AI integration in education can enhance higher order thinking skills by using AI to generate higher-level questions that promote critical thinking & creativity
This chart will help you plan for higher order thinking skills. ...
Bloom’s Taxonomy should be your lifeline in teaching. It outlines low-level thinking to high-level thinking skills: Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation When cons…
In my previous post, I gave a general Overview of The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The series continues as I break down the three dimensions of the NGSS. This post will explore The NGSS
Our critical thinking worksheets help improve your ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information and ideas in a thoughtful and systematic manner.
Higher-order thinking questions are questions that you can ask in order to stimulate thinking that requires significant knowledge mastery and data manipulation.
Use this list of higher order thinking questions from Blooms, Costa, and Webb to support higher cognitive demand in your lessons with students.
Discover the power of higher order thinking skills in education. Go beyond memorization and unlock true learning potential for improved outcomes.
A Question Matrix is a tool to assist students in developing the skill of asking rich, higher-order questions about objects, events, ideas, and places in their environment.
Go beyond basic remembering and understanding.
Organisations are under increasing pressure to equip staff with higher-order thinking strategies to thrive. Here's why they are essential.
I really love to teach guided reading groups. It is always interesting and you really get to see how every student is unique in how they learn and process all the information. I like to see them make progress and move up reading levels and also REALLY comprehend what they are reading on another level. Amazing. I know many teachers may have struggled with this question before like I have...What do I do with those high readers? In second grade they are just not quite ready to start literature circles, but the daily small group guided reading is too slow and boring for them. I try to do something in between. I still want to meet with them to make sure we aren't missing an important piece of their reading instruction, but I also want them to become independent and really connect with their reading. Here are a few ideas that I have used for those readers that are really ready to move beyond the small group guided reading. I create a reading passport for these students. We put their picture on the front. Every time they finish a book, they add the title to their passport. In the passport, they can keep track of how many fiction and nonfiction books they read. This passport can be used for all levels! Reading Passport I meet with the group to introduce their book and have the discussions about predictions, unusual vocabulary, and any connections we might have. Then they go on their own to read as a group to the assigned chapter and complete a portion of their Book Club Notes. We always discuss ahead of time what the expectation is and what portion of the notes I will be looking for at our next meeting. They love the independence and take this very seriously! Book Club Notes I also like to provide something more for some of my other groups that are working above level, but not ready for this much independence. I just continue with our regular guided reading groups, but have them use a small bookmark to add their thinking and summarizing. I have a fiction or nonficiton bookmark. I add this to their book bag and they complete a portion at a time and bring it back to group for our discussions. Reading Groups Book Mark (Fiction) Reading Groups Bookmark (nonfiction) Sometimes I need a few reminders about asking those higher order thinking questions...for all my groups! I like to keep this list of question starters in my guided reading binder to help me remember to push them to think about their thinking! Higher Order Thinking Questions I can't wait to really get to work in my guided reading groups!
Plus 45 lower-order thinking questions too!
Use these question prompts at story time to develop kids' high-order thinking skills and critical thinking skills.
This morning, I saw the "light bulb" illuminate as a team realized that Webb's Depth of Knowledge Level 3 (DOK 3) tasks aren...
Check out these activities to teach students to use higher-order thinking skills using easy-to-remember methods.
Ask any group of teachers if their goal is to simply have students regurgitate facts, and every one of them will say no. Despite that, it keeps happening.
