Retention of Undergraduate Students in EngineeringKaran Watson, Ph.D., P.E.Associate Dean of Engineering andRegents’ Professor of EE

How are we doing now? Between 1990-1995 there was an average of

90,136 students entering the first-year of engineering programs (this excludes community college and undeclared students)

Between 1994-2000 there was an average of 64,118 students graduating with BS degrees in engineering.

Who leaves the programs?

Not necessarily the students with lowest SAT or ACT

Not necessarily just students with low grades

Not necessarily the least creative

Many with strong leadership talents

Greater proportion of women Greater proportion of minorities

Why do they say they are leaving:the literature

Switch StayPoor teaching by SME teachers 90 74Inappropriate initial choice 83 40Inadequate advising or help 75 52Loss of interest in SME 60 36Other majors are more interesting 59 32Curriculum overload, pace overwhelming 45 41Rewards not worth the effort 43 20SME career not condusive to lifestyle 43 21Inadequate HS prep/study skills 40 38Lost confidence due to grades 34 13More appealing non-SME career 33 17Financial problems to complete SME 30 23Morale undermined by competitive culture 28 9Conceptual difficulty with SME subject(s) 27 25Lack of study group support 17 7Found of aptitude for non-SME subjects 12 5

Elaine SeymourRevisitng the “Problem Iceberg”:

Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Students Still Chilled Out-

Journal of College Science Teaching, May 95

For student on 11 campuses who began college majoring in science, math, or engineering: % listing this concern(N=335)

Has anything changed2. Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, and the E.R.A. have always been

dead.4. Somebody named George Bush has been on every national ticket, except one, since

they were born.7. A “45” is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the center.10. MASH and The Muppet Show have always been in re-runs.12. They have always bought telephones, rather than rent them from AT&T.13. The year they were born, AIDS was found to have killed 164 people; 15. Wars begin and end quickly; peace-keeping missions go on forever.16. There have always been ATM machines.18. We have always been able to receive television signals by direct broadcast

satellite.22. They have never referred to Russia and China as “the Reds.”23. Toyotas and Hondas have always been made in the United States.24. There has always been a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.26. Around-the-clock coverage of congress, public affairs, weather reports, and rock

videos have always been available on cable.28. Women sailors have always been stationed on U.S. Navy ships.29. The year they were born, the New York Times announced that the “boom in video

games,” a fad, had come to an end.37. Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone.40. Hurricanes have always had men’s and women’s names.42. “Coming out” parties celebrate more than debutantes..47. They have never used a bottle of “White Out.”48. If they vaguely remember the night the Berlin Wall fell, they are probably not sure

why it was up in the first place.49. “Spam” and “cookies” are not necessarily foods.50. They feel more danger from having sex and being in school, than from possible

nuclear war.

Beloit College- Mindset List

High School Completers with Some College

In the last 30 years we went from ~42% of HS graduates attending some college to ~65%

Change in math patterns% HS Graduates earning math credit

01020304050607080

Basic/

Applie

d

Genera

l

Algebr

a 1

A;gebra

2

Geometry

Calculas

19821987

1990

1994

% of Math Courses Taught

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

Remedial PreCalc Calc Advance

1970

1980

1985

1990

1995

Good news: more students in college prep maths

News: more students need remedial math,And less are ready for college calculus

Freshmen Students in Engineering Needing Remedial Work in Science or Math (1995)

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0

All students

Male

Female

White

Asian

Black

Hispanic

Native American

Math

Science

What retention problem are you working on More engineering graduates More diverse engineering

graduates Better engineering graduates Possibly more and more diverse

incoming students

All require more work

Issues for TAMU engineering retention in 1994:

The University (who decides new student admissions) wanted us to have a greater number of incoming students, both new high school grads and transfer students, and they would not increase our resources to teach more in upper levels. (We are a good recruiting mechanism for the rest of the University). The only filter we have is on who gets into upper level by using GPA.

We wanted women and minority retention to be at least as good as other groups in the college, and it was not.

We wanted to be sure that ‘good’ students persisted. Our data showed more students exited for reasons other than grades than we desired.

