mediocrity to success
The manner in which a youngster learns to apply Higher Order Thinking Skills affects whether or not they live a life of mediocrity or success.
What is the difference between a leader and a follower?
Have you ever considered how far we’ve come in the last few centuries? Medical advancements have been made. We’ve created machines that can perform tasks that we can’t. We’ve enacted laws to help our society progress. Computers have been created to make our lives more easier. Haven’t we made a lot of technological advancements? We didn’t make them at all, in fact. Less than one percent of the population has made significant contributions to technical advancement. The rest of us merely follow in the footsteps of the changemakers. So, what’s the difference between those who follow (followers), those who implement (middle men), and those who generate (leaders and specialists) change?
The most prevalent explanation is that the difference is determined by one’s knowledge. However, knowledge without wisdom is useless. The success of a person is determined by how they apply their information. The application of knowledge is based on the concept of thinking, which is a simple yet often ignored concept. It’s not only what we think about; it’s how we think about it as well.
Asking the proper questions is an important part of exploratory learning.
Consider this: Just as individuals avoid exercising because it exhausts their bodies, they avoid thinking because it exhausts their minds. We want machines to assist us, just as we prefer someone to explain something to us rather than having to figure it out for ourselves. But, just as physical training makes the body stronger, regular ‘thinking’ workouts are required for a strong mind. A Personal Trainer can help us grow by altering our workout program, but they can’t lift the weights for us.
A skilled instructor would not expect solid understanding to be obtained solely through explanation. When the student has investigated the concept at increasingly deeper levels, the explanation that follows will establish a more solid meaning than it would if the learner had not previously ‘thought it through.’ This means that the greatest explanations are those that fit in best with the queries that came before them. It also implies that the best teachers are those who can make learning easier by asking the proper questions.
What are the appropriate inquiries?
That is an excellent question. Higher Order Thinking Skills questions are the solution, but in order to understand the answer, we must first ask more questions to delve deeper into this topic.
What kinds of inquiries are there?
Our understanding’s depth (or thoroughness) is defined by the depth of our cognitive processes while learning about it. The more basic thinking processes, such as remembering, comprehension, and some type of application, are found at the shallow end. When learning about new concepts, being able to investigate questions developed at these levels is essential for gaining a basic and fundamental comprehension.
Building fundamental ability to accomplish great results, on the other hand, necessitates digging deeper into research by activating ‘Higher Order Thinking’ processes including analysis, assessment, and innovation (also known as ‘critical thinking’).
Bloom’s Taxonomy: A Framework for Higher-Order Thinking (HOTS)
Bloom’s Taxonomy’s cognitive domain (see diagram to the left) is the most well-known model for categorizing the depth and layers of thought involved in the learning process. As the learner’s understanding deepens, so do the abilities he or she may display.
Facts, terms, names, locations, dates, sequences, and basic concepts: remembering facts, terms, names, locations, dates, sequences, and basic concepts.
Understanding: Demonstrating a grasp of the knowledge remembered by comparing and organizing it into something meaningful.
Application: Solving a problem or completing a task using that knowledge and approaches.
Breaking down information into sections for analysis in order to determine causes and connections.
Evaluation: Using the findings of analysis to draw conclusions about the worth of something on which to make decisions.
Creation: Connecting the meaning of evaluations in order to synthesis new concepts or ideas that necessitate ongoing investigation and evaluation (thus continuing the cycle).
From the Classroom to the Real World: From Mediocrity to Excellence
We all need basic thinking skills like memory, comprehension, and application to grasp and execute simple activities, pass tests, and keep a job. Critical or ‘Higher Order’ Thinking skills (analysis, assessment, and creation) are most heavily utilised in jobs given to those entrusted with making critical decisions in a workplace setting. Managers, for example, may be required to assess potential candidates before deciding who to hire and fire.
It is the obligation of those in charge (leaders) to employ creative processes for innovative purposes after analyzing all elements involved and estimating the anticipated impact on future changes. Developing new policies, creating new job descriptions, creating new training resources, devising new marketing tactics, and even inventing new products are some examples. Assessors use similar models to set goals for performance at school since Higher Order Thinking Skills distinguish mediocrity from excellence in the professional sector. The more essential assessment assignments (especially at the HSC level) are frequently designed to examine not only the breadth but also the depth of a student’s comprehension. In reality, the assessment questions with the highest weighted marks are frequently those with the highest weighted points.
Home Activities to Improve Higher Order Thinking Skills
It’s tempting to explain everything rather than allowing our children to develop their own opinions about a topic because we want to make sure they get the “correct conclusion.” The most basic methods that parents can help their children build their Higher Order Thinking Skills Encourage our children to think about ‘why,’ ‘how,’ and ‘therefore, this implies that…..’ Thinking skills can be as simple as encouraging them to think about ‘why,’ ‘how,’ and ‘therefore, this means that…..’
The greatest teachers will gradually enhance your child’s comprehension by using Higher Order Thinking questions to investigate the learning processes one layer at a time, as their understanding is formed around a constructivist framework. This procedure gradually transforms knowledge into comprehension, and comprehension into expertise. Your child’s testing scores will skyrocket in the short run. Their future success will be determined in the long run.
Doesn’t it give you something to think about?
Although language and culture will influence how your child develops higher order thinking skills, higher order thinking activities should be tailored to the learning environment. Higher Order Thinking Questions should be used in all types of learning situations, including teaching, training, lecturing, explaining, and tutoring. The only distinction between Sydney, London, Washington, Beijing, and Delhi is that higher order thinking activities should be tailored to the culture. Intelligence, on the other hand, is a valuable thing in every situation!