I have been searching high and low for an efficient, easy-to-understand list of criteria for evaluating hardware, software, tools, and everything in between. Most online articles that I found focus…
When Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl (2001) revised the cognitive categories of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, we might have gained a simpler way to teach, but our students lost an essential skill to learn. Anderson and Krathwohl completely revamped this instructional framework we educators we have traditionally used to establish our learning goals and outcomes. The key shifts in their revised taxonomy were the following: The Cognitive Domain was split into two dimensions - the Knowledge Dimension and the Cognitive Process Dimension. Knowledge was replaced with the cognitive actions of . The subcategories of Knowledge from the original taxonomy were combined into four categories within the Knowledge Domain: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. In 2014, Walkup and Jones expanded this domain by adding three more levels - relevant, deep, and communicative - as part of their definition of the concept of cognitive rigor. The names of the categories of the Cognitive Process Domain from conceptual nouns to cognitive verbs. Comprehension became Understanding. Synthesis was renamed Creating. In addition, creating became the highest level in the classification system, switching places with evaluating. The revised version is now remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating in that order. Anderson and Krathwohl also shifted the order of the categories, moving evaluate down a level and making create the pinnacle of the taxonomy. The revised version of Bloom's Taxonomy is truly a much more effective and user-friendly model. It is more directive and explicit. It also is much more applicable in developing benchmark standards that clearly state what the student will be able to do by the end of a particular grade level. It also is beneficial in setting performance objectives for what the student will do as part of a learning experience. It also can be used in setting encouraging and personal learning targets that state what I can and what we will do by the end of a unit or lesson. However, the drawback of the revision is that it removed a key cognitive category that is essential for our students to demonstrate and communicate as part of their learning. Synthesis was the cognitive category in the original taxonomy that addressed how students can put new information together to produce an original work - a plan, a product, or a project. It was also the category which we educators addressed and referred when we wanted our students to demonstrate their ability to create. When we tasked our students to build, create, design, develop, draw, plan, produce, or write something, we would state how The learner will demonstrate synthesis of whatever concept or procedure they were learning and complete the objective by stating what exactly they would do. However, synthesizing is actually more synonymous to understanding and applying than creating. Synthesis involves combining ideas and allowing an evolving understanding of text (Fries-Gaither, 2010). Students are challenged to put pieces together and seeing them in a new way . Essentially, synthesizing is understanding and applying at a higher level. Synthesizing involves both critical and creative thinking. It involves students in processing what they have learned to form a new idea, perspective, or opinion or to generate insight (Bumgarner, 2016). However, what distinguishes synthesizing from analyzing and evaluating is that the knowledge and thinking they demonstrate and communicate is more metacognitive and personal. These are the conclusions, decisions, opinions, perspectives, and thoughts they have developed and drawn based upon the information they have learned. They use the factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge they have acquired and gathered as examples and evidence to strengthen and support their thinking. Synthesizing, however, is not the same as creating. Creating involves designing, developing, or doing something physical that reflects and represents students' skills and talents. For example, develop and use a model or produce a plan, project, or product. Students synthesize by processing what they have learned into a personal argument, choice, claim, conclusion, decision, opinion, perspective, or point of view they can defend with credible information. They create something to that will reflect and represent not only their thinking but also their talent. Synthesizing is affective as well as cognitive in that involves processing learning to produce opinions, perspectives, or thoughts fueled by evidence, examples, and emotion. In fact, synthesizing is what engages students in the affective actions of the Affective Domain of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. The following graphic shows how synthesizing guides students through how we internalize what we are learning into personal insight. Receiving: Students receive factual, conceptual, and procedural information about who, what, where, when, how, and why. This occurs as they demonstrate and communicate the ability to and evaluate the ideas, information, texts, techniques, themes, and topics they are reading and reviewing. Responding: Students process the information into personal or self-knowledge when they show and tell how do you transfer and use what they have learned to attain and explain answers, outcomes, results, and solutions. They also engage in strategic thinking and problem solving by showing and telling how would you and what they have learned to address and respond to academic and real world circumstances, issues, problems, and situations. Valuing: Students use what thay to make and defend decisions using the personal or self-knowledge they have developed. This is when students engage in argumentative thinking, establishing claims and conclusions about do you think.... or should... and making choices about whether do you agree or disagree... This is an essential