Impact on Higher Order Thinking

• What types of skills and thought processes are considered higher-order?
According to Blooms Taxonomy of Thinking, there is are several levels of thinking. It begins with simple recall or remembering information, which requires less cognition than the other levels of thinking such as analysis, evaluation and creation. For example, it is requires less cognition to recite the reasons why the United States entered World War II. Now, to present students with the same reasons and them ask them to make predictions on how certain historical figures might react would require more cognitive processing, therefore it is considered higher order thinking. Likewise, to learn a song on the guitar is much lower than it is to take chords that have been learned and create an original song.


• Why do we seem to focus more on higher-order thinking skills now than we did in the past?
As more and more research is done on this subject, results paint a pretty clear picture. As educators teach students higher-order thinking skills, meaningful learning happens. Thinking is required for learning to happen. When a student does drill and kill exclusively, they learn the process, but not any deeper meaning. It is and should be about what we do with the information we learn, not the information itself (Alvermann & Phelps, 1998).


• How does/might technology hinder and/or enhance specific higher-order thinking skills?


Creation is at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy. There are so many apps, programs, devices, assessments and so on that can help students create an original product to demonstrate students' learning. In my opinion, technology is only a hinderance when it becomes a distraction. The amount of resources at our fingertips with technology is staggering. Those resources can help students analyze, cross-reference, and broaden their own understanding.