Higher Order Thinking Skills “HOTS” Created by Judi Granit

Higher Order Thinking Skills: (HOTS) inferring distinguishing different perspectives explaining patterns comparing and contrasting explaining cause and effect problem solving 

Inferring To reach understanding by carefully considering the clues available. To read between the lines.

Can you infer why he might be crying? What helped you infer? You have to look at the CONTEXT

Can you use contextual clues to infer what happened to this poor young man?

We can use context to help us infer the meaning of new words: For example: The word trunk has several meanings in English. Can you infer some of the meanings with the help of the context?

He climbed the thick brown trunk of the tree.

The largest animals on earth use their trunks to eat and drink.

The taxi driver helped me put my bags in the trunk.

We are able to infer meaning of sentences by using our knowledge of the world. Look at the sentence: The Senator admitted owning the gun that killed his wife. What can we understand that isn’t actually stated?

The Senator admitted owning the gun that killed his wife. There is a Senator. He owns a gun. He is married. His wife is dead. That gun caused her death. The Senator admitted owning that gun.

The Senator admitted owning the gun that killed his wife. We can infer: - that this would be a major news story about a public figure. - that the gun (or the bullet from it) has probably been already found and identified as the murder weapon. However, we CAN’T infer that the Senator killed his wife, or that the woman was murdered.

Which way did the rabbit run?

Sometimes we need more background knowledge to infer correctly!

Can you infer what is going on in this video clip? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGb8pMIeY6w (Note for teacher: stop the video before the end!)

Inferring the missing words …… Read the words to this song. It’s called “The Inference Song” Can you infer what the missing words are?

Let the students hear and see the song Teacher note: Let the students hear and see the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ZNP5aj5fs

What can you infer from it? Now you will read a short poem called “Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters”. What can you infer from it?

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS from There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery by Portia Nelson I I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost … I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out. II I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place but, it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out. III I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in … it’s a habit. my eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. IV I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. V I walk down another street. You might like: