Scientific Thinking Engineering and Health Sciences Students: Competency Analysis in a Mexican University

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a comprehensive skills-and-competencies analysis conducted among incoming Engineering and Health Sciences freshmen at a leading technological university in Mexico. The primary objective was to determine whether these students possessed an ideal competency profile that would effectively prepare them to meet the evolving demands of their future professional training. The study focuses on evaluating complex thinking macro-competency, recognizing its critical importance in equipping individuals to tackle the multifaceted challenges and intricacies they will encounter in their academic and professional journeys. More precisely, this research focuses on the assessment of scientific thinking as a meta-competency of complex thinking macro-competency and considered a cornerstone competency essential for success in the fields of Engineering and Health Sciences. The statistically significant findings demonstrated marked disparities in the perception and development of complex thinking macro-competency and, specifically, in the meta-competency of scientific thinking among incoming students in the Engineering and Health Sciences domains, as opposed to their counterparts in Humanities and Social Science. This observation gains particular importance in the context of the requisite competency sets for career paths in Engineering and Health Sciences, accentuating the students' proficiency and preparedness to excel in their selected fields. These results emphasize the criticality of conducting competency assessments at early stages and advocate for the modification of educational methodologies to foster the specialized competencies vital for prospective success in these disciplines. The results are analyzed in terms of their suitability for aligning educational goals with the evolving demands of the Engineering and Health Sciences fields. Overall, this study centers on the fundamental aspects of education, highlighting its importance not only due to its relevance but also for its capacity to drive meaningful changes in the future landscape of higher education.