Old School Catalog 1924-25, The Engineering School

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Life After Calculus: 20 Years Later

In 1996 Math Horizons interviewed a group of students at the Joint Mathematics Meetings; now, 20 years later, one of those students, Darren Glass, interviews another group of students

Building a Summer Bridge Program to Increase Retention and Academic Success for First-Year Engineering Students

This paper reports on a grant-funded summer bridge program developed for incoming first-year engineering students who were not academically prepared to start Calculus 1. The six-week,residential, pre-college program was offered for the first time in the summer of 2014. The primary purpose of the program was to help students develop in their math proficiency so they could begin their freshman year on track toward their engineering or computer science degree.The summer bridge program was developed in conjunction with a multi-year grant-funded retention program at the School of Engineering at the University of X, a private, Catholic institution serving approximately 3700 undergraduate students; of those 3700, approximately 700 are engineering students.Program Objectives. The program was informed by Social Constructivist Learning Theory, which asserts that learning and development cannot occur outside of social and environmental contexts. To increase retention and success of first-year engineering students, the summer bridge program was designed to 1) Allow students to enter their freshman year on-track academically and gain exposure to college-level coursework; 2) Provide the information and support necessary to ensure a smooth transition into college; 3) Enhance student interest in and commitment to the engineering field; and 4) Help students build community on campus.Program Details There were 240 engineering students who entered the University of X in Fall 2014. Of those 240,42 did not place into Calculus 1, making them eligible for the summer bridge program; 11 students participated in the summer bridge program. The entire cost of the program, excluding meals, was subsidized by the grant, providing access for students with high financial need. During the bridge program, students took Pre-Calculus II and Intro to Theology, allowing those who completed both courses to enter their first year one course ahead. In addition to taking classes, students also participated in site visits to local companies, and attended workshops intended to introduce students to campus life. Throughout their time in the program, participants lived in the same residence hall and had the support of a peer mentor, who served as an academic and social resource for students. Assessment: There were three assessments conducted during the summer bridge program: a pre-assessment survey at the beginning of the program, and a post-assessment survey and focus group after the conclusion of the program. Data from the pre-assessment survey demonstrated that most students’ expectations were to build fundamental math skills, to learn more about the engineering field, and to get acquainted with University of X. Data from the post-assessment survey and focus group demonstrated that students felt that after completing the program they had improved in their math and writing skills, learned about the field of engineering, and had been successfully oriented to college. Although it is too early to determine the long-term academic trajectory of the 11 participants, based on assessment data already collected, it appears as though the summer program was successful in many of its stated goals

Small-Scale and Large-Scale Interventions to Improve [State] Student’s College Readiness

We are conducting two interventions aimed at improving entering students’ college readiness and mathematics placement. The small-scale intervention is aimed at working with students on the university campus. Students who are targeted have high school course work indicating that they have experience in Calculus or Pre-Calculus courses, but whose placement tests have not indicated they are ready for Calculus. At our institution this is a significant number of students and the goal of the project is to develop methods to address and accelerate students in this category. The course design, to take advantage of the students’ prior experience, emphasizes practice and mastery using a commercial software [1]. The large-scale intervention is a high school course developed by [Author1] for local high schools. Students who have completed their high school mathematics course work but who have not achieved the state’s college readiness standard [2] are targeted. The students in the course have had experience in their high school classes in all of the concepts in the state standard, but have not had the chance to practice and master the material. The course we have developed emphasizes practice and mastery like the small-scale one, but participating school districts could not afford the commercial software. Thus we have built a course around the WebWork software [3] that is available through a free and open license. [1] Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces, https://www.aleks.com/ , McGraw Hill. [2] [State] College and Career Readiness Standard and Assessment [3] WebWork Homework Software, http://webwork.maa.org/ , Mathematical Association of America

Utilizing an Emporium Course Design to Improve Calculus Readiness of Engineering Students

The intervention has targeted incoming students in Engineering and Computer Sciencedegrees. Participating students were selected who had a record of participation in Pre-Calculus classes in high school, but who had not demonstrated their readiness to take Calcu-lus, as measured by placement tests and existing credit. The course design uses an emporiummethod, specifically the Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) software,in a computer lab to deliver to students an intensive program of mathematical practice andexploration. The course design is meant to take advantage of students? existing knowledge,rewarding them for it in fact, and focus them on specific Algebra and Trigonometry topicsin which they need more practice and one-on-one instruction [1, 2]. The purpose of this activity is to accelerate the Calculus preparedness for a subset ofstudents held back due to standardized test scores and perhaps limited mastery of the prereq-uisite content. The benefits are improved engineering readiness, reduced time-to-graduation,and improved performance in gatekeeper courses. To maintain student interest, and connect the problems and topics they are working indetail on, we included in the course cooperative activities with engineering problems asso-ciated with railway safety and transportation; making use of tours of existing laboratoriesand experimental apparatuses. This combination of a problem focused course, tailored toindividual student?s needs and experiences, emphasizing mastery, and then motivated bydirect connections to current engineering problems and research is providing for an impor-tant improvement in the engineering degree experience for a subset of students who wouldtraditionally be at a disadvantage in their program.References[1] Twigg, C. A. (2011, May-June). The Math Emporium: Higher Education’s Silver Bullet. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning.[2] Fine, A., Duggan, M., & Braddy, L. (2009). Removing remediation requirements: Effec- tiveness of intervention programs. PRIMUS, 19(5), 433?446

