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Components of a Year-Long Bridge Program for Minority Engineering Students

Minnie M. McGee, Audeen W. Fentiman The Ohio State University

Abstract

Historical data gathered and assessed as part of the Gateway Engineering Education Coalitio n program at The Ohio State University indicated that only about 1 in 10 minority engineering students with math placement below college algebra completed a degree in engineering. A significant fraction of incoming minority engineering students, some with excellent high school grades, do not perform well on Ohio State’s math placement test and begin their math sequence below college algebra. A year-long series of activities was proposed to improve these students’ chances of completing an engineering degree. This paper describes three of those activities and provides some preliminary data on the results. The first activity was a course entitled Strategies for Academic Success. This course was open to all minority engineering students since the skills presented could be of benefit to all, and the older or stronger students could provide some leadership in class. The second activity, a mathematics tutoring session conducted by College of Engineering faculty and staff, provided one-on-one instruction in math along with tips on how to study efficiently. Beginning students who placed below college algebra were asked to participate in this activity. All minority engineering freshmen were invited to participate in the third activity which involved weekly study sessions with individual counseling for students. A separate study session was organized for each math course, from college algebra through differential equations, so students in a given course could work together on assignments. A graduate teaching assistant attended each session. Students who participated in the activities appear to be more successful than those who did not. However, the number of participants was small, and students who could benefit most from the help were often reluctant to attend.

Introduction

Since 1977, Ohio State University’s Minority Engineering Program has conducted a summer bridge program called PREFACE. PREFACE is a six-week academic program which serves about 25 students each year. Participants live on campus and spend five full days each week in class or study sessions. They study college-level material in math, chemistry, physics/engineering mechanics, and engineering graphics taught by university instructors and at a pace typical of university classes. Following the academic program, many of the students participate in a six-week internship in industry, putting their skills to use and learning more about what engineers do.

Data from a 10-year Gateway-sponsored study of enrollment and graduation rates of minority engineering students at The Ohio State University shows that the academic performance and graduation rate of PREFACE participants are generally better than those of minority engineering students who have similar backgrounds but who did not have the PREFACE experience. However, students in the PREFACE program are generally ones who begin their math sequence

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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McGee, M., & Fentiman, A. (2002, June), Components Of A Year Long Bridge Program For Minority Engineering Students Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10534