An Analysis of Major Difficulties Moroccan Engineering Students Encounter in Argumentative Essay Writing

The aim of this study is to analyse argumentative essay errors made by Moroccan students in Preparatory Classes of Higher Engineering Schools (Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles) ( CPGE).The participants of this study were 1st year Physics, Chemistry and Engineering Sciences (PCSI ) students in CPGE Omar Ibn Al Khattab, Meknes . 68 students participated in the study which means that all PCSI students were involved. The study uses a mixed method design. In the quantitative method, the data was gathered from students’ argumentative essay tests. Students’ errors were quantified numerically and the contents of teachers’ interviews were analyzed qualitatively. The results of the study demonstrate clearly that CPGE students’ difficulties in essay writing are aligned to many factors . Firstly, CPGE Students’ lack language proficiency. They have serious language problems accumulated from previous years of study. Secondly , students lack motivation as they do not find pleasure in writing and perceive it as a tiring and boring task. Thirdly, they do not read a lot which makes the task of writing very hard. Fourthly , students do not master the techniques of writing a structured essay. In fact, it is a process that requires many steps to be followed from introduction to conclusion . The study ended up by suggesting possible solution to overcome such difficulties.

Examining the Relationship between Critical Thinking Skills and Argumentative Writing Skills in Moroccan Preparatory Classes of Higher Engineering Schools (CPGE)

This research was conducted to investigate the relationship between two variables: critical thinking skills and argumentative writing skills in Moroccan Preparatory Classes of Higher Engineering Schools (Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles) ( CPGE), Omar Ibn Khattab Meknes . The participants were the 2nd year Maths and Physics (MP) students in CPGE, Omar Ibn Al Khattab Meknes. 60 students participated in the study from a total number of 120 students. The research adopted the correlation design to measure the degree of association between two variables using the statistical procedure of correlation analysis. In this regard, a critical thinking test (AssessmentDay Practice Test Experts, 2018) was administered to test students’ critical thinking skills. Then, the students were asked to write an argumentative essay about social networking and creativity. To analyse the collected data, the study resorted to SPSS software (Statistical Package for the Social Science, version 23). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to investigate the significant relationship between critical thinking skills and argumentative writing. The result of the research displayed that the correlation coefficient is 0. 941, which means that the two tests are positively correlated and the correlation is very significant. The result of such correlation displayed clearly that critical thinking and argumentative writing have a positive relation.

The environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behavior of future engineers in Morocco

During the recent decades, raising the level of environmental awareness has become one of the main social goals, which has reached a level of social and political consensus never seen before. Education can be the catalyst that changes people’s behavior regarding the environment (Zsóka et al., 2013; Schultz, 2014). Many studies have demonstrated a positive link between education level and pro-environmental behavior (Fernandez-Manzanal et al., 2007; Levine and Strube, 2012; Meyer, 2015; Monier et al., 2009). In Morocco, as in many countries of the world, human behavior towards the environment has been defective. However, the country has been taking a number of steps to protect the environment. There have been few researchers investigating the role of universities as agents contributing to environmental awareness, especially engineering schools. Engineering work has a significant effect on the world. The advent of engineers, engineering work, and engineering schooling is closely related to countries development (Downey and Lucena 2004, Downey and Lucena 2005). This paper aims to analyze the relationship between 3 factors: the sources of environmental issues, the acquired knowledge and the pro-environmental behavior to protect the environment. In order to do that, a survey of 141 engineering students has been assessed in 5 different engineering schools and the results have then shown that the sources of information is the internet and this source doesn’t lead to accountability of the individuals. Furthermore, the taken actions for the environment rarely include trash sorting, paper and meat consumption.