Broadening Participation in Engineering: Workshop on Reducing Attrition in Precalculus Pathways

获得工程学位有很多途径，所有这些途径都要通过微积分。在南卡罗来纳州，微积分以下的工程专业学生和准备进入大学微积分的学生之间存在着显著的种族和社会经济差异。来自代表性不足的少数民族背景的工程专业学生比他们的白色同行更有可能在微积分以下。这种差距转化为工程学位完成率的巨大差距。缩小差距和扩大参与工程通过减少减员率沿着预微积分途径工程学位需要中学，两年制大学和四年制大学共同努力，以确定障碍，并制定协调的行动计划，克服这些障碍。该项目将汇集来自南卡罗来纳州选定的中学和中学后机构的30个行动小组，每三人参加为期两天的讲习班。该项目旨在实现三个目标：1。确定机构内部和机构之间成功的共同障碍，2.建立跨机构的合作关系; 3.建立在现有的最佳实践，以制定具体的行动计划，减少precalculus学生之间的摩擦。该项目将有助于了解具体的焦点预测最相关的precalculus途径工程学位的南卡罗来纳州的学生，特别是那些谁是第一代大学生和/或来自种族代表性不足或低社会经济背景。从研讨会收集的数据将帮助我们了解工程成功的障碍，认为教师和管理人员在中学和大专院校。讲习班期间制定的行动计划将建立一系列潜在的试点研究，以解决道路上沿着特定点的具体障碍，并为减少自然减员的大规模干预措施奠定基础。这些行动计划可以作为试点项目或概念验证全州范围内的干预措施，以扩大第一代大学生，种族代表性不足的少数民族和低收入家庭的学生的工程参与。从该项目和随后的干预措施中吸取的经验教训可以推广到人口结构类似的其他系统。出现的主题将增加我们对高中课程选择，高等教育机构的选择以及第一门大学数学课程的放置和表现之间复杂相互作用的理解。

There are many pathways to an engineering degree and all of them pass through calculus. In South Carolina, there is a significant racial and socioeconomic disparity between engineering students who place below calculus and those who enter college calculus-ready. Engineering ­intending students from underrepresented minority backgrounds are significantly more likely to place below calculus than their white counterparts. That disparity translates into a dramatic gap in engineering degree completion rates. Narrowing the gap and broadening participation in engineering by reducing attrition rates along the precalculus pathway to an engineering degree requires that secondary schools, two-year colleges, and four-year colleges work together to identify barriers and develop coordinated action plans for surmounting those barriers. The project will bring together 30 action teams of three people from selected secondary and post-secondary institutions across South Carolina for a two-day workshop. The project is designed to meet three goals:1. Identify common barriers to success within institutions and between institutions,2. Establish cross-institutional collaborations, and3. Build upon existing best practices to develop specific action plans for reducing attrition among precalculus students.The project will contribute to understanding the specific focal predictors most relevant to precalculus pathways to engineering degrees for South Carolina students, particularly those who are first-generation college students and/or from racially underrepresented or low socioeconomic backgrounds. The data collected from the workshop will help us understand the barriers to engineering success as perceived by faculty and administrators in secondary and post-secondary colleges. Action plans developed during the workshop will establish a range of potential pilot studies for addressing specific barriers at specific points along the pathways, and will set the stage for larger-scale interventions to reduce attrition. These action plans may serve as pilot projects or proof of concept for statewide interventions to broaden the engineering participation of first-generation college students, racially underrepresented minorities, and students from lower-income families. The lessons learned from the project and from subsequent interventions may be transferable to other systems with similar demographics. Themes that emerge will increase our understanding of the complex interactions between high school course selection, choice of higher education institution, and placement and performance in the first college math course.