El interés en la química general para ingenierías y el bajo rendimiento escolar

Abstract

To explore the causes of the increasing of the failure rates in a general chemistry course delivered to students of the Engineering Faculty of Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), in Mexicali, data gathered from teachers' final grade reports from 2011 to 2015 were analyzed with linear tendency models. This index has shown an increase of around 10% over the last years. A survey was applied to students during the 2014-2 to 2015-2 semesters, and the answers were compared to their grades by means of oneway ANOVA tests. The results showed that the percentage of students that missed the final exam, or had more than 20% absences during the course, increased on this period following a linear model. Students' answers to questions related to their interest for chemistry showed that the perception of usefulness of chemistry in their careers is strongly related with their final grades. On the other hand the fulfillment of laboratory practices during high school showed a positive effect on general chemistry grades.