Professor of Mechanical Engineering Wright State University Main Campus, Ohio, United States
The inability of incoming students to advance past the traditional first-year calculus sequence is a primary cause of attrition in engineering programs nationwide. Similar curricular bottlenecks exist in other STEM disciplines, and in many ways, across all of higher education. This is of particular concern for members of underrepresented groups, as well as those who are initially underprepared for success in STEM. This workshop will describe a National Science Foundation-funded initiative at Wright State University to redefine the way engineering mathematics is taught, with the goal of increasing student retention, motivation, and success in engineering. It will include a data-driven, longitudinal analysis of program impacts on student performance, perception, and retention, and how those impacts disproportionately benefit the success of underrepresented students. Through their engagement in guided small-group discussions, workshop attendees will begin to lay the required groundwork to address curricular barriers to STEM student success at their own institutions.
