Background: Graduation rates in engineering programs continue to be a concern in higher education. Prior research has documented an association between students' experiences in first-year mathematics courses and graduation rates, but the influences of the mathematics courses completed and the grades earned are not fully understood. Purpose: The…

With new technology tools available for educators and students, effectively using these tools to improve teaching and learning has become a constant theme for research and practice in the field of education. In this study, case-analysis was conducted on 305 published studies (from 140 peer-reviewed regional, national and international journals)…

Previous research suggests that in classes that take an integrated approach to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, students tend to engage in fulfilling goals of their engineering design challenges, but only inconsistently engage with the related math and science content. The present research examines these inconsistencies…

The article describes the development and evaluation of a web-based pre-course in mathematics, delivered to four cohorts of engineering students at a German university. Based on demographic, personal, and learning-related data relationships between students' preconditions, their learning gains in the pre-course, and study success in the degree…

Active learning methodologies (ALM) are associated with student success, but little research on this topic has been pursued at the community college level. At a local community college, students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses exhibited lower than average grades. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use…

In early 1995, the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) sought permission to terminate three existing engineering technology degree programs and replace them with a single Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) degree. As part of the requirements to proceed with the implementation of an engineering program, the University of Tennessee system…

National efforts to transform undergraduate biology education call for research experiences to be an integral component of learning for all students. Course-based undergraduate research experiences, or CUREs, have been championed for engaging students in research at a scale that is not possible through apprenticeships in faculty research…

Two first-year engineering mathematics courses used computer-aided assessment (CAA) to provide students with opportunities for formative assessment via a series of weekly quizzes. Most students used the assessment until they achieved very high (>90%) quiz scores. Although there is a positive correlation between these quiz marks and the final…

Critical to many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career paths is mathematical modeling--specifically, the creation and adaptation of mathematical models to solve problems in complex settings. Conventional standardized measures of mathematics achievement are not structured to directly assess this type of mathematical…

Despite a growing national need to develop capabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), many men and women who are considered talented in these areas during high school choose not to pursue STEM undergraduate majors. A purpose of the current study was to better understand factors that contribute to an individual's…

This study examined the relationship between various admissions selection criteria utilized by a small, Liberal Arts College in Indiana. More specifically, the study examined if a higher college preparatory GPA and a higher aggregate score on the SAT helped predict the retention of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business…

Specialized public high schools of science, mathematics, and technology are commonly viewed as the "crown jewel" of their respective school districts and, many times, of their respective states. These schools are intended to coalesce the most academically talented, science-focused students in each district or state and typically draw excellent…

Scholastic aptitude, mathematics achievement, and high school rank were used as college entry predictors of achievement in a foundation engineering curriculum for 1,779 freshmen enrolling in engineering at the University of Texas at Austin during the years 1974-77. Achievement in the foundation engineering curriculum was measured by taking…

A primary gateway to a career in engineering is the attainment of the bachelor of science degree in engineering. In contrast, a common barrier to becoming an engineer is failure to attain the degree. Those variables that are related to college graduation are often in place prior to college admission. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

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…