Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) separate critical thinking from lower order skills like rote memorization. HOTS aligns with Bloom’s taxonomy, a popular teaching method in the industry. Here, we’ll discuss the concepts of HOTS and how Bloom’s taxonomy-based assessments are vital for students’ growth and development.
Teaching methodologies have evolved over the years. Every teacher has their own style of teaching and imparting knowledge to students. While some teachers believe in strict traditional methods, others are more innovative. The common teaching styles or methodologies are:
• Lecture or authority style
• Coaching or democratic style
• Activity or facilitator style
• Group or delegator style
• Blended or hybrid style
The blended or hybrid teaching methodology combines different styles and concepts to make learning more engaging and interesting. HOTS is one such concept used in blended learning.
Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) is a popular concept in the education industry and is particularly associated with the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (Benjamin Bloom’s six-level framework for teachers and students).
HOTS levels are different from LOTS (low order thinking skills), which includes rote memorization of concepts. High order thinking focuses not on gaining knowledge but on developing the ability to understand, apply, and evaluate it. Instead of training a student to memorize pages of data, teachers work on improving the learning and analyzing skills of students.
So what is the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy?
HOTS is all about remembering, comprehending, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating the given piece of information. The highest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy are analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Evaluation is the highest level where a student has enough knowledge and skills to judge a topic based on various parameters.
What is Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)?
Changing times have led to a shift from rigid teaching models to flexible learning methods that are student-centric and customizable. However, students must master lower order skills to work on their higher order abilities. After all, a student cannot analyze a piece without memorizing the concept.
Yet, some educators feel that higher order skills like analysis, evaluation, etc., can happen at any stage and age. Some people are naturally inclined to it, while others have to be trained to use and improve their analytical skills.
Higher order thinking skills questions can be generated using AI platforms like PrepAI. The following are some examples of higher order thinking questions:
- Compare the poetic styles of William Shakespeare and Robert Burns.
- Explain the differences and similarities between capitalism and socialism.
- How is the Pythagoras theorem applicable in real life?
- Write a 500-word critical review of Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech.
- What alternative methods do you suggest to streamline healthcare in the USA?
Types of Higher Order Thinking Skills in Education
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is an important element of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). It is the process of judging and evaluating content based on internal and external parameters. For example, the student can judge the merit of an article by considering the author, their ideology, opinions, credentials, etc., to determine the extent of bias.
Metacognition
This is the level of awareness about how to think and process information. What does the student already know about the topic? How does the latest information fit with the existing data? It helps students realize their own strengths and weaknesses in converting theoretical knowledge to practical application.
Comprehension
This refers to the process of understanding the context of the content to make the necessary connections. For example, a law student should know how a law/ rule can be used to defend someone and prosecute the accused/ client.
Application
Another vital element of higher order thinking skills in teaching and real life is application (how you use a concept practically to achieve the desired result). Application of knowledge is the process of converting theory into practice. Knowing how to bake a cake is different from baking an edible and tasty cake. The application focuses on the latter.
Evaluation
This is similar to critical thinking, as we cannot have one without the other. Critical thinking helps students evaluate the content based on evidence and reasoning. It helps them rate a piece on the merit scale after measuring it against various predefined parameters.
Synthesis
It is the process of combining ideas to generate new ones that offer better results than the original ideas. The synthesis starts with brainstorming where students discuss individual ideas to connect, correlate, evaluate, and combine them to come up with the best solution.
Inference
Inference relies on analysis and evaluation where students anticipate the possible outcome based on given information. It is a continuous process, as the results can change when new information is available. To accurately infer something, one needs to have a flexible and adaptive mindset.
Importance of HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)
Now that we know the various higher order thinking skills in education, let’s understand why these skills are important and should be taught right from childhood.
We live in a competitive world where Darwin’s theory seems to be accurate. One needs to be prepared to handle the various facets of adult life, ranging from love to heartbreak, workplace toxicity, career growth, life and relationships, etc. Schools play a crucial role in building the characters of young students and strengthening their minds and personalities. To quote Nelson Mandela, today’s youth are the leaders of tomorrow. They need to have the necessary leadership qualities to make an impact.
That’s where HOTS and Bloom’s Taxonomy framework come into the picture. HOTS training and assessments prepare youngsters for the real world. Instead of rote memorization, they are taught to understand a concept, analyze it from multiple perspectives, evaluate their impressions, and create a new concept that’s better than the current one. They are made to think for themselves and become independent. Rather than shut down or avoid a subject due to its difficulty, students are encouraged and guided to understand why it is difficult and how they can overcome the challenges. This instills confidence and can boost their self-esteem when they successfully master the subject/ topic. They are also likely to remember the lessons for a longer time.
The higher order thinking skills have to be assessed to identify where a student’s strengths lie. Some are naturally inclined to be analytical, while some can be creative and innovative. The test papers, quizzes, and exams at school should include HOTS questions to help teachers determine how they can guide the students and enhance their skills.
