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APPLYING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE WORKSHOPS IN A PIPELINE PROGRAM
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a new pipeline program being developed through a partnership between the University of Dayton School of Engineering and the Dayton Public School System. The purpose of the program is to attract high school students and to prepare them for engineering careers. It is based on some components of the Academic Excellence Workshops used and proven by Minority Engineering Programs over more than 20 years. The program was implemented during the Winter Semester of 1996. National experience with the Minority Engineering Program Academic Excellence Workshops has shown that students attending workshops perform at a higher level than minority or majority students not attending workshops. This paper addresses how this concept is being applied in this pipeline program; it defines the goals, objectives, and the evaluation procedure; explains the student selection process; and describes the workshop activities.
INTRODUCTION
As the world continues its conversion from an agriculture/industrial age to an information/ technological age, society will need many more engineers and technically competent individuals. Numerous organizations are attempting to address these needs by promoting the study of engineering and the sciences in the early years of a child's development. Many research works have shown that success in an engineering program is directly correlated to the first year capabilities of the students in mathematics and science. Other research has shown that cooperative teams outperform individuals working alone. This is true both on the job and in the classroom. The University of Dayton School of Engineering has begun a pre-engineering program with the Belmont High School. The effort was initiated by the Superintendent of the Dayton School System to provide students with the prerequisites necessary to enter and complete a demanding university course of study, such as engineering or the sciences.
The program is patterned after several components of the Minority Engineering Programs which have a 20 year history of success at nearly 100 universities in recruiting, retaining, and graduating minority engineers. The specific components of the MEP used in this pre-engineering program are clustering students in their mathematics and science courses, a designated study center at the University of Dayton for collaborative learning, and providing engineering students as facilitators for structured group study in the centers. Other components of the program intended to familiarize students with engineering careers are laboratory tours, plant tours, and practicing engineers and others as guest speakers.
PROGRAM GOALS
The goals of the program are that students will be able to: schedule and enroll into the appropriate prerequisite mathematics and science courses required during the four year high school period; learn the material content to a level of demonstrated capability that will be acceptable to accredited engineering schools; take and retake standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT tests to improve test taking skills and provide learning assessment data; and achieve SAT and ACT test scores better than the national averages.
ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED
The program was developed by the University of Dayton School of Engineering and Belmont High School. Belmont High School is the Computer Technology/Engineering Magnet School of the Dayton Ohio Public School System. The Computer Technology/Engineering High School Program is designed for students considering careers in computer science, technology, or engineering.
The University of Dayton is a medium sized, Catholic, independent, comprehensive university with a total enrollment of approximately 11,000 students offering five B.S. degree programs in engineering along with four baccalaureate programs in engineering technology within the school of engineering.
PROGRAM INITIATION
About two years of planning was required prior to implementation of the program. Some of the key events that took place were:
STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM
Student Selection
The program is structured so that the students will participate for their last three years of high school. Each year the Belmont faculty chooses approximately 25 students during their freshmen year to begin the program at the beginning of their sophomore year. These students continue in the program for the three years until graduation. Thus eventually, there will be approximately 75 total students in the pre-engineering program each year. After selection, students and their parents sign a form indicating their commitment to the program.
Yearly Calendar
A calendar for the entire school year is developed which shows each program day's activities. The calendar was developed using the calendars for Belmont and UD for the school year. The calendar shows the days that normal workshops are conducted as well as special events such as plant tours and guest speakers. This allows the students, parents, and Belmont and UD administrators to plan pre-engineering and other activities around the pre-engineering program calendar.
Study Workshops
Students are transported by public school bus from the high school to the University of Dayton every Monday and Wednesday afternoon for workshops from 2:30 to 4:30. Monday and Wednesday were chosen because those days have less interference with extracurricular activities. A study center is reserved for use of the pre-engineering program on these days. The Dayton Public School System, Department of Transportation provides city bus tokens for the students to get home. Upon arrival at the study center, after-school snacks are provided by the school of engineering. The main focus of the workshops is for students to do their math, chemistry, and physics homework in a collaborative environment facilitated by University of Dayton engineering students. One facilitator is provided for each group of approximately five high school students.
