An Analysis of Two Interventions Designed to Improve Student Performance in Engineering Calculus

Abstract

At the University of Louisville, a large, urban, institution in the southeast, undergraduate engineering students take their mathematics courses from the school of engineering. For freshman who struggle in their first engineering calculus course a long standing intervention has been to transfer these students to a remedial Introduction to Calculus course early in the semester, preventing them from likely failing math in the fall term of their freshman year. In an effort to reduce the number of students who transfer to Introduction to Calculus, the department collaborated with university academic support services to create a summer intervention program designed to strengthen students’ algebra skills. Students were targeted for the summer program based on their score on an algebra readiness exam (ARE) developed by the department faculty. An analysis of the predictive validity of the ARE and the efficacy of the summer algebra intervention are reported in this paper. ARE scores were a significant predictor of retention and performance in the first engineering calculus course. Students with higher ARE scores were more likely to remain in the course and performed better on exams and quizzes than students with lower scores. Students who participated in the summer algebra intervention program demonstrated improvement in algebra skill prior to beginning their fall coursework and were more likely to remain in the engineering calculus course. Although there was some evidence that participation in the summer program led to improved performance in the engineering calculus course, further research is necessary to determine whether benefits associated with the summer program were due to higher motivation in the participants or due to the structure of the program itself.