Let’s look at a few higher order thinking skills example questions to use as a part of the assessment process. Ask open-ended questions that require detailed answers from students.
- Analyze the role of women during World War II. Explore their work behind the scenes in helping defeat the Nazis and Hitler.
- Criticize and defend the role of Jawaharlal Nehru during the Partition.
- Discuss the pros and cons of the Satyagraha movement of the Indian freedom struggle.
- Is there a need for nuclear weapons? Support your answer with a detailed analysis and real-life examples.
- Evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of prescribing puberty blockers to young kids and the effect of these drugs on their future.
- Create a budget plan for an FMCG company with a turnover of five crores per annum.
- Write the HTML code to create a webpage with a fifteen-field application form for a middle-level job in the manufacturing sector.
- Write an English essay about your favorite season.
As you can see, higher order skills questions can belong to any subject. Fortunately, teachers don’t have to stress about creating HOTS questions from scratch. AI question generator tools like PrepAI are built on Bloom’s Taxonomy framework and generate quizzes/ tests that cover LOTS and HOTS levels with ease. When we align the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and higher order thinking skills, we get the following:
How to Apply Higher-Order Thinking in Classroom Lesson Plans
Higher order thinking skills are pretty much interlinked with Bloom’s taxonomy six-stage pyramid. Implementing one method of learning will make it easier to seamlessly customize the process to make it more student and learning-centric.
A few ways to incorporate HOTS in classroom lesson plans are listed below:
Determine Learning Styles
Different students might prefer different learning styles. Teachers need to consider this information when planning their lessons to make classroom sessions more interactive and engaging. Instead of reading out from textbooks, teachers can use different materials and visuals to ensure students grasp the content with ease.
Connecting Concepts
Structure the topics in a way that makes it easy for students to connect them in order. For example, students should first learn how the human body’s internal system looks before they can learn about the roles of each organ. This allows students to use existing and new information to understand how the human body works.
Incorporate Real-World Examples
The world around us provides several scenarios that can be used to explain concepts in the classroom. For example, the Fibonacci series can be explained through snowflakes, flowers, shells, etc. This provides students with the tangible and latest information to understand difficult concepts.
Multimedia Content
Visual content like PPTs, drawings, pictures, graphs, AR/ VR tours, etc., make it easy for students to pay more attention to the subject. It also allows teachers to provide in-depth lessons rather than limiting them to what’s in the textbook.
Promote Creative Thinking and Questioning
The most important part of incorporating HOTS in lesson plans is to encourage student participation. Allow them to interact with teachers in the class and ask questions. Nudging students to come up with creative ideas will sharpen their critical thinking abilities.
Conduct HOTS-Based Assessments
Finally, the assessments have to be created using advanced question generators like PrepAI as it aligns with the learning methods followed in the educational institution.
Factors to Consider When Executing Higher Order Thinking Skills Objectives
Schools can use Bloom’s Taxonomy for lesson plans that align with HOTS objectives. However, keep the following aspects in mind when creating the curriculum.
- The skills are not always linear. Though we arrange them in a pyramid of importance, these cannot be taught in the same order.
- Analytical abilities can be case-sensitive. Just because a student can analyze one concept accurately doesn’t imply they have mastered the higher order skill.
- The focus should not be on the outcome but on the thought process or thinking abilities students need to develop to achieve the outcome.
- The parameters for each HOTS level change based on the student’s age, class, and learning abilities. For example, the creativity levels of a first-grade student and a high schooler will be different.
- Students who display one level of higher order skills may not have other skills. A student good at evaluation may not be creative or vice versa.
- Teaching higher order thinking skills is not a one-time process. It is continuous and uses regular feedback (in the form of assessments) to improve the abilities of the students and make them shine.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Higher Order Thinking Question Generator
HOTS teaching has to be supplemented by HOTS assessments. PrepAI is an advanced artificial intelligence question generator platform that automatically creates question papers for the input data. The algorithm has had a Bloom’s Taxonomy update so that PrepAI can now create higher order thinking skills questions that assess students based on their analytical and evaluating skills rather than memory.
PrepAI creates four types of questions- multiple choice (MCQs), true/ false, fillups, and descriptive questions that assess the knowledge, comprehension, application, synthesis, and evaluating skills of the candidates. This Bloom’s higher order thinking assessment method is a perfect addition to holistic and inclusive classrooms. Teachers can truly determine the strengths and weaknesses of students based on how they perform in the assessments created by PrepAI.
With multiple input and output methods, using PrepAI is easy, convenient, and hassle-free. The automation feature saves time and allows teachers to conduct tests and quizzes at a moment’s notice. It is a perfect companion to Bloom’s Taxonomy lesson plans in classrooms.
Conclusion
Teachers, educators, and school administrators need to work on creating engaging classrooms that allow students to learn beyond what’s in the syllabus and improve their critical thinking and HOTS abilities.
There’s no denying the advantages of adopting Bloom’s taxonomy and HOTS-based curricula in educational institutions. This includes assessment tools that can be easily integrated with the LMS systems.
