Assessment of Students’ Ability to Apply Calculus Concepts to Engineering Problems

Abstract

This research was carried out to assess the ability of the students to apply calculus concepts to engineering problems. A sample of five (5) students was selected from each of the five departments in the college of engineering Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi giving a total of twenty five (25) students. Pearson correlation and paired samples t-test were used to analyze data using SPSS version 17.0. The results obtained indicated academic performance in calculus has a significant positive correlation with Calculus application to engineering problems (r = 0.693). A significant difference was observed in the mean score of Calculus Proficiency Test (mean 67.64, SD = 17.27) and Calculus Application Test (mean 53.48, SD = 13.58).