Using the Interactive Whiteboard to Model Higher Order Thinking Skills.

In an ever changing world our students will need to develop skills to: - Solve problems - Think creatively – invent and generate new ideas and knowledge - Think critically – challenge, debate, refute, acknowledge - Make decisions – compare, analyse, select, justify - Analyse/evaluate information and ideas - Make predictions and plan for future and changing events.

Higher Order Thinking activities are one of many learning process that can be used to assist our students as they meet the challenges of the modern world. As teachers we can create Higher Order Thinking activities across all curriculum areas from Prep to Year 12. In many cases we only have to make slight adjustments to our current teaching practise to be using Higher Order Thinking approaches.

What is Higher Order Thinking? Higher Order Thinking occurs when students combine facts and ideas then synthesise, generalise, explain, hypothesise and are able to arrive at some conclusion or interpretation. Higher Order Thinking activities allow students to manipulate information and ideas to solve problems, gain understanding and discover new meaning. Department of Education, Qld. – A Guide to Productive Pedagogies: Classroom Reflection Manual.

When students are engaged in Higher Order Thinking activities an element of uncertainty is introduced into the instructional process and the outcomes are not always predictable or necessarily the same. This can be confronting, as teachers are not certain what the students might produce. However as students skills develop they become producers of knowledge. The teachers task is to create activities or environments that allow students the opportunity to engage in Higher Order Thinking. Department of Education, Qld. – A Guide to Productive Pedagogies: Classroom Reflection Manual.

Students are only engaged in Lower Order Thinking when they: - Receive information - Recite facts - Recall information - Regurgitate information (locate, cut, paste, present) - Participate in routine practice. It does not mean that teachers should not include Lower Order Thinking activities in their day to day teaching. They have their place and are powerful approaches to consolidate skills.

How often have we given students the task to provide information on a given country? We set criteria, explain how we would like it presented, discuss research skills and help students start the task. Are we in fact just regurgitating facts? Is this a Higher Order or Lower Order Thinking activity?

If we changed the focus of this activity could we make it a more Higher Order Thinking activity. Remember most Higher Order Thinking activities include aspects of the three top levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, that is the art of analysing, evaluating and creating.

Instead of gathering information on one country what could the outcome be if we decided to compare two countries. Students could research, analyse, evaluate and compare each countries cultures, physical attributes, agriculture, religion, food, dress, language, etc. Could they compare how different cultural expectations influence peoples way of life?

The following Interactive Whiteboard activity has been changed from a Lower Order Thinking activity to a Higher Order Thinking activity. In its Lower Order Thinking form we could create a number of ‘_at’ words and ‘_ot’ and scatter them individually on the IWB screen. We would then make two boxes. One labelled ‘at words’ and the other labelled ‘ot words’. The students task would be to drag each word into the appropriate box.

hot pot cot ot wordsat words dot bat mat cat fat rat got

We can change this activity to a Higher Order Thinking activity by allowing the students to categorise words by using their 'eye', 'mind' and 'ear'. eye – to see the similarity mind – to think about a similarity ear – to hear the similarity It is their task to categorise these words according to headings they establish. How do we do this?

1.The teacher can pre-type the words on the IWB or type the words up while the group watches. 2.Put the students in groups and create an IWB page for each group. (Copy and paste using the ‘storyboard’ in Easiteach.) 3.Give each group a piece of paper and ask them to put the words in groups. Don’t give them clues. Let them decide on the categories. Will it be letter patterns, will it be starting letters, will it be objects, etc.

4. Can the students add other words that are not listed, yet still fit the categories they have established 5. Each group can now use the wireless key board to arrange the words using the categorising approaches they decided on. - Can the other groups see how the words have been categorised? - Can the group explain its conclusions? - The group could add pictures, boxes or shapes to help organise their work.

hop pat pot mop rat rot cot chop dot mat sat top hot got pop bat cat fat Group 1 hat