SAT Math Scores Research Articles

Web-Based Simulation Modules as Supplement for Enhancing Learning in Lecture and Laboratory-Based Engineering Courses

Results are presented from an NSF supported project that validate the hypothesis that students` learning gains can be enhanced through integration of web-based interactive simulation and visualization modules in engineering courses. The implemented modules were used in the supplementation mode wherein students used these modules along with conventional lecture or laboratory classes. In order to gage the effectiveness of each implemented module a group, without access to the module, and an experimental group, with access to the module, were identified. Performance of students in both groups in an identical quiz was analyzed statistically to determine if the introduction of web-based modules favorably affected students learning outcomes. Since both and experimental groups may have different demographic profiles-different age, ethnicity, gender etc.-a demographic factor analysis was also conducted for each module to assess if the impact of demographic factors rises to the level of statistical significance. Results of statistical analysis indicated that of the twenty eight learning outcomes tested in eight engineering courses, fifteen showed statistically significant improvement in quiz scores for experimental groups over corresponding groups. Even though for thirteen outcomes the quiz scores were generally higher for the experimental groups, improvement in quiz scores over the control group performance was not statistically significant. The demographic factor analysis also showed that whereas gender, ethnicity, course load and math SAT scores are not significant factors for the pedagogy of learning with the web-based simulation and visualization modules, the cumulative GPA was a significant factor in five out of nine modules. The results presented in this large scale study, spanning over three engineering disciplines, demonstrates the favorable impact of web-based simulation and visualization modules on student learning. The project has not only led to enhanced student learning in engineering courses and faculty development but it has also contributed to engineering pedagogy by demonstrating the effectiveness of web based simulation and visualization modules when used in the supplementation mode with conventional lectures or lab classes.

Knowledge Decay between Semesters

Summer learning loss has been widely studied in K-12 schooling, where the literature finds a range of results. This study provides the first evidence of summer learning loss in higher education. We analyze college students taking sequential courses with some students beginning the sequence in the fall semester and others in the spring. Those beginning in the fall experience a shorter break between the courses. We test whether the length of that gap explains the students’ performance in the subsequent course. Initial results suggest that a longer gap is associated with lower grades. However, including student fixed effects eliminates the observed knowledge decay with a few exceptions: knowledge decay remains for students in language courses, for students with below-median SAT Math scores, and for students with majors outside STEM fields.

Are Homeschoolers Prepared for College Calculus?

Homeschooling in the United States has grown considerably over the past several decades. This article presents findings from the Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) survey, a national study of 10,492 students enrolled in tertiary calculus, including 190 students who reported homeschooling for a majority of their high school years. The authors found that, compared with students who received other types of secondary schooling, students who homeschooled: (a) were demographically similar to their peers, (b) earned similar SAT Math scores, and (c) earned higher tertiary calculus grades.

Perfectionism and longitudinal patterns of stress for STEM majors: Implications for academic performance.

Complementary hypotheses suggest that perfectionism may (a) cause later stress (stress generation) and (b) moderate the effects of stress on subsequent outcomes (stress enhancement). The present study tested these hypotheses with a sample of 432 first-time college freshmen pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors. Students completed baseline perfectionism scales and repeated measures for perceived academic stress at monthly intervals 3 times in the fall semester and 3 times in the spring semester. Course grade data from institutional records were used to calculate first-year STEM grade point average (GPA) as the distal outcome in analyses. Gender, high school GPA, SAT math scores, and university were covariates. Latent profile analyses supported adaptive, maladaptive, and nonperfectionist classes and latent class growth mixture models identified distinctly low, moderate, and high patterns of academic stress over the year. Latent transition analyses indicated that maladaptive perfectionists were likely to experience moderate or high stress (none transitioned to low stress), and adaptive perfectionists were likely to have low or moderate stress (only 4% transitioned to high stress). Women were substantially more likely than male maladaptive perfectionists to experience high stress. Low-stressed adaptive perfectionists followed by moderately stressed maladaptive perfectionists had relatively higher GPAs than other groups. Subgroups of perfectionists who transitioned to the next higher stress level had substantially lower GPAs than other groups. Overall, results were consistent with stress-generation and stress-enhancement hypotheses regarding perfectionists. Findings suggested implications for prevention and intervention with perfectionistic STEM students that should be implemented early in their college experience.

