Value-added model of basic mathematics-physics training in engineering students

Abstract

The added value in education refers to the contribution that the educational institution effectively makes to student learning, expressed as the growth in knowledge, skills and abilities, in a period of time, as a result of their educational experience. The objective of the research is to determine the added value of the academic work of the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander in the development of physical- mathematical thinking in engineering students and the estimation of a mathematical model that allows its valuation. In model allows analyzing the trajectory of the group of engineering students who entered in the first semester of 2018 and involves endogenous and exogenous variables associated with the process. The research is framed in the quantitative paradigm, descriptive, multivariate and correlational. We work with two types of data, the secondary data are constituted by the students’ grades in 2018 and 2019, this information may present biases because they are different courses with different teachers, however, it allows to see the evolution of students in calculus, statistics and physics courses. Primary data were obtained from a test applied in 2018 and a similar test applied in 2019, graded using item response theory. Results were compared and differences were evaluated to estimate the contribution effectively made by the university.