The Efficacy of the South Dakota State University Summer Jacks LeaP Program

Today, several studies detail the continuing struggle many students have with college mathematics courses at universities across the United States. The South Dakota State University Summer Jacks LeaP program is a summer bridge mathematics program aimed at improving incoming students’ mathematics success. This analysis used a mixed methods research design to examine the efficacy of the Summer Jacks LeaP program. First, we analyzed the LeaP students’ homework averages, exam 1 scores, final exam scores, and overall grade scores to determine if they were finding success in their fall semester mathematics courses. We also used hypothesis testing to compare LeaP participants to non-LeaP students to see if there was a difference in their performances. Throughout the comparison, we looked at the total percentage of D grades, F grades, or Withdrawals from a course, time spent in the LeaP program, and Math Index Scores. For the qualitative portion of the research design, we surveyed Summer Jacks LeaP participants to ask about their experience and conducted a focus group interview with a couple of former LeaP students. The survey responses were analyzed to determine if the participants found the program helpful in improving their mathematics success. From the focus group transcript, common themes emerged that helped us determine the value of the program to participants

Two-Tiered Summer Bridge Programming for At-Risk Engineering and Computer Science Students

In this paper, we report on the summer bridge programs offered by University of Portland to support “at-risk” freshman and sophomore engineering students. We define “at-risk” students as first and second-year students in good academic standing (i.e., not on academic probation) who are behind in their degree progress, either because they were not calculus ready when they started college, or because they did not earn a sufficient grade in one or more courses during their first two years in college. Each program targets students at a different point in their education: incoming freshmen and rising sophomores. We developed these bridges in conjunction with a grant-funded retention program and they have evolved based on quantitative and qualitative assessment data. By implementing these interventions, we hope to address the two major leaks in our retention pipeline: between the first and third semester and between the third and fifth semester, so that students graduate within a four-year timeframe that aligns with their financial aid

Connecting Urban Students with their Rivers Generates Interest and Skills in the Geosciences

This article provides an overview of two different enrichment programs for urban high school students from the Greater Hartford Area of Connecticut that were conducted during the summer of 2002. They were designed to expose students entering the tenth grade to Earth Science as a problem solving science in a challenging and supportive atmosphere. This was done by focusing on understanding watersheds and water quality using primarily chemical techniques on samples collected from the Connecticut River and adjacent waters. The students worked in groups of one to three and student-faculty ratios that did not exceed three to one provided close supervision and individual attention. The majority of the students indicated that the programs were a positive experience and that they developed a greater appreciation for the science and would recommend these programs to other students. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Living-learning communities improve first-year engineering student academic performance and retention at a small private university

Living-Learning Communities (LLCs), in which students share a residence, one or more classes, and extracurricular activities, have been shown to improve first-year student engagement, academic performance, and retention in non-engineering fields. Research on Engineering LLCs has focused primarily on student engagement. Two studies to examine performance and retention found that LLCs had little effect on first-semester grades but increased first-year retention in engineering by 2 to 12%. Unfortunately, one of these studies did not control for differences in incoming student characteristics, and another used a comparison group that differed little from the LLC group, possibly causing them to understate the LLC’s true effects. To improve our understanding, this paper examines performance and retention in the inaugural Engineering LLCs at a small, private non-profit, regional university in the northeastern United States. Results indicate that 82% of the Engineering LLC participants were retained within the engineering program, compared to 66% of first-year engineering students who chose not to participate. More strikingly, the average first-semester GPA of the LLC participants was 0.31 points (nearly a third of a letter grade) higher than that of the non-participants. To address the possibility that these improvements were caused by differences in incoming student characteristics, linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to control for gender, race/ethnicity, SAT scores, and other factors. These analyses suggest that LLC participation increased GPA by 0.35 points compared to first-year engineering students from prior years, while non-participation lowered GPA by 0.07 points. LLC participation increased the odds of retention in the major by 2.3 times compared to first-year students from prior years, while nonparticipation lowered the odds of retention by 1.35 times