Teaching Higher Order Thinking & 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

Introduction

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.

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.

What Is Higher-Order Thinking?

I. What Is Higher-Order 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.

Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments that facilitate growth in student thinking skills in area of critical, logical, reflective, meta-cognitive, and creative Thinking.

Higher-Order Thinking essentially means thinking that takes place in the higher level of hierarchy in the cognitive processing.

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

While lower-order thinking is more easily defined as mastering facts (such as being able to describe the Water Cycle)

Why Higher-Order Thinking

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.

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.

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).

II. Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy

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).

Three domains of Learning

Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)

Affective:growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude or self )

Psychomotor:manual or physical skills (Skills)

Learning was divided into three domains of educational activity.

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.

Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy

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.

While all three domains are important for a ‘rounded’ person, it is the first domain , Cognitive that is the subject of (H.O.T.)

This is useful knowledge in assisting teachers in their lesson planning.

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.

It involves student knowledge. It also involves the development of intellectual attitudes and skills.

Cognitive Domain

Bloom’s Taxonomy– l.Knowledge

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."

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.

Bloom’s Taxonomy- 2.ComprehensionThe 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."

Bloom’s Taxonomy- 3.Application

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."

"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.

Bloom’s Taxonomy- 4.Analysis

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."

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.

Bloom’s Taxonomy- 5.Synthesis

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."

"Synthesis" is the fifth level of student ability. It deals with putting together parts to form a new whole.

Bloom’s Taxonomy- 6.Evaluation

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."

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Although most teachers learned about Bloom's Taxonomy, many seldom challenge students beyond the first two levels of cognition: knowledge and comprehension.

Why Higher-Order Thinking

The express goal of the project was to make recommendations about how to foster higher-order thinking in students.

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.

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.

High Order Thinking (H.O.T.) Skills

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.

Teaching (H.O.T.) Skills

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’.

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.

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:

Teaching (H.O.T.) SkillsTeachers 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.

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.

Why Do We Want to Teach Higher-Order Thinking?

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.

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.

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.

Group A

lxh =

h

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.

Memorizing a 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

Explaining derivation of the formula

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.

Application of the deep conceptual understanding in problem solving

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.

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.

Why Do We Want to Teach Higher-Order Thinking?

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.

Knowledge obtained through higher-order thinking processes is more easily transferable,

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?

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

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

Teaching Higher-Order Thinking

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

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?

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?

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

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

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.

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:

IV. How Do We Teach Higher-Order Thinking?

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.

If you are studying persuasive writing, have all students write a letter to a local leader on some hot-button topic in your community.

(1) Teach skills through real-world contexts.

If you are teaching your students when to use the various equipment operations, bring them to the workshop and demonstrate the application.

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.


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.

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.

(3) Throughout your instruction, take every opportunity to emphasize the building blocks of higher-order thinking.


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.

Teach content in ways that require students to: Build background knowledge.

Students might come up with categories based on first letter, ending letter, or vowel sound. Arrange items along some dimension.


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.


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.


“What do you think will happen when I tape this weight to the side of the ball and throw it?”

Make hypotheses. In any type of “discovery learning,” ask students to mentally conduct the experiment before you actually do conduct it.

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.

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).

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.

Meta-cognitive DevelopmentAn example is teaching what a "good" reader does as he or she reads. The actual steps could be outlined to the students.

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?”)

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.

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.

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.


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.

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.

Problem Solving: Draw a Picture


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.

Why Is Draw a Picture method so Important?

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.

https://www.teachervision.com/word-problems/teacher-resources/34516.html

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/subjects/170000000000


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.

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.

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.

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.


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.

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.

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

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.

Conclusion and Key Concepts

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.

You should emphasize the building blocks of higher-order thinking and encourage students to think about the strategies they are using to solve problems.

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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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.

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.



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.


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?


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.

Education

Teaching Higher Order Thinking & 21st Century Skills