Self-Monitoring Strategies as a Unique Predictor of Latino Male Student Achievement

We examined how self-monitoring (i.e., regulating one’s behaviors; Snyder, 1987) relates to Latino male achievement. In Study 1, college students (N = 413) completed self-monitoring items and reported SAT math scores. As hypothesized, self-monitoring was positively correlated with achievement for Latino male students but was unrelated to achievement for Latina and White male and female students. Study 2 used a high school sample (N = 174) and observed math performance. Analyses revealed that, again, self-monitoring was positively related to achievement for Latino male students but unrelated to achievement for Latinas. These findings demonstrate the unique effects of self-monitoring on Latino male student achievement.

When Unified Teacher Pay Scales Meet Differential Alternative Returns

This paper quantifies the extent to which unified teacher pay scales and differential alternatives produce opportunity costs that are asymmetric in math and verbal skills. Data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond 1997 and 2003 follow-ups are used to estimate a fully parametric, selection-corrected wage equation for nonteachers, which is then used to predict the wages that teachers would have received in a nonteaching career. The difference between actual teacher salaries and this prediction can be considered the opportunity cost of teaching. Moving up one standard deviation in math SAT score increases the opportunity cost of teaching by $1,500 to $2,000 four years after college, rising to $3,000 to $3,800 ten years after college. Moving up one standard deviation in verbal SAT score increases the opportunity cost by $300 four years after college, and by $1,300 ten years after college. The teacher salary gap is also decomposed into policy versus teacher-characteristic components.

Gaining Access or Losing Ground? Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students in Undergraduate Engineering, 1994—2003

Expanding access to engineering for underrepresented groups has by and large focused on ethnicity/race and gender, with little understanding of socioeconomic disadvantages. In this study, we use economic, human, and cultural capital theories to frame and then describe access to undergraduate engineering degree programs and bachelor's degrees. Using individual student-level data from 10 universities from the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) and aggregate school-level data (i.e., free-lunch status) from the Common Core of Data between 1994 and 2003, we first describe students who enter engineering programs by peer economic status (PES) with attention to gender, ethnicity/race, and SAT Math score. Second, a subset of the data is analyzed to describe access to bachelor's degrees in engineering by PES using graduation rates. The findings show an increase in access to engineering degree programs by disadvantaged students, but that access to engineering bachelor's degrees may be constrained, and especially for underrepresented ethnic/racial groups. The data highlight variable PES differences that accrue in engineering at entry and upon graduation (6 years later) across ethnic/racial groups; these differences have implications for broadening participation. Recommendations for future research and improving engineering access at the secondary and postsecondary levels are discussed.

Gaining Access or Losing Ground?: Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students in Undergraduate Engineering, 1994–2003

Expanding access to engineering for underrepresented groups has by and large focused on ethnicity/race and gender, with little understanding of socioeconomic disadvantages. In this study, we use economic, human, and cultural capital theories to frame and then describe access to undergraduate engineering degree programs and bachelor’s degrees. Using individual student-level data from 10 universities from the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) and aggregate school-level data (i.e., free-lunch status) from the Common Core of Data between 1994 and 2003, we first describe students who enter engineering programs by peer economic status (PES) with attention to gender, ethnicity/race, and SAT Math score. Second, a subset of the data is analyzed to describe access to bachelor’s degrees in engineering by PES using graduation rates. The findings show an increase in access to engineering degree programs by disadvantaged students, but that access to engineering bachelor’s degrees may be constrained, and especially for underrepresented ethnic/racial groups. The data highlight variable PES differences that accrue in engineering at entry and upon graduation (6 years later) across ethnic/racial groups; these differences have implications for broadening participation. Recommendations for future research and improving engineering access at the secondary and postsecondary levels are discussed.

Scaffolding

The current study examined relationships among online quiz parameters and students’ classroom exam scores. The authors analyzed data from undergraduate courses across four semesters. The results revealed that regardless of the different parameters set for the online quizzes, the number of attempts that students made on quizzes was unrelated to their classroom exam scores, yet the amount of time they spent on quizzes was correlated negatively with their classroom exam scores. The results also revealed that students’ scores on the online quizzes predicted their classroom exam scores, above and beyond the number of attempts, length of time allowed on quizzes, as well as their SAT Reading and SAT Math scores. The implications of these results are discussed subsequently. Future researchers may wish to provide empirical evidence on how not counting all of students’ online quiz scores toward their final grade may influence students’ quiz performance, given the anxiety that time limits can foster.

