Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes Toward an Engineering Course that Integrates Several Levels of Abstraction

Abstract thinking is considered higher-order that allows one to solve problems while switching between levels of abstraction, i.e., moving between multiple levels of complexity. The Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology) combined two undergraduate courses, focusing on different levels of abstraction, into a single course “Digital Systems and Computer Structure” integrating multiple levels of abstraction, i.e., logical, micro-architecture and architecture levels. The present study aimed to characterize students’ attitudes toward the course. This mixed-method study involved 103 undergraduate students. According to the findings, students hold positive attitudes toward a course that combines multiple levels of abstraction. Students claim that the course is interesting, provides a complete picture of computer systems, imparts higher-order thinking skills, but at the same time imposes a heavy load.