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2-1 HOTS Overview and Blooms Taxonomy
2-1 HOTS Overview and Blooms Taxonomy
As a supervisor, you play a contributory role in directing the school towards the achievement of its
educational goals. You are expected to constantly guide and help the schools deliver quality
education to students.
But what do students really need? Do they only need to learn the topics discussed in class, or is there
something else that they need to develop to help them prepare better for lifes challenges?
Students go to school not only to absorb information. They also have to be taught what to do with
that information and how to apply it in real life. Students basically go to school to make themselves
better prepared for the real world. Are they aware of what the real world demands from them?
According to Giola (2005), when asked what kind of talents they like to see in management positions,
business leaders consistently set imagination and higher order thinking at the top. It is, therefore, not
just about the information students know, but how well they can process information to solve
problems and adapt to challenges. Have you and your division prepared your students well enough to
help them do so?
Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) refer to skills that allow students to process information, apply
them to situations, and make sound decisions. It is related to the ability to do critical and creative
thinking. Making sure that HOTS is integrated in the schools instructional activities is an important
component of your job as a supervisor.
What is HOTS?
As a supervisor, you want your students from your division to be prepared for work and life in general
when they graduate. Research has shown that students will not be prepared for work in a society that
demands higher order thinking skills if their schools focus exclusively on the basics. Students will not
learn to think for themselves if their schools expect them just to stay in line and keep quiet (Rabkin &
Redmond, 2005). However, many schools still focus narrowly on basic academic skills, testing, and
discipline.
There is a need to develop cognitive skills and not just provide information. Students need help in
developing the tools of thinking. These include careful observation of the world, mental
representation of what is observed or imagined, abstraction from complexity, pattern recognition and
development, symbolic and metaphoric representation, and qualitative judgment (Rabkin &
Redmond, 2005). Of course, it also involves critical thinking and metacognition.
Critical thinking is thoughtful thinking. It involves challenging an idea. It is being engaged in evaluative
thinking, and potentially leading to new knowledge (Moon, 2008). Metacognition refers to what a
person knows about what, how, and why he/she thinks, and how he/she can regulate his/her own
thinking (Weiner, Reynolds, Freedheim, & Miller, 2003). An example is a student studying for an
exam. She has been studying for hours and is exhausted. The decision that this student has to make is
whether she has studied the material for the exam sufficiently and can go to sleep, or whether she
must keep studying. The student must decide whether the material is generally well-learned, and if
not, what information necessitates further study. This decision not only necessitates the length of
time the student puts in, but also her studying behaviour, and ultimately, her test performance
(Perfect & Schwartz, 2002). Cognitive thinking and metacognition are important thinking tools that
support the development of students HOTS. As an instructional supervisor, you play an important
role in supporting your schools toward creating a learning environment that promotes the use of
HOTS.
Compare two sets of questions from a teacher who has just finished guiding his/her students through
a hands-on laboratory activity on photosynthesis, the process of food production in plants. Which set
of questions will truly check students understanding?
Set A
Set B
1. Define photosynthesis.
What do you think of the questions? Observe that the first set of questions only require recall.
Although asking recall questions is acceptable, it does not really promote HOTS. Recall questions do
not encourage students to think and apply what they have learned.
On the other hand, Set B questions are better in encouraging students to practice their HOTS. HOTS
questions focus more on the WHY, HOW and WHAT IF rather than the WHAT, WHO and WHEN.
Asking HOTS questions encourages students to think beyond the information learned and actually
force them to think in the real sense of the word.
Benefits
Drawbacks
product of thinking, and not a form of thinking. Thus, Krathwohl and Anderson (2001) opted for verbs,
rather than nouns in their revision of Blooms Taxonomy.
There is also a change in emphasis reflected in the repositioning of the last two categories. In the
Revised Blooms Taxonomy, Evaluating precedes Creating as it is said that before we are able to
create something, we need to evaluate it first. Creating seems to be the most difficult cognitive
function as it requires us to put parts together in a new way, or to synthesize parts to form a new
product.
matches
reads
records
reproduces
selects
states
views
Sample Questions
Who wrote One
Hundred Years of
Solitude?
What is the capital
of Vietnam?
This means that if the student could IDENTIFY (this is included in the list of verbs) something, he is
manifesting the first level of knowledge. If this is observed alone, however, this is not yet considered
as a form of higher order thinking. HOTS is a continuum that requires all forms or types of
questioning to be used.