category within the Affective Domain - and with synthesizing - because it engages students to develop and demonstrate disciplinary literacy, the ability to examine, explore, and explain ideas and information in the subject areas. Organizing: Students show and tell how they can use the personal knowledge and thinking they have acquired and developed in different hypothetical scenarios, settings, and situations. They demonstrate and communicate conditional and contextual thinking by addressing and respond what do you do when. They also demonstrate and communicate creative thinking by showing and telling what would you do if. This is also when students begin to develop and demonstrate expert thinking, showing and telling how they would personally use what they have learned in any context. Characterizing: This is the highest level of synthesizing, where their knowledge and thinking defines and describes a student's identify as a learner and a scholar. They take what they have learned and express what do you believe, feel, or think. They share what is your opinion, perspective, or thoughts. Most importantly, they take what's academic and even abstract and use it to explain who are you as a learner in a particular subject area. Since college and career readiness is marked and measured by cognitive rigor and cognitive rigor challenges and engages students to demonstrate higher order thinking and communicate depth of knowledge, perhaps it is a wise decision to bring synthesis back as a separate cognitive category within Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. It should be positioned between the categories of evaluate and create. This will be the cognitive category where students will write and present argumentations and express and share their attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about what they are learning. Here is a redesign of the Bloom's Questioning Inverted Pyramid I designed that can be used to develop good questions that promote cognitive rigor. Notice where is placed and what distinguishes its question stems from the ones that challenge and engage students . This establishes a more definitive connection and progression between critical and creative thinking. Next year, when you're teaching and learning for cognitive rigor, be sure to include educational experiences that challenge and engage students to synthesize by asking good questions that ask what do you believe, feel, or think; how do you; how can you could, or how would you . Then ask them what can you design, develop, or do to express that reflects and represents their talent and thinking. Erik M. Francis, M.Ed., M.S., is the lead professional education specialist and owner of Maverik Education LLC, providing professional development and consultation on teaching and learning for cognitive rigor. His book Now THAT'S a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning is now available from ASCD. For more information on this topic or how to receive professional development at your site, please visit www.maverikeducation.com.
90% of people lack critical thinking skills. It's becoming more rare and valuable every day. But what exactly is critical thinking? In simple terms, it… | 313 comments on LinkedIn
Higher order thinking or higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), is based on the theory that some more advanced forms of learning require advanced or complex cognitive processing. Bloom's taxonomy, for instance, suggests the HOTS levels include analysis (breaking apart and organizing information), evaluation (examining the outcome), and synthesis (pulling information together). The teaching of these skills demands different and more advanced instructional methods than concrete levels of learning such as rote memorization and repetition. How Can We Teach Higher Order Thinking Skills? Instead of parroting facts back to a teacher, HOTS asks students to: understand concepts making sense of implied meanings from lessons or content cues connect new learning to old knowledge categorize information manipulate information organize and reorganize new concepts generate solutions to problems Common Warning Signs of Higher Order Thinking Skill Weaknesses: Students that struggle with HOTS often exhibit difficulties: understanding abstract concepts answering test questions that are worded differently than study materials comprehending and making connections to the material learning a process or steps that must be completed making inferences using metacognition - awareness of one's own thoughts brainstorming ideas problem-solving thinking critically comparing and contrasting visualizing concepts and their relationship to other concepts What Are Some Products that Develop Higher Order Thinking Skills? Good Sensory Learning offers a number of products that develop Higher Order Language Skills. Click on any of the titles below to learn more about the publication: Making Inferences the Fun and Easy Way Abstract Thinking and Multiple Meanings: Developing Higher Order Language and Mental Flexibility Through Critical Thinking and Visualization Hey What's the Big Idea Following Directions the Fun and Easy Way Categorizing, Paragraph Building, Transitional Words Activities Higher Order Language Bundle As you can see, higher order language is a critical skill for students to master. If you have any questions, reach out any time. Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning. She is also the director of Learning to Learn and Learning Specialist Courses. Blog: https://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.com/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1 GSL Blog: https://goodsensorylearning.com/blogs/news Stores: www.GoodSensoryLearning.com/ Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/ Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/694000
This is a Q Matrix chart to foster student's higher order thinking skills. Students would be able to refer to this chart to generate higher order thinking questions. As learning levels are clearly colour coded, students and teachers can have clear understanding and expectations of what consists of g...
