Evaluation of Term Final Examination Questions for Undergraduate Program of Agrotechnology Discipline Based on Bloom’s Cognitive Domain

Abstract

Cognitive skills enable individuals to make precise decisions and solve real-life challenges, which are essential for theadvancement of both the state and society at large. Questions serve as a tool for gathering information, inspiring thought, and redirecting reasoning. In university education, teachers frequently use questions to encourage students to think critically and reason effectively. Term final examination question papers are employed by academics to assess the retention and practical skills of graduates. However, it is hypothesized that, at the university level, questions assessing application skills should increasingly take precedence over questions that assess retention skills, as students’ progress to more advanced stages of education. These questions can be categorized into higher-order or lower-order types. The cognitive domain is one of the three learning domains outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy, proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. The objective of this study is to analyze the cognitive levels of students’ learning based on Bloom’s cognitive domain. Specifically, we examine the term final examination assessment tools for the undergraduate program at Khulna University, Bangladesh, from the 1st year to the 4th year, using Bloom’s cognitive stages as a framework. The study analyzes 43 question papers from the 2018-2019 academic years, which were set by instructors for the examinations. A total of 1,222 question items were evaluated. Additionally, three thinking skills-LOTS (Lower-Order Thinking Skills), MOTS (Middle-Order Thinking Skills), and HOTS (Higher-Order Thinking Skills), were also considered. The findings of the study reveal that the majority of the questions are concentrated at the lower cognitive levels (knowledge and comprehension). The results further indicate that academics in the Agrotechnology Discipline predominantly use LOTS rather than HOTS in their term final question papers. Therefore, it is recommended that a balance be maintained between LOTS and HOTS questions across different academic years at Khulna University. Notably, the questions devised by instructors rarely assess students’ abilities in innovation and justification. Consequently, there is a need to review and revise the procedures used in designing examination question papers to ensure that students are assessed across a range of cognitive levels. To achieve this, it is essential that the university authorities organize regular and comprehensive pedagogical training for teachers.