Investigation of students repeating calculus-based introductory physics courses by gender, ethnicity and race

Abstract

We analyze institutional data from large introductory calculus-based physics courses at a large public research university in the US in which the students enrolled in these courses majored in engineering, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The data was analyzed from two introductory physics courses that are required for most of these students and they are often considered “weed out” courses in that a poor performance in these courses can severely hinder students’ long term career goal achievement. In particular, these courses can act as gatekeepers for many students and those who do not perform to their satisfaction the first time often repeat these courses, particularly if they aspire to remain in their major. We present findings by analyzing data from different demographic groups based upon gender, ethnicity and race for how likely were the students from different demographic groups to repeat these introductory calculus-based physics courses and we compared outcomes of students who repeated with those who did not. We also analyzed and found similar patterns in the calculus courses that are co-requisites for the physics courses. However, the students who failed and repeated physics courses were not necessarily those who failed and repeated the calculus courses. These findings can help physics departments contemplate strategies for providing support to help all students excel in these calculus-based physics courses so that students do not have to repeat these courses, which are pivotal for accomplishing their long-term career goals.