Elements of critical thinking are the topic of our blog post today!
Higher order thinking skills are important for all students to learn and practice. Here are six tips for encouraging higher order thinking!
Not too long ago, our district devoted an entire day to thinking about how to fold higher order thinking skills or HOTS into our practice. It was a great day led by two excellent facilitators from ESSDACK. I was in...
See why higher-order thinking matters and how teachers can teach critical and creative thinking in their classrooms.
Higher Order Thinking Sticky Note Templates Based on Hess Cognitive Rigor Product Description Ready-to-Print Higher Order Thinking Sticky Note Templates Based on Hess Cognitive Rigor Click the green preview button above to see what's inside! Our Common Core Aligned Higher Order Thinking Sticky Note Templates Based on Hess Cognitive Rigor contains 42 cards in all with thought-provoking questions to be used in student notebooks or during classroom discussions to enrich student conversation! Can also be used with whole-class or small groups, partnered work, and of course, differentiated instruction! Just print'em and stick'em! Perfect for student notebooks, homework folders, reading/writing workshops, computer screens, student desks, read-alouds and close reading exercises, and more! Sticky notes option is perfect for keeping H.O.T. Questions in place as students work! Color-code for differentiated / partnered reading / small group / and assessment purposes! BONUS: Bundle also contains a blank 3X3" PowerPoint template so that you can add even more of your own HOT questions and focus on your students' individual needs! Being observed? Use these HOT prompts during your lesson for highly effective teaching! Satisfies Danielson's Framework for Teaching Standards 1a, 1e, 3b, 3c, and 3d More About This Product: ☰ This product can be used for small groups, differentiated instructional purposes, for 1:1 targeted instructional tutorials, or as a whole class for test prep purposes. ☰ This product is suitable for teachers, tutors, special education providers, as well as for home-instruction. ☰ The bundle is appropriate for students in Grades 2+ ☰ This product requires no preparation. ☰ This product is Common Core aligned and fosters higher-level thinking responses from students and trains them to answer questions thoroughly and with detail. ☰ This product satisfies Danielson's Framework for Teaching Standards 1a, 1e, 3b, 3c, and 3d
The endoplasmic reticulum Common Core Activity is a common core activity that helps students learn about what the endoplasmic reticulum of the cell and its functions. Students will also develop and practice higher order thinking skills.
What exactly is the thinking we need to teach? Bloom's Revised Taxonomy It's not just the cognitive processes categorized within Bloom's Revised Taxonomy students are expected to demonstrate. Those cognitive processes define the knowledge and skills students need to know, understand, and be able to do. Webb's Depth of Knowledge It also goes beyond the levels in Webb's of Depth of Knowledge that students are expected to communicate. That determines how deeply students need to know, understand, and be aware of a concept, idea, subject, or topic in order to answer a question, address a problem, or accomplish a task. It's also not the postsecondary ready (read this to understand why we don't use "college and career ready" in this blog) standards - be it the Common Core or those developed independently by those states who have not adopted the CCSS - that we need to address in our instruction. Those designate the performance objectives our students must meet or exceed in order to achieve and attain grade-level proficiency in reading and mathematics. Students also need to demonstrate and communicate domain or subject-specific deeper knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness - thinking, action, and knowledge that is specific to a particular content area. In English language arts and literature, we're not just teaching students how to read, write, speak, and listen fluently with basic comprehension. We need to teach students to think deeply about how text - which can be print, audio, visual, or technical - is presented, why it is presented that way, and what effect the presentation has on the reader, viewer, audience. In mathematics, we're not just teaching students mathematical content, concepts, facts, practices, and procedures they need to reproduce and apply to answer questions, address problems, and accomplish tasks correctly and successfully. We need to teach students to think deeply about how the procedures they followed led them to attain their answer, solution, or result; why a specific answer, solution, or result is correct or valid; how many different ways questions can be answers, problems address, and tasks accomplished; and how mathematics extends beyond numbers, algorithms, and formulas into the real world. In history and social studies, we're not just teaching important dates, events, ideas, information, names, and people. We need to teach the causes and reasons behind these events; why historical figures accomplished what they did; what was the situation or the thinking during a given time that influenced a person or an event; and what impact events throughout history had not only during the time in which it occurred but also on current events and perspectives in modern society. In science we're not just teaching scientific