Higher Order Thinking and 21st Century Skills
I. Introduction of Higher-Order Thinking (H.O.T.) and Why?
II. Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
III. Why Do We Want to Teach
Higher-Order Thinking?
IV. How Do We Teach Higher- Order
Thinking?
V. The High Investment of Higher-
Order Thinking
Teaching Higher Order Thinking & 21st Century Skills
1. I. Introduction of Higher-Order
Thinking (H.O.T.) and Why?
II. Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
III. Why Do We Want to Teach
Higher-Order Thinking?
IV. How Do We Teach Higher- Order
Thinking?
V. The High Investment of Higher-
Order Thinking
2. Introduction
For decades, public schools prepared children to be good
citizens—and good factory workers. Students were expected
to sit, listen, and do exactly as they were told.
In some respects, this model
served high school
graduates well since they
learned to follow directions
in ways that would be
valuable to their future
employers.
4. I. What Is Higher-Order Thinking?
Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments that
facilitate growth in student thinking skills in area of critical,
logical, reflective, meta-cognitive, and creative Thinking.
This definition is consistent to how
higher order thinking skills are learned
and developed.
Although different theoreticians and
researchers use different frameworks
to describe higher order skills and how
they are acquired, all frameworks are
in general agreement concerning the
conditions under which they prosper.
6. While lower-order thinking is more easily defined as
mastering facts (such as being able to describe the
Water Cycle)
or
completing a task with specific steps
(such as being able to solve a two-variable
equation), that study ultimately
describes higher-order thinking as
thinking that is (or involves), that study
ultimately describes
7. Why Higher-Order Thinking
As economic and technological changes shape the occupational
outlook of today’s students, schools have begun to embrace the
need to instill “higher-order thinking” to prepare the 21st
century workforce.
No longer is it enough for high
school graduates simply to
know basic facts and skills.
To be successful, students must
master decision-making,
prioritizing, strategizing and
collaborative problem solving.
8. II. Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
In 1948, Benjamin Bloom led a team of educational psychologists
that met to discuss classroom activities and what goals teachers
should have in mind when designing activities for their students
(Bloom, 1956).
Bloom’s aim was to promote
higher forms of thinking in
education, such as analyzing and
evaluating, rather than just
teaching students to remember
facts (rote learning).
9. Three domains of Learning
Learning was divided into three domains of educational activity.
Cognitive:
mental skills (Knowledge)
Affective:
growth in feelings or emotional
areas (Attitude or self )
Psychomotor:
manual or physical skills (Skills)
While Bloom’s Taxonomy is not the only framework for teaching
thinking, it is the most widely used, and subsequent frameworks
tend to be closely linked to Bloom’s work.
10. Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
While all three domains are important for a ‘rounded’ person,
it is the first domain , Cognitive that is the subject of (H.O.T.)
The Cognitive domain involves
‘knowledge and the development of
intellectual skills’.
It is generally accepted that each
behavior needs to be mastered
before the next one can take place.
This is useful knowledge in assisting teachers in their lesson
planning.
11. Cognitive Domain
It involves student knowledge.
It also involves the development of intellectual attitudes and skills.
Bloom and his associates ranked
student cognitive abilities in the
cognitive domain from simple to the
most complex into six categories.
These categories are Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application, Analysis,
Synthesis, and Evaluation. This ranking
is known as Bloom's Taxonomy. This
system is generally easily understood
and applied.
12. Bloom’s Taxonomy– l.Knowledge
Bloom defines the lowest level of student ability as "knowledge."
This category involves simple knowledge of dates, events,
places, facts, terms, basic concepts, or answers. Students aren't
required to use this information in any practical way. They're
simply asked to recall previously learned material.
Knowledge is the lowest level of the scale. It
involves nothing more than information
observation and recollection. Nevertheless,
Bloom found that over ninety-five percent of
the activities students encountered required
thinking at only this level. Even today, much of
the software used in schools is of the "skill and
drill" sort. This sort uses repetitive, flashcard-like
mechanisms to help students retain and
regurgitate facts. Knowledge task words are
"name," "define," "tell," "list," and "quote."
13. Bloom’s Taxonomy- 2.Comprehension
The second level of student ability is called "comprehension."
