SBL-AR effectiveness dataset: cognitive skills in vocational college electronics

Four Vocational Colleges in Peninsular Malaysia formed two pairs matched on students' entry grades; within each pair one college was randomly assigned to SBL-AR (n = 51) and the other continued with conventional instruction (n = 50).

A 30-item, four-option test measured conceptual understanding, circuit analysis and diagnostic reasoning before instruction and four weeks after the intervention; data were collected in the second half of 2025. The dataset contains total and sub-scale scores, item-level responses, the pilot calibration responses with the Winsteps output, an SPSS output extract and two Python scripts that recompute the statistics reported in the associated article and print PASS or FAIL for each (78 and 125 checks).