facts, ideas, and theories. We're teaching students research, investigate, and experiment with science in order to validate or refute existing theories, test their own ideas, draw their own conclusions, and even design new procedures and products that could improve - or even control - a particular scientific phenomena. Such teaching and learning can be provided by implementing a thinking curriculum that addresses demonstrating and communicating knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness in the core academic disciplines in what we define as The Thinking Curriculum. The Thinking Curriculum The Thinking Curriculum is for us educators what Bloom's and Webb's are for our students - a specific framework that informs teachers specifically of what we should be addressing in the instruction, assessment, and evaluation we plan and provide our students in the core academic disciplines. Where Bloom's and Webb's details the level of knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness our students need to demonstrate and communicate in their learning, the Thinking Curriculum informs us teachers what we're supposed to address in designing and developing our subject-specific lessons, units, and assessments. The Thinking Curriculum consists of four areas: Literary Thinking: Literary thinking focuses on teaching students how to recognize what a text says, what a text does, and what a text means by analyzing choices of content, language, and structure. Instruction focuses on non-critical reading (understand the text ), critical reading (understand the patterns and style of the text), and critical thinking (understand the meaning) (Kurland, 2000). The foundation of literary thinking is learning to read and write, where the student learns how to hear and recognize sounds, gains experience with and exposure to text, hear what good reading sounds like, and have opportunities to read and write at their developmental level. As students develop phonemic awareness and fluency, they should also be taught to engage in critical reading and thinking by restating in their own words what the text says (restatement); describing what type of text they are reading or viewing, what it is discussing, and what it is doing or its purpose (description); and also what the text means or its underlying message (interpretation). Students should also be taught to learn how to analyze and evaluate the text for the ideas its infers or suggests (inference), the elements the author includes within the text to support its meaning or message (choices), and consider such elements when developing and producing their own text. Students should also be taught how to read and write different text that present a specific message or purpose (ways to read). Teaching and learning grammar are also a key component of literary thinking not only to know, understand, and apply the conventions of grammar and usage but also build fluency, develop a deeper understanding of how authors and their text use language to convey a particular tone and create a desired or unintentional effect on the reader, and use conventions of writing to develop a desired tone or effect on the reader or viewer. Mathematical Thinking: Mathematical thinking address how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another and can be connected to contexts and phenomena outside mathematics (connections); making and investigating mathematical theories and developing and evaluating mathematical arguments and proofs (reasoning and proofing); expressing mathematical thinking clearly and coherently and analyzing and evaluating the mathematical thinking and strategies of others (communication); create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas and to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena (representation); and build new mathematical knowledge by solving problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts (problem solving) (NCTM, 2000). Mathematical thinking goes beyond knowing, understanding, and doing math - or, more specifically, reproducing and applying procedures to attain the correct answer. Mathematical thinking challenges and engages students to think about the mathematical concepts and practices they are learning, how answers are attained or how they attained their answers, explain their thinking process, and develop and demonstrate analytical and creative problem solving skills that will not only help them in math but also in every aspect of their lives. Historical Thinking: Historical thinking goes beyond knowing historical dates, events, facts, ideas, information, and names, which remain a key component of teaching history and social studies. Historical thinking challenges and engages students to develop a deeper understanding of what and when events occurred as well as recognize, analyze, and evaluate patterns of historical duration (length of time) and succession (relationship between and sequence of events) (chronological thinking); understand the intentions and difficulties of various cultures, people, regimes, and societies encountered and the complex world in which such historical figures actually lived (historical comprehension); recognize and realize the differences in the various opinions and perspectives of educators, experts, eyewitnesses, how they convey ideas and information; distinguish between fact and opinion, and determine the credibility of sources (historical analysis and interpretation); conduct in-depth research and investigations to discover the