Fraley, M., & Kemppainen, A., & Hamlin, A. J., & Hein, G. L. (2016, June), Confidence in Computational Problem-Solving Skills of First-Year Engineering Students  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26563

\bibitem{asee_peer_26563}
  Fraley, M., \& Kemppainen, A., \& Hamlin, A. J., \& Hein, G. L. (2016, June), \emph{Confidence in Computational Problem-Solving Skills of First-Year Engineering Students}
  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  10.18260/p.26563

Mary Fraley, Amber Kemppainen, Amy J. Hamlin, and Gretchen L. Hein.  "Confidence in Computational Problem-Solving Skills of First-Year Engineering Students".  2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2016.  https://peer.asee.org/26563 Internet.  18 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_26563}
  Mary Fraley, Amber Kemppainen, Amy J. Hamlin, and Gretchen L. Hein.
  "Confidence in Computational Problem-Solving Skills of First-Year Engineering Students".
  \emph{2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2016.
  https://peer.asee.org/26563 Internet.  18 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_26563
author = "Mary Fraley, Amber Kemppainen, Amy J. Hamlin, and Gretchen L. Hein"
title = "Confidence in Computational Problem-Solving Skills of First-Year Engineering Students"
booktitle = "2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2016"
month = "June"
address = "New Orleans, Louisiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/26563}
number = {10.18260/p.26563}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This research paper describes student perceptions of their computational problem solving skills and compares them to their performance.  Previous studies at _____ University have indicated that students inflate their perceived level of expertise using spreadsheets. This work further explores student confidence and competence on several computational problem solving skills.  To determine this, a short pretest was given to students on the first day of their beginning First-Year Engineering course.  This pretest included topics that are important for using computational tools to solve problems.  There was one question on each of the following topics: 1) unit conversions in equations, 2) mathematical order of operations, 3) absolute and relative addressing in a spreadsheet, and 4) analyzing four lines of a generic sequential code.  Following each question, students were asked to rate their confidence in their answer on a 5 point Likert scale (1 = completely confident to 5 = not at all confident).  

Initial results (n=870) from the pretest are shown in Figure 1.  For each question, responses were delineated by confidence level (Confident (1 or 2) and Not Confident (3, 4 or 5)) and correctness. Students were most confident and correct when evaluating units in equations and performing mathematical order of operations.  Students were least confident in their ability to evaluate equations in spreadsheets, specifically using absolute and relative addressing, and slightly more confident in their ability to evaluate several lines of generic sequential code.  Only a small percentage of students correctly answered these questions where they lacked confidence.  While most students accurately assessed their confidence (high confidence and correct or low confidence and incorrect), it is important to note that in all questions there are a number of students that answered the questions correctly, but lacked confidence.  These values range from 9.1% for Question 2 to 28.3% for Question 4.  Additionally, there are a smaller number of students that were overconfident, that is they answered the question incorrectly, but reported confidence in their answer, ranging from 1.5% on Question 1 to 7.0% on Question 3.  

The results from the pretest will be compared to similar questions (both skill and confidence questions) on the midterm and final exams.  Additional post-test measures will include performance on two lab practical exams, one using spreadsheets, the other using MATLAB.  To determine if there is a difference in performance or confidence between groups, responses will be compared by gender and concurrent math course group (Group 1: College Algebra and Pre-Calculus, Group 2: Calc1/1+, or Group 3: Calc II and higher).

This quick in-class pre-assessment can be used to customize the course for students in a given section when students can accurately assess their ability.  We are currently in the process of restructuring our First-Year Engineering courses and using skill level instead of math placement may be a way to place students in engineering. In addition, by looking at our comparison groups (gender and math placement) we can determine what differences exist in skill level and confidence and if our current course structure is effective at increasing skill and confidence in these different groups of students.
 
Question 1: Units in Equations
	                Incorrect	  Correct
Not Confident	   3.9%	   18.6%
Confident	           1.5%	   73.2%

Question 2: Mathematical Order of Operations	
	                Incorrect	  Correct
Not Confident	   5.7%	    9.1%
Confident	           6.4%	   78.7%

Question 3: Spreadsheet Formulas	
	                Incorrect     Correct
Not Confident	  79.4%	   10.8%
Confident	            7.0%	     2.8%

Question 4: Generic Sequential Code
	                Incorrect	  Correct
Not Confident	   53.9%	    28.3%
Confident	             6.1%	    11.7%

Figure 1. First-Year Engineering pretest on computational problem solving skills and confidence. (Figures would not paste into this text box)

AU  - Mary Fraley
AU  - Amber Kemppainen
AU  - Amy J. Hamlin
AU  - Gretchen L. Hein
CY  - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA  - 2016/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Confidence in Computational Problem-Solving Skills of First-Year Engineering Students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/26563
DO  - 10.18260/p.26563
ER  -