Predicting student performance to help the groups at risk
Conference Paper
Overview
Additional Document Info
View All
Overview
abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of overall academic capability of students on their performance in the Environmental Control Systems courses offered by the Department of Construction Science, Texas A&M University. It is indicated by a number of studies that student performance is affected the overall academic capability of a student, measured by Grade Point Average. Some other studies suggest that student characteristics, class size, and the major pursued by the student are also correlated with student performance in a course. The study population consisted of the students who attended the Environmental Control System courses in Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters from 1997 through 2001. Sample size of the study was 329 students. Relevant data was collected from the Student Information Management System database of the university. In order to obtain a better fit of the data, a quadratic term of the independent variable was used in the model. The data was analyzed using a simple regression analysis procedure. The findings generated from the analysis of the data indicated that overall academic capability and the major of a student have statistically significant effects on student performance in the Environmental Control Systems courses. The model conceived could be used for predicting student performance in these courses in order to enable the instructors to formulate teaching strategies geared toward helping the students at risk.