Calculus Intervention For First Semester Engineering Students

Past analyses at NC State have indicated a positive correlation between students who struggle in their first calculus class and those who ultimately leave engineering at NC. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of early intervention for engineering students who have performed poorly on their first calculus examination. This paper presents the problem, the approach taken in this project, the resulting data, our lessons learned, and strategies being considered to scale-up the intervention in subsequent semesters to include all first-semester engineering students. Introduction: The goal of this study was to understand the effects of intervention on engineering students who struggle in their first calculus course. We were mindful in conducting the study that, as it relates to students, ... “... retention is not then the goal; retention is the result or by-product of improved programs and services in our classrooms and elsewhere on campus that contribute to student success.” 1 As such, in understanding factors that influence student success in calculus (and their curricula) we hope to provide the necessary programs and academic support to ultimately influence their success (retention and graduation) in our engineering programs. For many decades, curriculum and student experiences in engineering schools throughout the US have been designed and developed to achieve the goal of “educating the engineer.” At the same time, many efforts have been undertaken to understand “why” certain students are able to complete these curricula and others are not. Past studies in the literature have focused on identifying predictors (HS GPA, standardized test scores, class rank, personality, etc., etc.) that relate to achieving such success. The concept is that by understanding why students are successful (and not successful) we can develop admission policies, curricula, and support systems to increase student success. However, the numbers don’t always tell the complete story. We know that “excellent academic candidates” are sometimes not able to complete our curricula, and other students who were very near the admission cut-off become “academic superstars.” Thus, success is not always predicted by a student’s admissions “numbers.” Rather, sometimes there are non-quantitative variables that affect student performance. This fact complicates the goal of analytically modeling student success, but it should not dissuade us from continuing to investigate and understand it better. Page 10286.1 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society of Engineering Education In the College of Engineering (COE) at North Carolina State University (NCSU) we have developed a model to assist in our understanding of student academic success. Students enter the COE either as new freshmen, as internal transfer students from other NCSU colleges, or as external transfer students. The present paper is related to the first group of these students, of whom we admit ~1,250 each fall cohort. At NC State, new engineering freshmen are admitted as “unmatriculated” students, and this status is held until a student has completed the “first year” courses with the required minimum GPA. Upon completion of these requirements, a student “matriculates” into one of the 18 undergraduate degree programs in the college. The requirements for matriculation into an engineering program, and for graduation from an engineering program, are given below. Matriculation Requirements: Includes a “course requirement” and a GPA “requirement.” Course Requirement: A student must complete the following courses with a minimum “passing grade” (C-); E 101: Introduction to COE and Problem Solving (1 credit hour) MA 141: Calculus I (4 credit hours) MA 241: Calculus II (4 credit hours) ENG 101: Academic Writing and Research (4 credit hours) CH 101/102: Chemistry – A Molecular Science / Lab (4 credit hours) PY 205: Physics for Engineers and Scientists I A student must complete the following course with a “pass” grade; E115: Introduction to Computing Environment (1 credit hour) GPA Requirement: In addition to the courses requirements, student’s must meet the minimum overall GPA standard. This minimum GPA is a 2.90. Graduation Requirements: Includes both a minimum “overall NCSU GPA” requirement and a “major GPA” requirement. Overall GPA Requirement: Students must obtain an overall GPA of 2.00 in all hours taken at NCSU. Major GPA Requirement: Students must obtain an overall GPA of 2.00 in all hours taken in courses in their “major.” Major courses are those that are offered by degree department and are required or allowed as electives in the student’s degree plan. Some academic departments include courses from other departments in their “major” GPA calculations. Cohort Study Results: In order to investigate factors associated with student success in engineering, we collected data on all first-time engineering college freshmen admitted in the years 1996 through 2000. From a previous study, we had learned that “students who matriculate will graduate” in engineering at a rate of 85%. Thus, in this study we wanted to find out what factors were associated with matriculation. For each student, we collected admissions data, student attitudes (via survey data), and coursework data from their first semester. The complete data set for each student included the following: P ge 10286.2 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society of Engineering Education • SAT scores (SAT-Math, SAT-Verbal, Overall SAT, SAT-II) • High School GPA (weighted and un-weighted) • Attitudes on “Freshmen Survey” given by NCSU University Planning and Analysis office during New Student Orientation in the summer before their first semester • Courses taken during the first semester • Grades from the courses taken during the first semester, and • Number of semesters to matriculate into an engineering degree program. There were 5398 students in the five years of cohorts in the matriculation study. Students were considered matriculated if they entered into an engineering program by the census date (10 days after beginning of semester) of the fall of their junior year. This provided a window of four semesters (not including summer school) for students to matriculate. Past studies have shown that most students, if they are going to matriculate, matriculate by this time. In addition, there is a COE policy that requires students to matriculate by the end of 60 hours (nominal four years). Students who do not ultimately matriculate in this timeframe transfer to another NCSU major, transfer to another institution, or discontinue schooling. Some of those who do not matriculate into one of the engineering programs are eligible to do so, but they decide not to continue with an engineering major. Of the 5398 students in the cohorts being studied, 58% matriculated by the beginning of their junior year. The cohort data was input into a Tree Analysis using a chi-square test (level of significance at or less then .05) to determine which data factors discriminate the two groups: (1) those who matriculated, and (2) those who did not. Of the factors considered by the model, the most significant discriminator between the two groups was the “grade in the first math course.” This discriminator held regardless of which math course the student took. Of the 3122 students who matriculated, 93% (N=2893) had a grade of higher than 2.165 (on 4 point scale) in their first math course. Of the 2276 students who did not matriculate, only 60% had a grade of higher than 2.165 on a 4.00 scale (see Appendix 1 for explanation of the 2.165 GPA value). Another way of examining the data is to say that of those who had a first math grade higher than 2.165, 68% matriculated and 32% did not matriculate. Of the students whose math grade was 2.165, and who matriculated into an engineering degree, 92% took a first math course that was in the calculus sequence (MA 141 or 241). So, of those who had a high math grade and started in the calculus sequence, 74% matriculated and 26% did not matriculate. Of those who had a high math grade, but who started in a course lower than a calculus course (MA 101, MA 107, MA 111), the majority did not matriculate (66%). Thus, getting started in the calculus sequence and passing math are important factors associated with matriculation. Past studies at NCSU have shown that students with poor math skills tend not to be successful in the matriculation process — the cohort study confirmed that data. The current cut-off rate for minimum qualification for Calculus-I readiness is a score of 550 on the SAT-II, level 2-C examination. However, studies have shown that students within the 550-580 range are also at risk of not passing and not matriculating. Page 10286.3 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society of Engineering Education Options for Intervention: In fall 2004 our goal was to use a pilot study to begin developing a comprehensive, and scale-able, “math intervention process” for the college. Of the ~1250 entering engineering students per cohort, roughly 50% start in Calculus-I. Thus, in fall 2004 we decided to target this student population first. After assessing the effects of intervention on this population we plan to expand the intervention to engineering students in all first-semester math courses. When considering an intervention strategy, we considered both “in-semester” and “after-the-semester” types of processes. Our goal was to assist students before their life and academic dilemmas became too pronounced ⎯ and to intervene with meaningful, real-time, and corrective feedback. Given these considerations, a “within-the-semester” intervention strategy was chosen. The Interven