The first workshops for new participants involve familiarizing the students with the university, building relationships, and teaching students how to solve problems as a group. Students were given a tour of the campus including the engineering building classrooms and labs, athletic facilities and dormitories. Many of the students only knew the other students by sight or by name so group dynamic exercises were accomplished early on for team building. Tools used in teaching group problem solving included brainstorming exercises and a survival simulation exercise; this was effective in demonstrating to the students that group problem solving is superior to individual problem solving.
Working with the High School faculty, the curricular content and textbooks for the math, chemistry, and physics courses were made available to the UD program coordinator and facilitators. In addition to homework, students are given practice SAT and ACT tests to develop their skills in test taking. It is planned to have students take SAT and ACT tests each year starting their sophomore year. This data would be used as a measure of the success of the program.
A goal of the program is to familiarize the students with the different engineering careers so that they will have a good understanding upon which to make a decision about an engineering major. Hands-on projects, course information, and career opportunities are provided periodically by UD faculty about the various engineering and technology disciplines.
Approximately once per month a plant tour is scheduled for the students to visit industrial and government facilities in the local area. The tours are done during the school day, with the students leaving school about 9:30 a.m. and returning about 1:30 p.m. The students either have lunch at the plant or stop at a fast food establishment prior to returning to school. Again transportation is provided by a public school bus. In addition to a tour of the plant, some of the organizations visited have some of their young engineers talk to the students about their experiences in college, what courses they need to emphasize, and the types of projects they are assigned in their jobs.
Program Alignment
In the first semester of the program, difficulty was experienced because of the diverse student class schedules. Some students were enrolled in Algebra I, some Algebra II, and some Geometry, and some were in different sections of the same course with different teachers. Thus, students in the same course may have been at different places in the text. This made group study and group problem solving very difficult. Now, the high school is clustering pre-engineering program students in their math and science classes.
In order to aid students in selection of appropriate courses for admission to an engineering school, a model curriculum for pre-engineering students was developed by UD and Belmont. The curriculum includes the following minimum math and science requirements:
Freshman Year: Algebra I, Biology, Computer Science
Sophomore Year: Chemistry I, Geometry
Junior Year: Chemistry II, Algebra II
Senior Year: Physics, Pre-calculus
End-of-Year Banquet
At the end of each school year, a Banquet is held at the University of Dayton for all the pre-engineering program participants. Current students are recognized by the Superintendent of Dayton Public School System and the Dean of the Engineering School for their efforts during the past year. The incoming class of Freshman students also attend and are recognized and welcomed to the program. A meeting is held the following fall prior to the start of the program for new students and parents to explain the program requirements, complete commitment forms, and orient them to the university.
LESSONS LEARNED
1. The program was developed initially to have the workshops during the week and to have special events such as plant tours, hands-on projects, and guest speakers on Saturdays. This did not work well because of competition from other activities, i.e., part-time jobs, sports, school activities, family activities, etc. It was decided that all program activities would take place during the normal workshop times except for plant tours which are during the morning of a regular school day.
2. Some students initially came to the workshops unprepared to work, i.e., without pencil, paper, school books, or calculator. Portfolios were made up with pencils, paper, the pre-engineering calendar, and other things the students need for the workshops. Students are required to bring the portfolio to each workshop. Completed work is filed in the portfolio so that at the end of the year, students have a record of what they have accomplished.
3. Attendance is taken at each workshop and feedback is provided to the high school. The high school determines if the student was present for school that day and contacts the student's parents if deemed appropriate.
4. Many of the students also participate in other programs such as sports, cheer leading, and driver's education. The program must be flexible enough to provide for these types of activities.
5. Students get bored quickly with just doing homework. Additional hands-on projects are needed and planned to keep their interest. One such project would be some type of team design project which could be worked on and completed during the senior year.
CONCLUSION
Students in K-12 will have to be attracted and prepared to meet the continuing need for engineers and other technically competent individuals in the future. Many organizations are currently attempting to address these needs by promoting the study of engineering and the sciences in the early years of a child's development. This paper has described a joint University of Dayton/Belmont High School program designed to help in that effort.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Charlie P. Edmonson is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering Technology at the University of Dayton. He helped develop the pre-engineering program and was its first director. Prior to joining the faculty at UD, he retired from the U.S. Air Force civil service after 30 years experience as an engineer and manager at numerous locations throughout the world.