The transition from secondary to higher education presents significant challenges for students in engineering and STEM fields, where academic preparedness is crucial for success. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of global scientific production on preparatory education and its impact on academic performance, with a particular focus on engineering and STEM students. Using a dataset of 210 documents retrieved from the Scopus database (1974-2025), the analysis explores publication trends, influential sources, leading authors, thematic evolution, and citation patterns. The methodological framework integrates Biblioshiny (R-based Bibliometrix) and VOSviewer to perform descriptive, relational, and conceptual analyses. Results indicate a steady growth in publications, with a significant increase after 2010, and a moderate annual growth rate of 4.03%. The United States leads in productivity, followed by Australia and the United Kingdom, though contributions from emerging regions such as Latin America and the Middle East are gaining visibility. Keyword co-occurrence and thematic mapping reveal four major clusters: academic performance and educational measurement, engineering education and curricula, student transition and retention strategies, and emerging technologies such as machine learning and predictive analytics. Despite a rich thematic landscape, the field shows low international collaboration (4.76%) and a fragmented author network. This study contributes to the understanding of the intellectual structure and global dynamics of preparatory education research and offers insights for policymakers, educators, and researchers aiming to enhance student success in engineering and higher education. Future research should strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations and explore data-driven strategies for personalized academic support.

Introduction: The relationship between learning styles and academic performance has gained significant attention, particularly in engineering education, as it plays an important role in enhancing the quality of the learning process. This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research trends in this field, focusing on pre- and post-pandemic periods. Methods: A total of 1397 articles from the Scopus database were analyzed using VOSviewer software to map the scientific production until 2023. The analysis was divided into two periods: 2016-2019 and 2020-2023, identifying clústers of research focused on learning styles, academic performance, and the growing importance of e-learning post-pandemic.Results: Five main clústers were identified between 2016-2019, including learning styles, the development of evaluation instruments, psychological aspects, curricular development, and general learning. In the post-pandemic period, three dominant clústers emerged, focused on learning styles, academic performance, and e-learning. Co-authorship analysis revealed changes in collaboration patterns, with increased global cooperation, particularly in the United States, China, and Spain during the 2020-2023 period. Conclusions: The study highlights the increasing relevance of research on learning styles and the shift toward remote learning triggered by the pandemic. These findings underscore the need for further exploration of adaptive teaching strategies to diverse learning preferences in the evolving educational landscape.

En el presente trabajo se ha realizado una revisión de los modelos de desgaste de herramientas más representativos, que han sido desarrollados en los últimos setenta años. Se ha realizado un análisis crítico de sus hipótesis de modelización en función de las características experimentales de las curvas de desgaste. Como resultado de este análisis se ha demostrado que los modelos que consideran a la tasa de desgaste como variable en el tiempo se ajustan mejor a las observaciones experimentales. La mayoría de los modelos estudiados no usan esta hipótesis.

This study analyzes the integration of systems thinking with the quantitative scientific method in the teaching of research in engineering and applied sciences. It demonstrates that systems thinking enables a better understanding of complex problems by considering the interrelation between variables, facilitating system modeling in various fields.The results obtained through statistical analysis indicate a significant improvement in students' academic performance after implementing the systems approach. The Wilcoxon test showed a p-value of 5.539 × 10⁻¹⁰, confirming that grades significantly improved in the second evaluation. Additionally, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test revealed that the analyzed variables (nota-1, nota-2, dt1, dt2) do not follow a normal distribution, justifying the use of non-parametric methods.Overall, systems thinking-based teaching reduces learning variability, helping students acquire a more structured knowledge. The findings suggest that this approach can be a valuable tool for teaching research methodology in engineering and applied sciences.

Este trabajo aborda las posibles razones por la que las estudiantes no se decantan por una carrera de ingeniería o educación tecnocientífica, hechos evidenciados al tomar una muestra de las facultades de ingeniería en la Universidad Técnica del Norte, se revelaron las posibles causas de este hecho. Las encuestan fueron realizadas con éxito gracias a la colaboración de las autoridades y las estudiantes. El análisis de resultados muestra que aún están presentes estereotipos de género en la sociedad actual, afectando a las estudiantes al momento de seleccionar una carrea. La historia de la ingeniería se remonta hasta las grandes civilizaciones antiguas, pero la participación de las mujeres en la ingeniería es parcialmente reciente. Hay que recordar que durante muchísimo tiempo las ramas de la ingeniería y educación tecnocientífica estuvieron reservadas para hombres, ya que la educación en general estuvo muy distante del alcance de las mujeres.