Understanding Our Students: A Longitudinal‐Study of Success and Failure in Engineering With Implications for Increased Retention

Abstract

In spite of considerable research about the poor retention rate of undergraduate engineering students, we still have an inadequate understanding of the factors that affect students' decisions to remain in engineering programs and their ability to perform well enough to be retained. Although continued study is needed of external factors such as curricular requirements, admissions criteria, and test scores, we also need to know much more about the relationships between curricular experiences and students' learning styles, habits, and attitudes. The work presented in this paper was designed to enhance educators' understanding of the factors that underlie the concern about student retention in engineering. By observing 1,000 engineering students during their first three years in college, the research team generated a large database on the students' academic and non‐academic characteristics as well as their successes and failures. The traits discovered not only support many findings from previous studies but also reveal some new relationships that could prove essential to designing an educational environment that will prepare engineers for success in the future.

The Influence of Action Learning on Student Perception and Performance

“…The study by Freire (1972) also suggested that the traditional model of instruction, utilising lectures and other chalk and talk methods to passive students, is not only ineffective but also disadvantages some student groups whose learning styles and approach to problems are highly valued in the engineering profession. The research by Bernold et al (2007) is in general agreement with this fi nding, stating that those with learning styles that deviate from traditional teaching methods tend to leave the more traditionally taught lecture environment. Providing fi rst-year engineering students with an active learning environment, in addition to faculty mentoring and discipline-specific advice, has been demonstrated to have a positive effect on the retention rates of female engineering students and other minority groups (Hoit & Ohland, 1998;Webster & Dee, 1998).…”

Investigating First-Year Engineering Students' Educational Technology Use and Academic Achievement: Development and Validation of an Assessment Tool

“…4 Furthermore, scholars have revealed that women and historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities (URMs) -Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans -face unique barriers (e.g., academic, social) to their success and ultimate degree completion in college, especially in science and engineering disciplines. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] When comparing students' use and engagement with educational technology, differences also exist across gender. Researchers have shown that females report lower confidence, later adoption, less frequent use of educational technology such as multimedia, lower use for academic purposes, and interaction with less advanced forms of educational technology than males.…”

Improving Student Engagement in Engineering Classrooms: The First Step toward a Course Delivery Framework using Brain-based Learning Techniques

“…Lack of student engagement in classrooms has been one of the serious concerns that cut across most of the engineering schools. This critical concern, often neglected in classrooms, results in serious attention problems among students, leading to their incompetence and poor retention rates 1 . This issue is more relevant in HBCUs (Historically Black College or University) where the retention rates were reported less than 50% 2 .…”