Implementing an engineering applications of mathematics course at the university of arkansas and assessing retention impact

Abstract

One of the hindrances to retention at a public university engineering program with open enrollment is that many students are not prepared for the rigorous curriculum requirements of the first year. In fact, recent increases in enrollment coupled with changes in the math placement guidelines at the University of Arkansas (UofA) have resulted in a significant number of students that are not qualified to begin their course of study in Calculus I. The majority of these students are qualified to begin their course of study one math class behind Calculus I. Traditionally, these students have enrolled in Precalculus. However, in fall 2010, we implemented an Engineering Applications of Mathematics (E-Math) course as an alternative to the Precalculus course. E-Math is modeled after a similar course developed at Wright State University [1]. The course covers many of the topics from the Precalculus course (in the context of engineering applications) as well as topics heavily used in sophomore-level engineering courses (including derivatives and integrals). To date, over 370 students have taken the course, and an additional 66 students are enrolled this spring. In this paper, we discuss the evolution of the E-Math course structure since its implementation including our work with the Department of Mathematical Sciences in having the course recognized as a prerequisite to the Calculus I course. We evaluate the retention rates and progression through the math sequence of students that took E-Math and compare those results with students that took the traditional Precalculus course to the cohort as a whole. We also discuss our attempts to address issues associated with students who enter our program two math classes behind Calculus I. Specifically, we discuss the implementation of a course developed to have the students calculus ready in a single semester. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2013.