Nonparametric Survival Analysis of the Loss Rate of Undergraduate Engineering Students

BackgroundAs presented by Willet and Singer (1991), survival analysis can sensitively reveal rich information about when students leave their majors. Although survival analysis has been used to investigate student and faculty retention, it has not been applied to undergraduate engineering student retention.Purpose (Hypothesis)The impact of cohort, gender, ethnicity, and SAT math and verbal scores on the loss rate of undergraduate engineering students was investigated to answer the questions: Does the profile of risk of dropout differ among groups with different backgrounds? When are students most likely to leave engineering? Which SAT scores better predict the risk of dropout?Design/MethodUsing a large longitudinal database that includes 100,179 engineering students from nine universities and spans 19 years, nonparametric survival analysis was adopted to obtain nonparametric estimates of survival and associated hazard functions, and complete rank tests for the association of variables.ResultsThere are significant differences for early semesters: White or female students tend to leave engineering earlier than other populations. Engineering students leave engineering during the third semester the most, although students who have an SAT math score less than 550 tend to leave engineering during the second semester. SAT math score better predicts the risk of dropout than SAT verbal score.ConclusionThe results of this study support using survival analysis to better understand factors that determine student success since student retention is a dynamic problem. Survival analysis allows characteristics such as risk to be evaluated by semester, giving insight to when interventions might be most effective.

Investigation of the Relationship between Myopia and Intelligence in a Sample of Undergraduate Students

In a sample of undergraduate students, myopia was associated with higher Math and Total SAT score, and males had higher Math and Total SAT scores than females. The association between myopia and higher Math and Total SAT scores was significant only among males, and the gender differences in Math and Total SAT scores were significant only among allergic participants. There were also significant associations between ethnicity and both myopia and SAT scores, but regression analyses revealed that ethnicity, gender, and myopia each made significant independent contributions to Math SAT scores. The findings provide support for Storfer’s theory of myopia and brain growth.

Video game experience predicts virtual, but not real navigation performance

In recent years, studies have shown that video game experience is related to improvements across a variety of cognitive and visuospatial tasks. This study investigated the relationship between prior video game experience and spatial performance in virtual and real environments. Across two experiments, gaming experience was related to performance in desktop virtual environments; those with more video game experience were more accurate in pointing to nonvisible targets. In contrast, gaming experience was unrelated to three different real environment tasks, suggesting that video games may primarily influence perceptual and cognitive abilities in the visual domain over abilities that also involve kinesthetic or vestibular input. Contrary to expectations, gaming experience was also related to performance in immersive virtual environments, which may be related to the use of a joystick interface during immersive travel. Video game experience was also positively related to performance in a dynamic spatial task and to verbal SAT and math SAT scores. Sex differences in desktop virtual navigation and dynamic spatial ability were eliminated when game experience was included as a covariate.

Promoting Undergraduate Interest, Preparedness, and Professional Pursuit in the Sciences: An Outcomes Evaluation of the SURE Program at Emory University

We report on an outcomes assessment of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Using follow-up survey data and academic transcripts, we gauge SURE's impact on levels of interest in, preparedness for, and actual pursuit of graduate study and professional careers in the sciences for the program's first 15 summer cohorts (1990–2004). Our follow-up survey indicated significant increases in all research preparedness skills considered, notably in ability to give a poster research presentation, to discuss research at a graduate school interview, and to apply research ethics principles. About a third of SURE graduates went on to complete a graduate degree >90% considered SURE as important or very important in their academic development. Respondents reported postprogram increases in the level of interest in academic and research careers, and reported high levels of employment in science careers and job satisfaction. Regression analyses of Emory SURE participant transcripts revealed that participants take significantly more science courses as seniors and earn higher grades in those courses than nonparticipants. This trend held after correcting for indicators of prior interest (first-year course work, GPA, and math SAT scores), gender, and minority status. We also report on an external survey completed by SURE participants.

Student Characteristics, Pre-College, College, and Environmental Factors as Predictors of Majoring in and Earning a STEM Degree: An Analysis of Students Attending a Hispanic Serving Institution

This study examined the demographic, pre-college, environmental, and college factors that impact students’ interests in and decisions to earn a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree among students attending a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Results indicated that Hispanic students were well represented among STEM majors, and students’ decisions to declare a STEM major and earn a STEM degree were uniquely influenced by students’ gender, ethnicity, SAT math score, and high school percentile. Earning a STEM degree was related to students’ first-semester GPA and enrollment in mathematics and science “gatekeeper” courses. Findings indicate that HSIs may be an important point of access for students in STEM fields and may also provide opportunity for more equitable outcomes for Hispanic students.

