Knowledge of Chemistry and motivational orientations: diagnosis at the admission to the Faculty of Engineering

Abstract

The Faculty of Engineering (that will be referred as FI, its acronym in Spanish) of the University of the Republic (with acronym UdelaR in Spanish) applies diagnostic tests for admission since 1992, evaluating knowledge in areas of Physics and Mathematics. Since the year 2004, questions in Chemistry are joined to the diagnostic test to evaluate knowledge of Chemistry, agreeing from the year 2005, a “Diagnostic Tool at the Admission” (acronym HDI in Spanish) integrated with diverse components (Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Reading Comprehension, Written Expression, Motivation and Cognitive Styles) valuing this way the different competences that were understood basic by the specialists of the areas to be evaluated. The authors, as academics of the university, think about how to improve the comprehension of the complex phenomenon of the transition high school-university with this tool. These tests are applied before the beginning of the curricular courses to all the students who are admitted to the FI. In this article we present the results obtained from the application of the questions of Chemistry included in the diagnostic tests to the admission applied in the FI of UdelaR for 2005 and 2006 and the responses are analyzed about the motives for which the students show to be enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering.