Put HOTS in your teaching

AS LITTLE AS FIVE PERCENT OF classroom time is spent on questioning beyond the recall level: who did such and such, when did this event take place, etc. Most teaching is didactic—telling students what to think. Teaching for critical thinking, on the other hand, teaches students how to think.

Mary Ann Corley, PhD, would like to change that ratio. She would like for teachers, adult educators in particular, to "put the ‘HOTS’ in their teaching."

"Higher Order Thinking Skills—HOTS—are important for everyone to possess," says Corley, principal research analyst with the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. "If you can’t think critically, then you are not going to be able to find the course of action that is right for you."

Corley says critical thinking emphasizes an attitude of suspended judgment, incorporates logical inquiry and problem solving, and leads to an evaluative decision or action. Six cognitive skills lie at the heart of critical thinking: analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, evaluation, and monitoring and correcting one’s own reasoning.

For example, higher-order thinking skills help adults analyze and evaluate what they are reading.

"So many of our students think that if it is printed, it must be true," observes Corley. "They need to be able to put a filter on what they read and hear, to suspend judgment until they have heard all the information and then to be able to accept or reject the idea and to defend their judgment. They need to be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate."

How to add HOTS

"One activity we use is an emotionally charged statement such as ‘bilingual education should be a law’ or ‘the death penalty should be eliminated.’ We use emotional statements because research shows that people learn better when there is emotion attached to learning.

"Put a sign in each of the four corners of the room: agree, disagree, strongly disagree, or strongly agree. Ask people to stand under the sign they agree with. After they are in place, give the groups a few minutes to discuss their reasoning and select a spokesperson to defend their position. Allow discussion, questions, and challenges after each group report. Then tell people if they changed their mind after listening, they can move to another group. The exercise is fascinating and can be used with all kinds of topics."

She also suggests having students write essays to extend their learning. Choose a topic the class has studied and then throw out a question relating to the subject that asks: What would happen if..., for example, What would happen if we were to immediately pull out of Iraq?

"This is getting into higher-level thinking and predicting," Corley says. "It is not just ‘here’s what I’ve read and here’s what it means.’"

Online discussions are another method, as are debates, which Corley says are fabulous for getting beyond a recitation of facts. Also try having learners keep a journal and, as the teacher, make non-judgmental comments in it throughout the semester.

"So many teachers let the book guide instruction and don’t deviate from it," Corley says. ’The books are darn good, but they’re not enough. They don’t bring learning to life the way these activities do. Learning becomes so much more fun. Adults are voluntary learners; they are not mandated to attend literacy classes. As a result, when they don’t feel that a program is meeting their needs, they often will ‘vote with their feet.’ Group activities help learners to interact with and get to know others in their class, and, when that happens, they are more likely to persist in the class."

Higher order thinking skills reveal an important truth: There is no one solution to a problem, just an option that is best for you. HOTS help you find the best option.

For more information, phone Mary Ann Corley at 202.403.5759, e-mail her at mcorley@air.org, or write her at American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson St., Washington, DC 20007.