Testing For Prerequisites In Thermodynamics As An Assessment Tool

At Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI), bachelor degree students in mechanical engineering technology are required to take two thermodynamics courses. The second, usually taken in the upper level years, has prerequisites of calculus and the first thermodynamics course. We have found it necessary in all thermodynamics II courses taught over the past ten years to review calculus and thermodynamics I extensively. Thus we have set out to quantify how much of the prerequisites are remembered by giving a brief, in-class, closed book test on the first day of class in thermodynamics II. The test consists of multiple choice questions on simple differentiation and integration (six questions) plus thermodynamics (four questions). The tests are taken anonymously to relieve anxiety and to insure a true measure of what the students know as a group. The results of these tests will be reported in this paper with a commentary on any differences seen between fall and spring semesters. The overall results are not encouraging: no class has scored above 50 percent, with a three semester average of 46.1 percent.