Comprehension requires students to demonstrate an
understanding of the information.
Students may show this by
summarizing main ideas,
translating a mathematical word
problem to numbers, or by
interpreting charts or graphs.
Students go further with the
information than simply recalling
it. Comprehension task words are
"predict," "summarize,"
"translate," "associate,"
"translate," and "estimate."
14. Bloom’s Taxonomy- 3.Application
"Application" is the third level of ability. It's observed when
students use methods, theories, or concepts in new situations.
Students don't simply interpret a graph.
Instead, they may construct a new
graph using the data. Or, they
may use a learned formula to
solve an equation. The key
emphasis is that students use an
abstract idea, theory, or principal
in a new, concrete situation to
solve a problem. Application task
words are "solve," "complete,"
"calculate," "apply," and
"illustrate."
15. Bloom’s Taxonomy- 4.Analysis
Bloom calls the fourth level of ability "analysis." Analysis requires
the student to examine and break information down into parts.
The student uses these parts to interpret and understand its
meaning.
This level requires students to "read
between the lines," make inferences,
and find evidence to support
generalizations. This is a more advanced
level. It mandates that the student see
the big picture. The student must
distinguish between facts and
inferences while evaluating the
relevancy of data. Constructing an
outline from a reading passage is an
example of analysis. Analysis task words
are "separate," "order," "classify,"
"arrange," "analyze," and "infer."
16. Bloom’s Taxonomy- 5.Synthesis
"Synthesis" is the fifth level of student ability. It deals with putting
together parts to form a new whole.
This may involve putting ideas
together in a creative new way. It
may also involve using old ideas to
come up with new ones. Writing a
poem, giving a well-organized
speech, or proposing a plan for a new
experiment would involve synthesis.
The student takes information from
several areas and combines it to
create a new structure. Synthesis
task words are "integrate," "design,"
"invent," "modify," "formulate," and
"compose."
17. Bloom’s Taxonomy- 6.Evaluation
"Evaluation" is the sixth and highest level of student ability. This
level requires the student to perform two simultaneous tasks.
First, the student must present and defend opinions.
Second, the student must make judgments about the value of
material and methods.
Students compare and discriminate
between ideas. They recognize
subjectivity. They judge the adequacy with
which conclusions are supported by data.
The rubric, or evaluation criteria, may be
given to the student. Or, the student may
devise it. The evaluation level is considered
the highest since it incorporates elements
of all the other levels. It also requires the
student to add a conscious value judgment
based on clearly defined criteria.
Evaluation task words are "assess,"
"convince," "discriminate," "test,"
"recommend," and "judge."
18. Higher-Order Thinking
Overall, “higher-order” thinking means handling a situation
that you have not encountered before and is generally
recognized as some combination of the above characteristics.
It is thinking that happens in
the analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation rungs of Bloom’s
ladder.
By contrast, “lower-order
thinking” is simple, reflex-like,
transparent, and certain.
19. Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Higher order thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such
as discriminations, simple application and analysis, and cognitive
strategies and are linked to prior knowledge of subject matter
content.
20. Why Higher-Order Thinking
Although most teachers learned about Bloom's Taxonomy, many
seldom challenge students beyond the first two levels of
cognition: knowledge and comprehension.
Because most jobs in the 21st
century will require employees to
use the four highest levels of
thinking—application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation—this is
unacceptable in today's
instructional programs. We must
expect students to operate
routinely at the higher levels of
thinking.
21. Fostering Higher-Order Thinking
In 1987, the National Research Council sponsored a project
that attempted to synthesize all the many theories about
higher-order thinking.
The express goal of the
project was to make
recommendations about
how to foster
higher-order thinking
in students.
22. High Order Thinking (H.O.T.) Skills
Higher order thinking skills include Critical Thinking skills which
are logical, reflective, meta-cognitive and creative. They are
activated when individuals encounter unfamiliar problems,
uncertainties, questions, or dilemmas.
Applications of the skills result in
Reasoning,
Evaluating,
Problem solving,
Decisions making &
Analyzing products that are valid
within the context of available
knowledge and experience that
promote continued growth in
these and other intellectual skills.
