Distinguishing and elevating levels of learning in engineering and technology instruction

Bloom's Taxonomy is a broadly used framework categorizing and differentiating outcomes of learning and acquisition of knowledge. Among the three domains of learning identified by Bloom-cognitive, affective, and psychomotor-outcomes assessment in engineering and technology education has focused principally on the cognitive domain. University faculty have increased their appreciation of the distinction among levels of cognitive learning, ranging from Level-1 (memorization) to Level-6 (evaluation). Building knowledge in most engineering courses begins with skill exercises, which are initially simple problems in familiar contexts. The problems are then made more difficult by integrating with past knowledge and new contexts. This progression increases students' capacity to transfer knowledge to new contexts. This paper provides a model for understanding how problem complexity and context can be regulated to best meet the developmental needs of engineering and technology students. Most importantly, it focuses on distinguishing between Level-4 knowledge corresponding to working expertise and Level-3 knowledge requiring prompting by an expert to trigger its use.