Testing Our Assumptions: Mathematics Preparation And Its Role In Engineering Student Success

Abstract

She oversees projects in freshman programs, math support, mentoring, outreach, and women's programs. She earned a B.S.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and a master's degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.

When am I ever going to use this? An investigation of the calculus content of core engineering courses

“…However, since many students drop out of engineering, too few engineering students graduate to join industry (Froyd & Ohland, 2005). More specifically, many students drop out of engineering not because they failed an engineering course, but because they failed a mathematics course (Gardner, Pyke, Belcheir, & Schrader, 2007;Hoit & Ohland, 1998;Van Dyken, Benson, & Gerard, 2015).…”

“…Because of the negative impact of mathematics on graduation rates from engineering (Gardner et al, 2007;Hoit & Ohland, 1998;Van Dyken et al, 2015), we are striving to rigorously document what mathematics knowledge and skills students need to successfully enter their engineering degree programs and inform the dialogue that calls for.…”

The Party's Over: Sustaining Support Programs When The Funding Is Done

“…In a detailed statistical study presented elsewhere 11 , we found that the conventional wisdom about mathematics preparation and persistence in engineering programs was simply not supported by the data. In fact we found that placement in first math course (a reasonable measure of mathematical preparation) was not correlated with persistence in engineering at Boise State University.…”

An Innovative Method To Realistically Track Engineering Student Retention And Academic Progress

“…About 70% of students who successfully graduate with engineering degrees at Boise State University begin their first semester in a class below calculus level. 5 Figure 3 also shows that the proportion of students at a given level is smaller than the proportion of students at the earlier level, which is to be expected since a certain amount of attrition occurs at each level. The exception is the senior class, which reflects the fact that the final portion of a program is often spread out due to work and other factors.…”

“…And conversely, poor performance in math was correlated with the student leaving the university. 5 This factor (performance in first math class) was found to be more significant than their original math placement level.…”