Effect of math competency on success in engineering science courses

Abstract

A few decades ago, only students with a strong math and science background would seriously consider pursuing a career in engineering. Today, with the exception of highly selective colleges - it is common among many engineering programs around the nation to admit students at varying levels of math competency. At the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, many students begin in the pre-engineering program if they enter college with a perceived low level of math competency reflected by poor performance in the math placement test. Consequently, they end up spending several semesters taking remedial math courses before beginning the calculus sequence and getting accepted in the engineering program. In an effort to understand and serve students better, the effect of math competency on their success in engineering science courses and possible retention in the program is being studied through a survey. The results of this survey are expected to provide us with a better insight into the math preparedness of our high school recruits. The collected data indicates that there is a direct correlation between perceived math preparation and confidence level in early engineering courses. The data from this survey will be used in our college to formulate an effective intervention strategy. In this paper, the details of the survey and the results are presented. Possible suggestions for future directions are also discussed. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.