Promoting Cognitive Skill among Engineering Undergraduates with Technological Software

Engineering Education Background

In 2009 the introduction of the Outcome Based Education (OBE) into the engineering programs by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) has made all engineering programs in Malaysia like civil engineering, electrical and electronic engineering and as well as mechanical engineering programs to be OBE compliance in order to be get full accreditation from BEM.

According to Spady`s words, “OBE system means starting with a clear picture of what is important for students to be able to do, then organizing curriculum, instruction, and assessment to make sure this learning ultimately happens accordingly.” (Spady, 1994) The outcome of OBE refers to “what learners can actually do with what they know and have learned – they are the tangible application of what has been learned.” (Spady, 1994) In other word, OBE system focuses on how well can engineers apply their knowledge learned in their domain like how well does a mechanical engineer uses their knowledge learnt in class to design physical engines and machineries.

Hence, Bloom Taxonomy was developed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom to measure and categorize the Outcome-Based Education (Eisner, 2000). Bloom Taxonomy is the classification of one’s cognitive skills according to the 2 categories which is lower and higher order cognitive skills. The categories are further broken down into six different cognitive levels. The lower order cognitive skills are remembering, understanding, applying, and the higher order cognitive skills are analyzing, evaluating and creating. Each level can be depicted as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Bloom’s taxonomy from PennState Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence (n.d.).