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A strategy to reduce the blank answers on math tests at first engineering courses

This paper describes a strategy carried out in the Polytechnic School of Zamora (University of Salamanca, Spain) in order to reduce the number of questions which remained unanswered on math examinations at first engineering courses. Within the classroom group of students, a subgroup of students having mathematical difficulties was detected and established as an experimental group, remaining the rest of the students as a control group. An active and participatory work methodology based on paper-and-pencil exercises was carried out with this experimental group. Under the professor's guidance and supervision, but essentially being themselves the main actors, these students should work in extra classroom sessions using exams and reports from previous years, confronting the mathematical difficulties in a progressive way until reaching their full understanding. The results of the experience show an important increase of the students' assistance to examinations, an improvement of qualifications, and an important and statistically significant decrease of questions which stayed unanswered compared with the control group. Overall, both students and the teacher consider that these participatory classes constitute a useful strategy to encourage students' confidence in their capabilities, and to address the subject with a better chance of success. The quantitative data presented validate these claims.