Adapting the Learning Environment

Early context and reality

BetterTeaching forDiversity

Better community of learners

IndustryParticipating

Integrated materialsand faculty

MeaningfulDesign Projects

Technology & Labs

Engineering early

Organized Enthusiasm Diverse FormativeFor learners for material Styles Evaluator

Independent

Random Groups

Organized Groups

Communities

InclusiveCommunities

Plan at TAMU

Early context and reality

BetterTeaching forDiversity

Better community of learners

IndustryParticipating

Integrated materialsand faculty

MeaningfulDesign Projects

Technology & Labs

Engineering early

Organized Enthusiasm Diverse FormativeFor learners for material Styles Evaluator

Independent

Random Groups

Organized Groups

Communities

InclusiveCommunities

Change the Classrooms and Instruction Style

Various TAMU Interventions

Various Interventions 1997

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Total Females Underrep Min

1 Yr

Ret

entio

n Traditional

FC

CREW

MAPs

Phase 1

In 1997: Total for college was n=1265Total for FC Integrated Courses was 230Total for CREW Womens’ 1 Yr Dorm Clusters was 65Total for MAPs Women Student/Pro Mentoring was 85Total for Phase 1 5wk summer students needing Math

Remediation was 44

Participation in FCParticipation FY

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

94 95 96 97 98 99 00

FC Courses

FC ILCs

Participation SY

0%

10%20%

30%

40%

50%60%

70%

80%90%

100%

95 96 97 98 99 00

FC Courses

FC ILCs

Examples of Texas A&M Engineering Data

In 1994:Women’s 1st yr retention was 3% lower than men’sAnd Underrep min. was 6% lower than non-minorities

In 1999:Women’s 1st yr retention was 1% higher than men’sAnd Underrep min. was 2% higher than non-minorities

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

1994

/95

1995

/96

1996

/97

1997

/98

1998

/99

1999

/00

% o

f gro

up re

tain

ed a

fter 1

yr

TradFC

Top 10% from HS and 20 pt drop in SATM median

No Pre-calc studentsin FC Pilots

required retention to have 1000 sophomores

RequiredFY retentionto have1100new freshmenprogress to SY

Target retention of larger group of low SATM Beginning in 1998 the State of Texas decided that

all top 10% HS graduates must be admitted to major of choice.

At TAMU SATM and SATV accounts for ~10% of GPA variance, and HS rank accounts for ~28% of GPA variance

TAMU 1998 Entering Engineers

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

450-499

500-549

550-599

600-649

650-699

700-749

750-800

SATM score

% o

f ret

aine

d

Beginning

After 1 yr

After 2 yrs

MeanMedian

432students stayed

495students stayed

TAMU 1995 Entering Engineers

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

450-499

500-549

550-599

600-649

650-699

700-749

750-800

SATM

% re

tain

ed Beginning

After 1 yr

After 2 yrs

94students stayed

432students stayed

On average, students in the clusters are one and two year retention is better

88.1

63.2

91.3

59.6

89.8

76.1

95.5

62.7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Not Clustered Clustered Twice

ONE

YEAR R

ETEN

TION Female

MaleNonminorityMinority

49.2

80.6

50.5

85.7

46.8

83.6

63

90.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Not Clustered Clustered Twice

TWO Y

EAR R

ETEN

TION Female

MaleNonminorityMinority

Gains in conceptual understanding of force concepts (FCI), mechanics

concepts (MBT), and calculus concepts (Duke) for first-year

students.

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

Gain in units of

SD

FCI MBT Duke

96-trad 96-fc 98-All

SEMESTERS FROM ENROLLEMENT TO PROGRESSION

2.3333 2.3273

2.6667

2.47

2.596

2.4316

2.6296

2.5

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

Not Clustered Clustered Twice

FemaleMaleNonminorityMinority

On average, students in the clusters are finishing CBK faster

All Statistically significant except female

2.7797

2.8582

2.5704

2.8167

2.6353

2.8193

2.5114

2.8636

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

Not Clustered Clustered Twice

GPA

IN 11X

FemaleMaleNonminorityMinority

2.88482.844

2.5501

2.8815

2.6249

2.8632

2.5959

2.9335

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

3

Not Clustered Clustered Twice

GPA

IN C

BK

FemaleMaleNonminorityMinority

On average, students in the clusters are performing better grade wise

All stat.sig. exceptfemale

Interesting Observations for Classroom Changes

Risk Taking(normalized to max possible score)

Creativity (normalized to max possible score)

1.9

2.3

2.7

2.9

3.1

Size of cluster reflects proportion of students in the cluster and number in the cluster reflects the mean GPA for the cluster

0.5 1.0

1.0

Risk Taking(normalized to max possible score)

Creativity (normalized to max possible score)

1.9

2.3

2.7

2.9

3.1

Size of cluster reflects proportion of students in the cluster and number in the cluster reflects the mean GPA for the cluster

0.5 1.0

1.0

Factors are ACL-active and collaborative learning, TEE-Technology enhanced education, INT- course integration

– Total Retention ACL=INT>>TEE– Female Retention ACL>INT>>TEE– Male Retention INT>ACL>>TEE– Minority Retention ACL>INT>>TEE

– Physics Concepts & Grades ACL>INT>>TEE

– Calculus Concepts and Grades TEE>INT>>ACL