Fronesis-the third dimension of knowledge, learning, and evaluation [engineering education]

The situation today is quite different from what we have been used to. The globalization and the availability and use of Internet have changed our view of knowledge, learning and examination. Here, however, the authors use a very old knowledge model in their presentation, that of Aristotle, with his three components: Episteme, Techne and Fronesis. Episteme covers the most common view of academic knowledge, the understanding that can be achieved by reading books. Episteme is the declarative knowledge that can easily be transferred from the teacher or author to the student. Techne can be viewed as the technical skills like ability to ride a bike. This capability can be achieved by learning from a master and imitate the behavior. Techne has a strong tradition in engineering education. Lab exercises are aiming at developing such skills. Episteme and Techne have been sufficient to capture the essentials of engineering education. Today, however, the ability to find answers to new questions and solutions to new problems is more important than the ability to remember contents from textbooks. Fronesis, is the "political knowledge", that is the ability to understand and interpret the situation at hand and decide about appropriate actions. What is new in our time is that the general situation is very different from what the teacher has experienced, and from what previous generations have met. The authors claim that Fronesis today is the most important dimension of knowledge, and they present how they have designed computer programming courses to take this into account. Traditional examination can check the Episteme capability and Techne can be checked by practical demonstration: playing the piano, building an electronic device, etc. Examination of Fronesis needs special consideration, and they are testing the portfolio approach introduced at Harvard University (USA) and used successfully in many countries.