American Society of Engineering Education - North Central Section Spring Conference 2018

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Adapting the National Model for Engineering Mathematics Education to Support Success of Algebra II Students

In the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS), University XX, students who are placed in Algebra II in their first semester by either the ACT or SAT math sub-scores number 75-100, and they form about 20-25% of the first-time first-year student population. Improving the success of the Algebra II students regarding retention to college and university is important to university enrollment. In this paper, we will describe the adaption of a National Science Foundation-funded National Model of Engineering Education to support the success of these Algebra II students, together with some preliminary results. The National Model for Engineering Mathematics Education, developed at Wright State University (WSU), involves “a first-year engineering course replacing traditional prerequisites for core sophomore engineering courses,” and it has resulted in an increase in retention and graduation in engineering, as well as improvements in graduation grade point average (GPA), student motivation and self-efficacy at WSU. The Wright State’s National Model for Engineering Mathematics Education targets primarily the Calculus I and Precalculus students, while our adaption is focused on the CEAS Algebra II students. In this paper, the details of an Introduction to Engineering Analysis course will be presented, including a week-by-week class schedule, course content and grading scheme. Preliminary results that will also be presented include student performance in Algebra II and a comparison with baseline performance, performance of the CEAS Algebra II students in the follow-up Precalculus and a comparison with other students’ performance, and retention rates to college and to the university and a comparison with historic retention rates.

Edmund Tsang
Western Michigan University
United States

Lenore Yaeger
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Western Michigan University
United States

 

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