The Importance of Differential Calculus in the Performance of Enginnering Students

This study analyzed the importance of the differential calculus course for first year engineering students. The grades of all the first semester courses and a diagnostic mathematics knowledge test were collected from a sample of first year engineering students in a Mexican university. These data were analyzed using five multivariate linear regression models and a binomial regression model. These tests were conducted aiming to understand possible correlations between mathematics knowledge/performance and engineering students’ performance in their first semester courses. Results showed the importance of engineering students mathematics abilities coming from high school, finding significant correlations between the differential calculus and the diagnostic mathematics knowledge test grades and the performance of engineering students in most of their first semester courses, especially those related to their engineering major. This information should be considered by engineering educators around the world, since the grade of the differential calculus course was the lowest of all first semester courses, and most of engineering students performed poorly in the diagnostic mathematics knowledge test. These findings pinpoint the need of developing better teaching strategies to help engineering students to improve their mathematics abilities once they get to college, this way engineering educators could provide their students with the necessary tools to successfully complete their first semester of their college education.