facts, reasoning, and truth behind historical events, facts, ideas, information, and people and draw their own conclusions, opinions, or perspectives supported by evidence (historical research capabilities); examine and explore past and current controversial issues, problems, and situations deeply, develop arguments, claims, conclusions and provide solutions; and analyze and evaluate their impact on subsequent or current actions and decisions (historical issues). (NCHS/UCLA, 1996). Scientific Thinking: The core idea behind scientific thinking is evidentiary thinking - thinking that requires proof to support arguments, choices, claims, and conclusions. In science, students demonstrate and communicate evidentiary thinking in three ways: inquiry (asking questions), investigations (conducting examinations and research), and experimentation (testing and validating ideas). There are two processes students can be taught to demonstrate and communicate their thinking: the scientific method in which students generate and test a hypothesis about an observation or phenomena and engineering design, which involves inventing a new plan or product or innovating an existing procedure or product to solve a problem (Kuhn, 2010). For teachers, the Thinking Curriculum is our Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge - the framework that tells us what and how we need to plan and provide our instruction, assessment, and evaluation. In order to do this, we need to go beyond the textbook, the classroom, and even beyond ourselves to provide that deeper teaching and learning experience. Literary Thinking with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2, 3.3) If you're going to teach a novel such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, don't only teach how to read the story but ask students to consider how Dahl satirizes - or, if working with younger children, brings attention to - how children behave and how parents do not attempt to adjust their improper behavior. Have students analyze and evaluate how Dahl describes each of the characters and how their appearance, words, and actions define or reflect their character. Literary Thinking with Genre Study (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.9) If you're going to teach a genre study such as science fiction, don't just have your students read and view text from the genre, identify the main idea, describe the characters, and analyze the themes. Teach students the motifs of science fiction and have students analyze and evaluate how these stories address and incorporate these motifs. Have students consider whether science fiction influence scientific fact or vice versa. Challenge students to create their own science fiction tales that have deep, resonating themes about the future, space, time, machines, monsters, and society. If you're going to challenge students to interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, don't just have them work with numbers, algorithms, and formulas. Have them explain the reasoning behind their conclusions, choices, and decisions. Provide them a real world situation in which they would have to use multiplicative comparisons such as express in a number sentence the difference between the average size and weight of a porpoise (5 ft., 121 lbs.) to a dolphin, which is double or triple the size and approximately nine times heavier. If you're going to have students learn about seminal historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the articles of the U.S. Constitution, or The Gettysburg Address, don't just talk about or even read these documents. Have students analyze and evaluate the the style in which these documents were written; why these documents were written; how they reflect the thinking of the individual, period, or situation they address; and the impact these documents had not only during the time in which it was written but also its impact on modern society and culture. Have students analyze how and evaluate why Thomas Jefferson carefully worded The Declaration of Independence to convey the colonies' conflict and concerns were with King George, not the people of England. Have students analyze and evaluate the reasons behind the amendments of the U.S. Constitution and whether those reasons remain practical or pertinent. Have them analyze and evaluate why Abraham Lincoln said what he did in The Gettysburg Address and the effect he hoped to have on his listeners. Scientific Thinking with Natural Disasters (NGSS 4-ESS2-2. MS-ESS2-2, HS-ESS2-1-3) If you're going to have students learn about natural disasters, don't just have them identify what natural disasters are and what causes them. Have them research natural disasters throughout history, analyze and evaluate the impact of different kinds of natural disasters, why people continue to live in areas prone to natural disasters, how human interference and man-made disasters can cause natural disasters, predict the possibility of a historical natural disaster occurring again, and design a plan to protect people from or even prevent natural disasters. Not only will lessons and units such as these encourage students to develop, demonstrate, and communicate deeper knowledge, understanding, and awareness of what they are being taught and learned but also make learning interesting and relevant for them - and perhaps, even you as the teacher. Stay tuned to this blog for entries in which we delve deeper into the four core content areas of the Thinking Curriculum. - E.M.F.