Longitudinal Effects of the Foundation Coalition Curriculum on Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Student Performance
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American Society for Engineering Education, 2017. This Complete Research explores the longitudinal effects of the Foundation Coalition (FC) curriculum on chemical and petroleum engineering student graduation outcomes: retention, timeto-graduation, and cumulative GPA. In 1993, a large southwest public university joined the FC, a 10-year multi-university NSF initiative to improve first-year engineering (FYE) education. After pilot classes were developed, in 1998 the FC curriculum was implemented college-wide. In 2003, the university adopted a track system with the FYE foundational courses separated into three tracks: Track A (aerospace, agricultural, biomedical, civil, industrial, mechanical, and nuclear engineering), Track B (computer and electrical engineering), and Track C (chemical and petroleum engineering). Track A was primarily project-based and used Mindstorms, Legos, magnetic balls, and beams to build structures. Track B focused on circuit design and computer programming. Only Track C maintained the FC curriculum until 2013. The target population of this study is first-time-in-college (FTIC) chemical or petroleum engineering students who started in summer or fall during the 2005 to 2007 school year and took Track A (339 students) or Track C (256 students). There was no statistically significant difference in retention. Although Track C students graduated in engineering 0.18 semesters quicker than Track A students, the differences were not statistically significant. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the cumulative GPAs when they graduated in engineering: Track C students' average cumulative GPA (3.27) was significantly higher than Track A students (3.16).