23. Wise judgment in Critical Thinking
In critical thinking, being able ‘to think’ means
students can apply wise judgment or produce
a reasoned critique. The goal of teaching is
then to equip students to be wise by guiding
them towards how to make sound decisions
and exercise reasoned judgment. The skills
students need to be taught to do this include:
the ability to judge the credibility of a source;
identify assumptions, generalisation and bias;
identify connotation in language use;
understand the purpose of a written or spoken
text; identify the audience; and to make
critical judgments about the relative
effectiveness of various strategies used to
meet the purpose of the text.
24. Teaching (H.O.T.) Skills
It is hard to imagine a teacher or school leader who is not
aware of the importance of teaching higher-order thinking
(H.O.T.) skills to prepare young men and women to live in
the 21st Century.
However, the extent to
which higher-order
thinking skills are taught
and assessed continues
to be an area of debate,
with many teachers and
employers expressing
concern that young
people ‘cannot think’.
25. Teaching (H.O.T.) Skills
Teachers are good at writing and asking literal questions
(e.g., “Name the parts of a flower”), but we tend to do this far
too often.
Students must be taught to find the
information they need, judge its
worth, and think at higher levels.
There is simply too much
information in the world for us to
waste students' time with
regurgitations of basic facts.
As Bellanca (1997) states:
26. III. Why Do We Want to Teach
Higher-Order Thinking?
We push toward higher-order thinking skills in the classroom
because they have enormous benefits for our students.
The reasoning here is
similar to the rationale
for pushing knowledge
into our long-term
memory.
27. Why Do We Want to Teach Higher-
Order Thinking?
First, information learned and processed through higher-order
thinking processes is remembered longer and more clearly
than information that is processed through lower-order, rote
memorization.
Consider for example, the difference
between memorizing a formula and
explaining the derivation of the
formula.
In this case, a student who has the
latter-type of understanding will
carry that knowledge longer.
28. Deep Conceptual understanding
Research study showed that students are more likely to apply a
skill to solve new problems when they have a deep conceptual
understanding of that skill than when there is a lack of this
conceptual understanding.
One researcher used
two methods to teach
children the “drop-perpendicular”
method
for computing the area
of a parallelogram.
29. Memorizing a formula
Group A
h
lxh =
l
Students in Group A simply memorized by rote the “drop
perpendicular” method and applied it to the shape,
successfully finding the area of the parallelogram.
30. Explaining derivation of the formula
Students in Group B were provided the reasoning behind the process.
They were shown how one could cut off a triangular portion of a
parallelogram and re-attach it at the other end to make a rectangle.
Group B
lxh =
h
l
h
l
The students were led to understand that the method is
actually a simple variation on the “(length) x (width)” = (area)”
formula that they already knew for rectangles.
31. Application of the deep conceptual
understanding in problem solving
The students were led to understand that the method is
actually a simple variation on the “(length) x (width)” = (area)”
formula that they already knew for rectangles.
This set of students, Group B, then
applied the method and, like Group
A, successfully found the area of
the parallelogram.
Then, when a parallelogram were presented in an unusual orientation,
Group A students incorrectly applied the process, arriving at an incorrect
answer. Group B students, having an understanding of why the formula
works, adjusted the method to fit the new orientation and derived the
right answer.
32. Why Do We Want to Teach Higher-Order
Thinking?
Knowledge obtained through higher-order thinking
processes is more easily transferable,
so that students with a
deep conceptual
understanding of an
idea will be much more
likely to be able to
apply that knowledge
to solve new problems.
33. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
This sort of higher-order “transfer” of understanding is the
key to good thinking and problem solving. Good thinking and
problem solving skills make learned knowledge applicable in
the real world.
As teachers of students who are
often lagging behind their peers in
better resourced schools, we have
a mandate to do all that we can to
ensure that our students are
engaging new knowledge at a
level that will allow them to
transfer it to new real-world
applications. If our students can
add numbers with decimal points,
can they add prices in a store?
34. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
So, you know that your students are engaged in higher-order
thinking when they:
• Visualize a problem by diagramming it
• Separate relevant from irrelevant
information in a word problem
• Seek reasons and causes
• Justify solutions
• See more than one side of a problem
• Weigh sources of information based
on their credibility
• Reveal assumptions in reasoning
• Identify bias or logical inconsistencies
35. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Involving paths of action for solving problems that
are not specified in advance (creative problem
solving)
Involving problem solving where multiple solutions
are possible
Involving considerable mental energy directed
toward problem solving
Involving subtle, less-than-obvious decisions about
strategies
Involving transferal of some (sometimes conflicting)
criteria to the problem solving process
“Non-algorithmic”
Complex
Effortful
Nuanced judgments
Application of multiple
criteria
36. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Uncertainty about
what is known
Self-regulation
Imposition of
meaning
Involving problems that do not
provide a clear starting point
Involving some degree of meta-cognition
and self-awareness
about strategies being employed
Involving development and
application of new theories onto
sets of facts and problems
37. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking?
If our students can write a persuasive essay, can they write a
letter to their banks requesting a loan, their senators arguing
policy points, or, someday, their children’s teachers calling
for high expectations for their children?
38. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking?
If our students can list the
steps in the scientific method,
can they also recognize that
the conclusions drawn by a
polluting company failed to be
reached using that scientific
method?
39. IV. How Do We Teach Higher-Order
Thinking?
Higher order thinking is a very difficult to teach. Thinking aloud
is the most effective. Whenever students are being pushed to
their academic levels, or being forced to apply what they
know, they often need to be shown how to think.
They need to be aware that there
should be something going on in
their head. I always model my
thinking aloud. I pretend to be a
student in the class and put on a
special hat. When that hat is on, I
use hypothetical questions that I
ask myself out loud. Frank Cush, Houston ’04
Principal, KIPP Schools
40. Heuristics: Tools for Solving Problems
Heuristics are general problem-solving strategies that may
help students tackle difficult questions.
You can practice these techniques with your students and
then provide novel situations for them to apply their newly
acquired skills
41. 10 Heuristics Problems Solving
strategies
1) Do not focus only on the details; try to see the
forest as well as the trees.
2) Do not rush to a solution rashly.
3) Try working backwards by starting with the goal.
4) Create a model using pictures, diagrams,
symbols or equations.
5) Use analogies: “What does this remind me of?”
6) Look for unconventional or new ways to use the available tools.
7) Discuss a problem aloud until a solution emerges.
8) Keep track of partial solutions so you can come back to them and
resume where you left off.
9) Break the problem into parts.
10) Work on a simpler version of the problem.
42. IV. How Do We Teach Higher-Order
Thinking?
The importance of higher-order thinking makes it a priority in
our classroom, but how does one teach towards higher-order
thinking?
How does one foster the kind
of deep conceptual
understanding that is
transferable to various
academic contexts and,
perhaps more importantly, to
real-world problems?
We have gathered here various
strategies for doing just that:
43. IV. How Do We Teach Higher-Order
Thinking?
If you are studying persuasive writing, have all students write
a letter to a local leader on some hot-button topic in your
community.
If you are considering how to
teach the scientific method,
look for community issues
that will simultaneously
motivate your students and
provide them an authentic
context for applying the
skills you are teaching.
44. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
(1) Teach skills through real-world contexts.
Because higher-order thinking is difficult—after all, you are
asking students to make decisions, rather than simply follow
a prescriptive path—it will help your cause if you build
motivation for the tasks you have developed.
If you are teaching your
students when to use the
various equipment
operations, bring them to
the workshop and
demonstrate the application.
45. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
(2) Vary the context in which students use a newly taught
skill.
Another prerequisite for (H.O.T.)
is flexible approaches to problem
solving. Besides an emphasis on
real world application of skills, a
teacher should work to introduce
students to a variety of real-world
contexts in using a
particular skill.
The more settings in which a student uses some new element
of knowledge, the more the student internalizes the deeper
conceptual implications and applications of the knowledge.
46. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
(For example, to teach addition of numbers with decimal
points, have students work with and add decimal-laden
temperatures, metric-based measurements of the lengths
of walls, and the scores from skating competitions.)
By coming at a skill from many different angles, you will
loosen the contextual grip that a student’s mind may have
linking a particular skill with a particular circumstance.
47. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
(3) Throughout your instruction, take every opportunity to
emphasize the building blocks of higher-order thinking.
