objectives of the IAUE B.Sc. Ed. (Mathematics) and the B.Sc. Ed. (Statistics) content options are being vigorously pursued in the Department of Mathematics/Statistics:

• To prepare globally employable professional graduate teachers holding the Bachelor of Science Education in Mathematics (Pure or Applied) or in Statistics (Pure or Applied) for teaching on all formal educational programmes which are not more advanced in mathematics content than the standard university bachelor degree programme in Mathematics or Statistics,
• To prepare professional graduate teachers of Mathematics and/or Statistics who have acquired superior expertise in the pertinent pedagogical, curricular and instructional
  knowledge with the practical learners motivational skills and the right attitudinal complements,
• To prepare graduate education professionals who are very highly capable of adopting and implementing the ICT- supported scientific research approach to problem identification, definition research design, data acquisition, analysis and resolution in the context of mathematics education or statistics education;
• To prepare graduate education professionals who themselves can make very thoughtful, meaningful and workable contributions to current debates and discussions toward the realization of the innovative instructional strategies, methods, techniques and materials for promoting learning, research and public policy effectiveness particularly in mathematics and statistics education;
• to produce education professionals in Mathematics and Statistics who can move up to benefit by related more advanced education in any of the mathematical science-
  based specializations such as operations research (OR) and data science (DS) at any university graduate school.
• to produce the millennial new breed of Mathematics or Statistics Education graduates who can leverage on existing and emerging technologies to make practice, learning and research more of an exciting pleasurable experience than the abhorred drudgery which mathematical and statistical problem-solving can otherwise become.

Admission

Staff