LOTS and HOTS Background Information

Lower-Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) Lower-order thinking skills are used to understand the basic story line or literal meaning of a story, play, or poem. This includes: Wh questions. teaching relevant lexical items. relating to grammatical structures when relevant.

–Who? –What? –Where? –When? –Do you know…? –Can you identify…? –Name…. –List…… Key Words for LOTS Questions

After the LOTS……. Once a student has mastered the basic understanding of a text, s/he is ready to move on to the next level which involves using that information in some way. This entails applying higher-order thinking skills, or: HOTS

Higher-order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Higher-order thinking skills are used to: interpret a text on a more abstract level. manipulate information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning and implications.

HOTS for Analyzing Literary Texts Predicting Applying Inferring Sequencing Identifying parts and whole Classifying Comparing and contrasting Explaining patterns Explaining cause and effect Distinguishing different perspectives Problem solving Uncovering motives Generating possibilities Synthesizing Making connections Evaluating

You can get more information about LOTS and HOTS by watching the Introduction to the Literature webcast by Dr. Judy Steiner Introduction to the Literature Introduction to the Literature