Teach content in ways that require students to:
Build background knowledge.
The more your students are
gaining and retaining information
about the world around them, the
more they bring to the table when
solving complex problems.
Help students tap into what they
already know, which might just be
the information needed to answer
a challenging question.
48. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Classify things into categories.
You might, for example, have your first graders develop
and create categories for a series of words based on their
structure.
Students might come up with
categories based on first letter,
ending letter, or vowel sound.
Arrange items along some
dimension.
49. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
As you are teaching students to write persuasive essays, you
might provide students with five different essays of different
qualities, asking the students to rank them and explain their
ranking.
50. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Make hypotheses. In any type of “discovery learning,” ask
students to mentally conduct the experiment before you
actually do conduct it.
“What do you think will
happen when I tape this
weight to the side of the
ball and throw it?”
51. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Draw inferences.
“Having now read these three letters from American soldiers in
Vietnam, what can we tell about the experience of being there?”
Analyze things into their components.
“What sound does ‘shout’ start
with?
How do you write that sound?”
or “What influences do you
think were weighing on the
President’s mind when he made
that decision?”
Solve problems. Puzzles and problems can be designed for
any age level and any subject matter.
52. Meta-cognitive Development
Meta-cognitive development supports students' internalization
of strategies. It does this through a conscious focus on the
implementation of plans of attack.
Meta-cognitive
development
fosters student
autonomy through
self-monitoring and
self-assessment
(Walqui, 1992).
53. Meta-cognitive Development
An example is teaching what a "good" reader does as he or she
reads. The actual steps could be outlined to the students.
This way, the students
can copy the steps
themselves as they read.
Students can stop from
time to time during their
reading and examine
whether they're getting
the main idea,
understanding the theme
of the article, etc.
54. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Think about planning (“How should I approach this problem?
What additional resources or information do I need?”
Purposefully allocate
time and energy (“How
do I prioritize my tasks
in order to most
efficiently solve this
problem?”)
55. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Specifically, for a teacher, this means delineating and teaching
specific problem-attack strategies, giving students time to ponder
difficult answers for themselves, and modeling those strategies by
thinking aloud to solve problems during guided practice.
56. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
New Jersey, Susan Asiyanbi realized that many of her fourth grade math
students lacked proficiency in open-ended questions because of their
lack of reading comprehension:
She then had them break down any higher-order problem into five steps:
Q. Question,
F. Facts,
S. Strategy,
S. Solve, and
C. Check.
After modeling how to break down sample problems into these five
steps, she had her students identify and write down the questions
asked by the problem, the important facts and the strategy they
would use to solve the problem.
57. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Only then could they solve the problem. Once done, they went
back to the question and made sure they answered every part.
Children are very quick to solve
a problem and often do not
recognize that they have not
finished all the steps or are not
answering the question being
asked.
These basic five steps ensured that all of the students could feel
successful, regardless of reading and/or math level.
58. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Problem Solving: Draw a Picture
The draw a picture strategy is a problem-solving technique in which students make a visual representation of the problem. For example, the following
problem could be ed by drawing a picture:
The draw a picture strategy is a problem-solving technique in
which students make a visual representation of the problem.
eg. A frog is at the bottom of a 10-
meter well.
Each day he climbs up 3 meters.
Each night he slides down 1 meter.
On what day will he reach the top
of the well and escape?
Once students became confident with using this strategy, the
problems was made more difficult with larger numbers, which
would make the “Draw a Picture” strategy pretty arduous.
59. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Why Is Draw a Picture method so Important?
Drawing a diagram or other type of visual representation is often
a good starting point for solving all kinds of word problems.
It is an intermediate step between language-as-text and the
symbolic language of mathematics.
By representing units of measurement
and other objects visually, students
can begin to think about the problem
mathematically.
Pictures and diagrams are also good
ways of describing solutions to
problems; therefore they are an
important part of mathematical
communication.
60. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Keep in mind that these techniques can be implemented in all
classrooms at all levels. Do not make the mistake of thinking
that higher-order thinking should be reserved for older students,
or for high performing students, or for supplemental activities.
In fact, one of the
recommendations
from the National
Research Council’s
study of higher-order
thinking was that we
not wait to move to
higher-order.
61. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
The Council suggested that we teach content at the earliest
grades through open-ended complex problems.
While some degree of common
sense is obviously called for with
younger students who may not
have the capacity for all forms of
higher-order thinking, research
indicates that even the youngest
of students can be prepared for
higher-order thinking through an
emphasis on basic problem solving
skills.
62. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
All of the developmental approaches have emphasized the
fact there is a natural progression in thinking from lower
forms to higher forms with age or experience.
This developmental progression
implies that students need to have
a certain amount of education,
experience, or practice before they
can become capable of the highest
forms of thought. . . .
And yet, each approach also reveals that it is wrong to assume
that teachers should do nothing to promote thinking until
students reach a certain age.
63. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking
This also means that the “lower-level” mastery of basic
facts and skills plays a critical role in supporting the
development of higher-order thinking.
Teachers must give their
students a lot of experience
making a data table if they
are going to expect them to
be able to access that
strategy to their toolbox
when tackling open-ended
problems.
64. IV. The High Investment of Higher-
Order Thinking
Teaching higher-order thinking requires more work from
the teacher. Higher-order thinking takes considerable time
to develop through lots of practice in different contexts.
As researcher Jere Brophy
emphasizes, teaching higher-order
thinking requires a commitment to
class discussion,
debate, and
problem-solving, all of which take
time.
65. IV. The High Investment of Higher-
Order Thinking
Teaching involves inducing conceptual change in students, not
infusing information into a vacuum, [and this] will be
facilitated by the interactive discourse during lessons and
activities.
Clear explanations and
modeling from the teacher are
important, but so are
opportunities to answer
questions about the content,
discuss or debate its meanings
and implications, or apply it in
authentic problem-solving or
decision-making contexts
66. Conclusion and Key Concepts
By now, you should understand what is meant by “higher-order
thinking.
You should recognize why we
want to teach higher-order
thinking, understanding
that a deeper conceptual
understanding of ideas is
remembered longer and is
more transferable to other
contexts.
You should also understand that higher-order thinking is best
taught through real-world contexts and by varying the scenarios
in which students must use their newly-acquired skills.
67. Conclusion and Key Concepts
You should emphasize the building blocks of higher-order
thinking and encourage students to think about the
strategies they are using to solve problems.
As victims of the achievement
gap, our students need to
make significant academic
gains just to catch up with
many other students and to
have an even chance at life’s
opportunities.
One of the ways that you can help provide that chance is to
lead, draw, and push students toward higher-order thinking.
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69. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Examples of Activities: Science
Apply a Rule:
The student could be asked to explain why a shotgun "kicks"
when fired. His response would include a statement to the effect
that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
(Newton's Law of Motion), and that the "kick" of the shotgun is
equal to the force propelling the shot toward its target. The
faster the shot travels and the greater the weight of the shot, the
greater the "kick" of the gun.
70. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Classify:
Given several examples of each, the student could be asked to
classify materials according to their physical properties as gas,
liquid, or solid.
Construct:
The student could be asked to construct a model of a carbon atom.
71. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Define:
Given several types of plant leaves, the student could be asked to
define at least three categories for classifying them. NOTE:
Defining is not memorizing and writing definitions created by
someone else -- it is creating definitions.
Demonstrate:
Given a model of the earth, sun, and moon so devised that it may
be manipulated to show the orbits of the earth and moon, the
student could be asked to demonstrate the cause of various phases
of the moon as viewed from earth.
72. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Describe:
The student could be asked to describe the conditions essential
for a balanced aquarium that includes four goldfish.
Diagram:
The student could be asked to diagram the life cycle of a
grasshopper.
73. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Distinguish:
Given a list of paired element names, the student could be asked to
distinguish between the metallic and non-metallic element in each
pair.
Estimate:
The student could be asked to estimate the amount of heat given
off by one liter of air compressed to one-half its original volume.
74. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Evaluate:
Given several types of materials, the student could be asked to
evaluate them to determine which is the best conductor of
electricity.
Identify:
Given several types of materials, the student could be asked to
identify those which would be attracted to a magnet.
75. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Interpret:
The student could be asked to interpret a weather map taken from
a newspaper.
