Impact of Fundamental Mathematics Workshops on Calculus Learning for First-Year Engineering Students

Students entering engineering programs do not share the same academic background upon graduating from high school. Due to the diversity of curricula, some students have taken both Differential and Integral Calculus, while others have only studied Differential Calculus, and there are also cases where students from technical high schools have not taken any Calculus courses. To ensure that students have a comparable knowledge level and to promote better learning based on solid foundations, the implementation of basic mathematics knowledge workshops is proposed. Mathematics is one of the subjects with the highest failure rates in introductory courses, as reported by various countries [3]. These workshops aim to reduce failure rates and provide academic support to students. At the start of the course, students take two exams: one is a selfperception survey regarding their confidence in Mathematics, and the other is a diagnostic test (pretest). Based on the pretest results, students who score below the passing mark are invited to participate in the workshop. The workshops include sessions on algebra, trigonometry, and analytic geometry, with a focus on essential content to ensure comprehension of new material. The workshop format is designed as a hands-on session, where a brief explanation of about 20 minutes is provided at the beginning, and the remaining time is dedicated to individual or collaborative work in groups of three students. Out of a total of 327 students, 98 participated in the workshop. At the end of the workshop, a content verification test was administered. All students completed a postest at the end of the course. Statistical data from the initial diagnostic test (pretest), the final course exam (postest), and the workshop exam were analyzed. A comparison of results between workshop attendees and nonattendees is presented.