Asee peer logo

Understanding Students in Times of Transition: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Engineering Students' Math Readiness and Transition into Engineering

Download Paper |

Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

Mathematics Division (MATH) Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Mathematics Division (MATH)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/48195

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Olivia Ryan Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

visit author page

Olivia Ryan is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She holds a B.S. in engineering with a specialization in electrical engineering from Roger Williams University. Her research interests include developing professional skills for engineering students and understanding mathematics barriers that exist within engineering.

visit author page

biography

Susan Sajadi Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

visit author page

Susan Sajadi is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech in the department of engineering education. She has a BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education Systems and Design from Arizona State University. Prior, she worked as an engineer in the medical device industry.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges in education and significantly impacted learning. During 2020 and 2021, education pivoted to an online format, and many students struggled in this environment. Mathematics was one of the subjects most affected by online learning. At a large R1 university in the mid-Atlantic region, more engineering students than ever before entered their first year, placing in Pre-Calculus instead of Calculus 1, and were classified as pre-math-ready. Being ‘math ready’ and placing into Calculus 1 is critical for engineering students due to the engineering curriculum's reliance on mathematics and the barriers related to the subject. This study shares the experiences of 15 first-year engineering students who were behind in math during the 2022-2023 academic year. Most participants were in their sophomore year of high school, taking Algebra, when the pandemic shifted everything online. The following year, their junior year, the participants navigated Pre-Calculus, and we highlight the participant's varying learning experiences. We found that students faced three type of transitions: 1) COVID Transition, 2) Transition to the University, and 3) Transition into Engineering and couple the transitions with Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to present our findings. We found that students had various experiences that impacted their math readiness and subsequent transition to the university and into engineering. Additionally, students utilized different supports and strategies to help them through each transition. By recognizing students' varied backgrounds, preparation, and experiences transitioning into engineering, the field can adapt to create a curriculum that meets the needs of all students. Due to the enrollment cliff, engineering programs no longer have the luxury of weeding out students and must update their practices to support pre-math-ready students in engineering.

Ryan, O., & Sajadi, S. (2024, June), Understanding Students in Times of Transition: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Engineering Students' Math Readiness and Transition into Engineering Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48195

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015