Locate:
The student could be asked to locate the position of chlorine on the
periodic table. NOTE: To locate is to describe location. It is not
identification of location.
76. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Measure:
Given a container graduated in cubic centimeters, the student
could be asked to measure a specific amount of liquid.
Name:
The student could be asked to name the parts of an electromagnet.
Order:The student could be asked to order a number of animal life
forms according to their normal length of life.
77. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
Predict:
From a description of the climate and soils of an area, the student
could be asked to predict the plant ecology of the area
Solve:
The student could be asked to solve the following: How many
grams of H2O will be formed by the complete combustion of one
liter of hydrogen at 70 degrees C?
78. Examples of Activities that Promote
Higher Order Thinking
State a Rule:
The student could be asked to state a rule that tell what form the
offspring of mammals will be, i.e. they will be very similar to their
parent organisms.
Translate:
The student could be asked to translate 93,000,000 into standard
scientific notation.
Notas del editor
Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and creative
thinking. They are activated when individuals encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties,
questions, or dilemmas. Successful applications of the skills result in explanations, decisions,
performances, and products that are valid within the context of available knowledge and
experience and that promote continued growth in these and other intellectual skills. Higher order
thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such as discriminations, simple application and
analysis, and cognitive strategies and are linked to prior knowledge of subject matter content.
Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments facilitate their growth as do student
persistence, self-monitoring, and open-minded, flexible attitudes.
This definition is consistent with current theories related to how higher order thinking skills
are learned and developed. Although different theoreticians and researchers use different
frameworks to describe higher order skills and how they are acquired, all frameworks are in
general agreement concerning the conditions
In the revised taxonomy, the original “Knowledge” category was changed to “Remember.” This category refers to shallow processing: the drawing out of factual answers, recall, and recognition. In reading, this is simply recalling the facts in a text or recalling the sequence of a story. At this level, questions that teachers ask center on the five Ws and seldom require students to advance beyond superficial thinking. We see this level of thinking often reflected in classrooms across the United States. Some verbs that teachers use to demonstrate student knowledge of material include the following: choose, describe, define, identify, label, list, locate, match, memorize, name, omit, recite, recognize, select, and state.
The second category of Bloom's original taxonomy was “Comprehension.” In the revised model, it is renamed “Understand.” This category reflects the acts of translating, interpreting, and extrapolating. Examples in reading include summarizing text and identifying in-text relationships. Some verbs that teachers use to ask students to demonstrate understanding include the following: classify, defend, demonstrate, distinguish, explain, express, extend, give an example, illustrate, indicate, interrelate, infer, judge, match, paraphrase, represent, restate, rewrite, select, show, summarize, tell, and translate.
The third category, “Application,” was changed to “Apply” in the revised taxonomy and is defined as knowing when or why to apply certain skills automatically, as well as having the ability to recognize patterns that can transfer to new or unfamiliar situations. Teachers prompt students to think at the “Apply” level by using the following constructions: “Predict what would happen if . . . ,” “Judge the effects of . . .,” and “What would happen if . . .?” Verbs that teachers might use to determine whether students are working at this level include the following: apply, choose, dramatize, explain, generalize, judge, organize, paint, prepare, produce, select, show, sketch, solve, and use. When students have not processed information at the application level, they cannot take information learned in one context and translate it to another.
The “Analysis” category in Bloom's taxonomy was renamed “Analyzing” in the revised version. This level involves breaking information down into parts and different forms, and drawing comparisons between a text and background knowledge data. Classroom questions that address this category include the following: “What is the function of . . .?” “What conclusions can we draw from . . .?” “What is the premise?” and “What inference can you make about . . .?” The following verbs apply to analyzing activities: analyze, categorize, classify, differentiate, distinguish, identify, infer, point out, select, subdivide, and survey. To use the thinking process of analyzing, students must be able to see connections and draw conclusions. We often see questions on state reading proficiency tests that expect students to display thinking at this level.
Though Bloom placed “Evaluation” at the highest level of his taxonomy, Anderson and colleagues rank it fifth to reflect their idea that creative thinking (design) is more complex than critical thinking (evaluation). For the Anderson theorists, critical thinking is necessary for the creative process to occur, because it involves accepting or rejecting ideas—a precursor to creating a new design (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). For this reason, evaluation precedes creation in the revised model.
