Abstract thinking of engineering students in high-school and higher education

Abstract thinking, namely, the ability to take into account the details relevant to the current stage and temporarily ignore those that are not important, is a key skill in many fields of knowledge, including science and engineering. Therefore, there is an ongoing effort to advance the abstract thinking skills of students at the high-school and higher education levels.
The current study aimed to compare the abstract thinking level of high-school and university students majoring in electrical and computer engineering. To this end, the research analyzed the results of three independent studies, in which a total of 126 high-school (11th and 12th graders) and university (freshmen and sophomore) students took part. These students filled out an anonymous self-reporting questionnaire and took an achievement test during the relevant school year. The self-reporting tool was a five-level Likert-type scale consisting of statements that reflected the main features of abstract thinking. The achievement test, designed to evaluate abstract thinking skills, was adapted to the academic background of the examinees. A comparison between the different groups of students was performed using statistical methods.
According to the results, the abstract thinking level of all the participants was moderate, with no significant difference between the groups. The research points to the need to promote the abstract thinking skills of students at the high-school and higher education levels.