1. HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS
When we talk about HOTS "higher-order thinking skills" we're concentrating on the top three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

2. Questions that tap higher level thinking
Skill
Sample Prompts
Purpose
Level
Creating
design, construct, plan, produce
combine elements into a new pattern or product
Higher
Evaluating
check, critique, judge, hypothesize, conclude, explain
judge or decide according to a set of criteria
Analyzing
compare, organize, cite differences, deconstruct
break down or examine information
One of the commonly used questioning techniques is to employ the 5W and 1H questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How.

3. Asking "Good" Questions to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills
To increase higher order thinking:
How did you get that answer?
Can you explain your thinking?
What makes that tricky?
What would happen if…?
What words in the story prove that?
Can you give an example of that?

4. BLOOM’S TAXANOMY
Higher Order Thinking Skills, also called critical thinking skills categorizes lesson activities and questions into a pyramid. HOTS are categorized from the top down, in order of skill required and educational value of question type.
Evaluation - Making decisions 
Synthesis - Using information in new ways to create new things
Analysis - Identifying components 
Application - Using information to solve given problems 
Comprehension - Restating, paraphrasing, summarizing
 Knowledge - Rote fact recall (These are on the bottom because they are both the most common and least effective)