Abstract:

In recent decades, access to higher education has witnessed a great diversity of access, evidenced by the expansion in the diversity of students' backgrounds, different contexts in motivations and expectations. Polytechnic Higher Education has been assisted by a growing number of students who access through very different modalities. Regarding the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, namely, at the Coimbra Institute of Engineering (ISEC) there is an increasing number of students to join in engineering degrees with weak mathematics.

The Center for Supporting Mathematics in Engineering (CeAMatE) project is intended mainly for students who have recently joined the Engineering courses offered by ISEC. It aims to bridge the difficulties in Mathematics to the level of the basic knowledge that must be developed throughout the secondary education and that are necessary to successfully complete the curricular units (CU) of Mathematics in the first year of the course.

In the beginning of this school year, 2018/2019, a Diagnostic Test (DT) was performed, when students enrolled in ISEC, on the topics of algebra, calculus and geometry (Core Zero) (Mustoe & Lawson, 2002, Alpers, 2013). There were two moments of the DT: the first was when they arrived at ISEC and the second when the student arrived at the CeAMatE classroom and had to complete a more complete test on the same topics, since the first test had less than 90% right answers. In this second DT, if they had less than 60% of correct answers, the student was advised to attend the CeAMatE classroom weekly.

In order for students to enjoy the benefits of CeAMatE, there is support of a teacher who remains in this room is to guide the study and clarify doubts of the students who work there. In the interest for this support to be effective, students have access to the Mathcentre documents that explain and exemplify several exercises of the specific subject, referring to primary and secondary education, for the Mathematics CU of an Engineering course. These worksheets were made available on-site within the classroom and distributed to students according to their visible difficulties. The worksheets are structured by topics and the students study them autonomously and ask the teacher for help whenever necessary.

In 607 DT conducted in September 2018, with 10 questions, the average was 53.71%. About 31 students in Computer Engineering (CE) took a second DT, with 20 questions on algebra, calculus and geometry. The most difficult questions were calculus and geometry.

The advantages of the CeAMatE project have some key points, such as how students can get involved in the teaching and learning process in order to increase their academic success and thus the level of motivation to study. Although in this school year there was weak adherence to CeAMatE by students attending the first year of tertiary education, but, based on the data, those who attended CeAMatE regularly had good results.

References:
[1] Alpers, B, Demlova, M., Fant, C-H, Gustafsson, T. Lawson, D., Mustoe, L., Olsen-Lehtonen, B., Robinson, Carol, L.,& Velichova, D. (2013) A Framework for Mathematics Curricula in Engineering Education. A Report by the SEFI Mathematics Working Group. Brussels: SEFI.
[2] Mustoe, L., & Lawson, D. (Eds.) (2002). Mathematics for the European Engineer. A Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century. A Report by the SEFI Mathematics Working Group. Brussels: SEFI.

Keywords:

Math education, programs after school classes, motivation.