Conference Session

Projects and Problems in First-Year Courses

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Senay Purzer, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

instructors takingstudents’ gender, ethnicity, engineering skills, science backgrounds, and leadership skills intoconsideration. All teams were composed of three or four members. Two of the teams weremixed-gender and each one included two male and two female members. Students’ initial andfinal self-efficacy scores were measured using an engineering self-efficacy instrument designedin alignment with the course objectives. Page 14.1188.4Selection of Case StudiesThree students, Bryan, Eric, and Alex (the most supportive, the most responsive, and the mostdisruptive) were chosen for in-depth analysis. All student names reported in this paper

Conference Session

Goal Specific First-Year Courses

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lesley Strawderman, Mississippi State University; Bill Elmore, Mississippi State University; Arash Salehi, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

did not present any significantcorrelations with efficacy. However, the number of high school preparatory courses (e.g.calculus, physics) was significantly correlated with the third measurement of academic self-efficacy (0.476, p = 0.006). The positive correlation signifies that students who took morepreparatory courses achieved higher levels of academic self-efficacy by the end of the semester.Additional significant correlations are found in Table 6.Students who experienced an increase in academic self-efficacy throughout the semester reportedsignificantly higher results for two outcome variables: perceived quality (p = 0.017) andsatisfaction (p = 0.034). Additionally, students who reported an increase in academic self-efficacy throughout

Conference Session

Beyond the Engineering Classroom

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cindy Veenstra, Engineering education consultant

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

earned afirst-year GPA less than 2.000. In their conclusions, Zhang et al. stated, “We hypothesize thecausal link that student self-efficacy improves with academic success and self-efficacy lead toimproved retention.”6 In contrast, the Seymour and Hewitt study found no strong relationshipbetween academic performance and retention in STEM programs.7Within engineering, Calculus I is considered a gateway course to success in engineering. Correctplacement into either Pre-Calculus or Calculus I has received substantial research. Because of thecalculus content in the majority of engineering courses, successful completion of Calculus I, witha very good to excellent understanding of the calculus concepts is important for other courses inthe freshman

Conference Session

Exploring Retention

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeong Hwan Choi, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Jacob Marszalek, University of Missouri, Kansas City; Joyce Lee, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Susan Linnemeyer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

. Self-efficacy of studying physics was decreased. There was nochange in motivation, willingness to work in groups, and willingness to ask for help. Page 14.596.16 Table 5. Pre-post assessment of self-assessed abilities and skills. Figure 11. Change of self-assessed ability and skill.ICE program participants perceived that the most challenging barrier of being a successfulengineering student was an intense course schedule. Difficulties with time management, poorhigh school preparation, ability to compete with top students, and financial stress followed