Comparing Exam Performance in a Reinforced Concrete Design Course with Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the cognitive Bloom’s taxonomy levels achieved in an introductory reinforced concrete design course, determine if the Bloom’s levels assigned to the same exam questions by different professors varied, characterize student performance in relation to Bloom’s levels, and quantify the Bloom’s level achieved during assessment. The authors taught the course at three different universities and used the same exam questions. They independently assigned a Bloom’s cognitive level to each question, which resulted in general agreement on the Bloom’s level of each question, and a range of results from 1.0 to 4.33. The Bloom’s levels did not correlate with performance, however students performed better on topics that had been presented multiple times. Based on the results of this study, students achieved an average cognitive Bloom’s level of 3 in an introductory design course and needed an additional educational experience that reinforced the topics in order to achieve a Bloom’s level of 4 or greater by graduation.