2. Understanding:
Grasping the meaning of informational
materials
classifies
cites
converts
describes
discusses
estimates
explains
gives examples
generalizes
makes sense
out of
paraphrases
restates (in
own words)
summarizes
traces
understands
Interpret the
following quote
from Ralph Waldo
Emerson, What
lies behind us and
what lies before us
are small matters
compared to what
lies within us.
This means that if the student could EXPLAIN something (this is included in the above list of verbs),
he/she is manifesting a more complex form of intelligence.
3. Applying:
The use of previously learned
information in situations
acts
administers
articulates
assesses
charts
collects
instructs
operationalizes
participates
predicts
prepares
preserves
Based on the
discussion, predict
the changes that
will have to be
made in the
Philippines if we
Category
Sample Questions
shift to a federal
form of
government.
4. Analyzing:
The breaking down of informational
materials into their component parts,
examining (and trying to understand
the organizational structure of) such
information to develop divergent
conclusions by identifying motives or
causes, making inferences, and/or
finding evidence to support
generalizations
breaks down
correlates
diagrams
differentiates
discriminates
distinguishes
focuses
illustrates
infers
limits
outlines
points out
prioritizes
recognizes
separates
subdivides
5. Evaluating:
Judging the value of material based on
personal values/ opinions resulting in
an end product with a given purpose,
without real right or wrong answers
appraises
compares
and contrasts
concludes
criticizes
critiques
decides
defends
interprets
judges
justifies
reframes
supports
Is non-formal
education a good
alternative to
formal schooling?
Why or why not?
6. Creating:
Creatively or divergently applying
prior knowledge and skills to produce
a new or original whole; Putting parts
together to form a coherent whole;
Reorganizing elements into a new
pattern or structure through
generating, planning, or producing
adapts
anticipates
categorizes
collaborates
combines
communicates
compares
compiles
composes
contrasts
creates
designs
devises
expresses
formulates
generates
incorporates
individualizes
initiates
integrates
intervenes
models
modifies
negotiates
plans
progresses
rearranges
reconstructs
reinforces
reorganizes
revises
structures
substitutes
validates
Prepare a letter
addressed to the
editor of your
community
newspaper on
your views on the
Reproductive
Health (RH) Bill.
Higher order thinking is a continuum and requires remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing,
evaluating, and creating. The Revised Blooms Taxonomy can provide the basis for developing
curriculum and teaching strategies that meet this challenge. The taxonomy and the ability to generate
a full variety of questions are all that an intelligent teacher needs to teach critical thinking (Paul,
1985). This means that to encourage critical thinking among students, you must guide your teachers
to focus on questions or activities that involve the higher levels of the taxonomy rather than the
simple and basic recalling stage.
For teachers to prepare students for the real world requires that they know how to apply the
essentials of higher order thinking skills to their teaching. The power to think and solve problems
should be the student outcome desired by all teachers (Whittington, 1985 in Boone et al., 2005).
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day.
Teach a man how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.
~Chinese saying
This saying can be modified to describe todays students. Teach students by merely providing them
facts and figures and they will be successful for a few years. Teach students to think and learn on their
own and they will be successful for a lifetime. Do you agree with this statement?
Encourage your teachers to use the Revised Blooms Taxonomy to develop instructional activities that
require their students to develop the higher order thinking skills that will lead to a lifetime of success!
Make sure that your teachers have a copy of the taxonomy and that they refer to it when they plan
their lessons.
References
Anderson, L., & Krathwohl, D. (Eds.). (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Blooms
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Complete Edition. New York: Longman.
Bloom, B. & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, by a
Committee of College and University Examiners. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: Longmans.
Boone, H., Boone, D. & Gartin, S. (2005). Are You Feeding or Challenging Your Students: Feeding them Knowledge or
Challenging Them to Think? The Agricultural Education Magazine, 77(4), 25-27.
Giola, D. (2005). Why Literature Matters: Good Books Help Make a Civil Society. Boston Globe, p. C12.
Mukherjee, A. (2004). Promoting Higher Order Thinking In MIS/CIS Students Using Class Exercises. Journal of Information
Systems Education, 15(2), 171- 179.
Rabkin, N. & Redmond, R. (2005). The Art of Education Success. The Washington Post, p.A.19.
Paul, R. W. (1985). Blooms Taxonomy and Critical Thinking Instruction. Educational Leadership, 42(8), 36-39.
Perfect, T. & Schwartz, B. (2002). Applied Metacognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.