A Comparison Study of Students Performance for Vector Calculus Subject

Abstract

The research objective was to compare the performance of Engineering students in a pretest and post-test of Vector Calculus subject between programmes during their first year of study at the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FKAB), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). This paper also aims to investigate the student's knowledge in Vector Calculus, particularly in main topics including partial derivatives, vector functions, line integrals, double integrals, triple integrals, Green's Theorem, Stokes' theorem, Gauss' theorem, and basic differentiation and integration of complex functions. Each topic is included in Course learning outcomes to analyze either the students show a good or bad performance for Vector calculus subject. 412 first year engineering students from different programmes JKAS, JKMB, JKKP and JKEES were needed to seat for pretest and post-test (Test 1, 2 and 3). The pretest was performed in early of the semester, while the post-test was held afterwards. The analysis results revealed that the performance of students in the post-test was outstanding to their pretest performance. Data analysis of student performance indicated that most students did not seem to understand the basic ideas in each chapter prior to the beginning of the semester.