To evaluate information, students need to be able to distinguish essential data from information that is simply interesting. They must be able to identify core themes, form and support opinions, and identify inconsistencies, bias, or lack of coherence or accuracy in a text. They must also be able to use background information, prior knowledge, and other textual sources to assess the validity of the text. For example, when reading a novel, students with strong evaluation skills might compare the works of two authors and offer evidence to support opinions on the author's writing style. Constructions that address the evaluation level include the following: “Do you agree with . . .?” “What is your opinion of . . .?” “How would you prove. . . ?” “How would you rate . . .?” and “How would you prioritize . . .?” The following verbs apply to evaluation activities: appraise, assess, check, compare, conclude, criticize, critique, defend, justify, and support.
The fifth level of the original Bloom's Taxonomy was called “Synthesis.” In Anderson's revised version, this level is renamed “Create” and is upgraded to level six. Synthesizing text involves linking new information with prior knowledge or with multiple texts to develop a new idea, establish a new way of thinking, or create a new product of some type. An example of synthesis would be rewriting “Little Red Riding Hood” from the perspective of the wolf. Anderson sees the act of “creating” as combining elements into a pattern that had not existed before. Some constructions that assess the process of analysis or creating include the following: “Develop a new way to . . .,” “Suggest another way to . . .,” “How might you adapt . . .?” and “Can you predict the outcome if . . .?” The following verbs signal the “Create” level of thinking: choose, combine, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, hypothesize, invent, make, make up, originate, organize, plan, produce, and role play. To succeed at this level, students must be able to synthesize their thinking and make predictions based on knowledge.
Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and creative
thinking. They are activated when individuals encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties,
questions, or dilemmas. Successful applications of the skills result in explanations, decisions,
performances, and products that are valid within the context of available knowledge and
experience and that promote continued growth in these and other intellectual skills. Higher order
thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such as discriminations, simple application and
analysis, and cognitive strategies and are linked to prior knowledge of subject matter content.
Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments facilitate their growth as do student
persistence, self-monitoring, and open-minded, flexible attitudes.
This definition is consistent with current theories related to how higher order thinking skills
are learned and developed. Although different theoreticians and researchers use different
frameworks to describe higher order skills and how they are acquired, all frameworks are in
general agreement concerning the conditions
Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and creative
thinking. They are activated when individuals encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties,
questions, or dilemmas. Successful applications of the skills result in explanations, decisions,
performances, and products that are valid within the context of available knowledge and
experience and that promote continued growth in these and other intellectual skills. Higher order
thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such as discriminations, simple application and
analysis, and cognitive strategies and are linked to prior knowledge of subject matter content.
Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments facilitate their growth as do student
persistence, self-monitoring, and open-minded, flexible attitudes.
This definition is consistent with current theories related to how higher order thinking skills
are learned and developed. Although different theoreticians and researchers use different
frameworks to describe higher order skills and how they are acquired, all frameworks are in
general agreement concerning the conditions
Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and creative
thinking. They are activated when individuals encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties,
questions, or dilemmas. Successful applications of the skills result in explanations, decisions,
performances, and products that are valid within the context of available knowledge and
experience and that promote continued growth in these and other intellectual skills. Higher order
thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such as discriminations, simple application and
analysis, and cognitive strategies and are linked to prior knowledge of subject matter content.
Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments facilitate their growth as do student
persistence, self-monitoring, and open-minded, flexible attitudes.
This definition is consistent with current theories related to how higher order thinking skills
are learned and developed. Although different theoreticians and researchers use different
frameworks to describe higher order skills and how they are acquired, all frameworks are in
general agreement concerning the conditions
[Note that this strategy is—like all others in this chapter—a variation on “getting inside your
students’ heads.” Successful teachers think carefully about how students will hear and
receive information, and they consider the various contexts within which their students could
use a new skill or knowledge.]
[Note that this strategy is—like all others in this chapter—a variation on “getting inside your
students’ heads.” Successful teachers think carefully about how students will hear and
receive information, and they consider the various contexts within which their students could
use a new skill or knowledge.]