Differentiating between Women in Hard and Soft Science and Engineering Disciplines

The intent of this study was to investigate characteristics that differentiate between women in soft (social, psychological, and life sciences) and hard (engineering, mathematics, computer science, physical science) science and engineering disciplines. Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study: 1996–2001(2002), a descriptive discriminant analysis was performed using a set of variables known to influence educational attainment. Results indicated that women who went into the hard science and engineering fields primarily had higher SAT math scores and, to a lesser degree, had higher high school mathematics grades, higher first-year cumulative grade point average, more contact with faculty, tended to live off campus, were enrolled in public 4-year institutions, and received less parental support.

The Effects of Peer Group Heterogeneity on the Production of Human Capital at West Point

Understanding how heterogeneity in peer group composition affects academic attainment has important implications for how schools organize students in group settings. The random assignment of cadets to companies at West Point affords an opportunity to investigate this issue empirically. Estimates of the impact of peer group heterogeneity in math SAT scores on freshmen-year academic performance reveals that more heterogeneous peer groups have positive effects on individual grades. High-ability peers account for most of the positive effect, while low-ability peers have no measureable effect. (JEL I23, J24, M54)

35,000 Principles of Economics Students: Some Lessons Learned

The principles of economics course is the most common entry point for economic education and commands more attention among researchers than any other college‐level course in the discipline. Over a period of 40 years, the senior author of this paper (K.G.E.) has taught this course to over 35,000 students at the University of Virginia. Using his teaching records, we have compiled a database of unusual size and continuity for a study of this kind. We examine conventional topics, such as the role of gender, race, and year of study, in predicting class performance. We also explore relatively unexamined territory, such as comparisons between “legacy students,” athletes, transfer students, and the general student population. Contrary to earlier findings, we find that math SAT scores are the best predictor of success in the principles course, and, consistent with earlier studies, we find a male grade premium (at the highest grade levels).

Assessing Differential Prediction of College Grades by Race/Ethnicity with a Multilevel Model

Previous research notes the importance of understanding racial/ethnic differential prediction of college grades across multiple institutions. Institutional variation in selection indices is especially important given some states’ laws governing public institutions’ admissions decisions. This paper employed multilevel moderated multiple regression to study the variation of selection indices across 30 institutions and the accuracy of selection indices in predicting college grades for students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds. Several benefits of multilevel models for cross‐institutional differential prediction studies were described and include: controlling for institutional differences in range restriction, providing reliability estimates of least squares estimates, and adjusting criterion scores for differences in coursework difficulty. The findings from this study provide evidence of institutional variation in selection indices, which challenges current laws aimed at standardizing them. Specifically, there was evidence that the predictor slope coefficients varied across institutions, in addition to the estimates that measured intercept differences for African and Asian American students. Across universities, the results mirrored previous findings: high school grade point average (GPA) differentially predicted grades for African Americans, SAT verbal scores differentially predict grades for Asian Americans, and SAT math scores were better predictors of Asian Americans’ grades.

The Effects of College Counseling Services on Academic Performance and Retention

For this study, we examined the relationship between counseling experience and college students' academic performance and retention in a sample of 10,009 college freshmen and transfer students. The results indicated that counseling experience is significantly associated with student retention: students receiving counseling services were more likely to stay enrolled in school. However, counseling experience was not related to academic performance when controlling for precollege academic performance (i.e., high school GPA, and verbal and math SAT scores). In addition, students seeking both individual and group counseling showed better academic performance than the students who received other service types.

Factors associated with academic success in the sciences

This study investigated social and psychological factors relevant to students' academic performance in the sciences, as part of an evaluation of STRONG‐CT, a program striving to increase representation of minority and first‐generation students in the sciences. College students from a large university in the northeastern U.S. volunteered to complete an online survey of social and psychological factors that were theorized to relate to academic performance in the sciences; in addition, science course grades and SAT scores were obtained from a university database for each participant. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the data; Math SAT scores were entered in the first step to control for their impact on grades and all study variables were entered in the second step. Levels of self‐efficacy for tasks vital to learning were positively related to science GPA; levels of college‐related stress were negatively related to science GPA. Additionally, students who reported going to professors for extra help were found to have higher science GPAs than those who did not. STRONG‐CT students demonstrated higher levels of self‐efficacy, were more likely to meet with professors, and reported studying for more hours per week than other students. STRONG‐CT students also had higher science GPAs than a control group. Supported by NSF‐0525379.