Frontiers in Educational Research, 2023, 6(20); doi: 10.25236/FER.2023.062011.
Mao Chaojing
School of Education, Capital Normal University, Haidian, Beijing, China
Higher-order thinking is a complex form of cognition that occurs within specific contexts, involving a series of cognitive abilities such as analysis, creativity, synthesis, establishing relationships, and metacognition. It requires students to apply their existing knowledge and skills in advanced cognitive activities such as reasoning, judgment, evaluation, creativity, and problem-solving. Importantly, higher-order thinking can be nurtured and developed. Empirical research has revealed that as primary and secondary school teachers, one can enhance students' higher-order thinking abilities by providing challenging open-ended questions and projects, encouraging students to raise questions and explore, promoting group discussions and collaborative learning, and guiding students in metacognition and reflection. These strategies contribute to improving students' higher-order thinking skills and fostering continuous academic growth.
higher-order thinking; open-ended questions; cooperative learning
Mao Chaojing. A Study on Strategies for Cultivating Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Primary and Secondary School Students. Frontiers in Educational Research (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 20: 67-71. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2023.062011.
[1] Bloom B S, Krathwohl D R. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals Handbook I Cognitive Domain [M]. New York: Longmans, 1956.
[2] Perkins D. N. Smart schools: From training memories to educating minds [M]. New York: The Free Press, 1992.
[3] Anderson L W, Krathwohl D R, Bloom B S. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing [M]. New York Longman. 2001.
[4] Piaget J., Inhelder B. (1966). The Psychology of the Child. New York: Basic Books.
[5] Anderson R C, Spiro R J, Anderson M C. Schemata as Scaffolding for the Representation of Information in Connected Discourse [J]. American Educational Research Journal, 1978, 15(3): 433-440.
[6] Lewis A., Smith D. (1993). Defining Higher Order Thinking. Theory into Practice, 32(3), 131-137.
[7] Zhong Z. X. (2004). The Purpose of Instructional Design: Promoting the Development of Learners' Higher-Order Abilities. Research in Distance Education, 11, 13-19.
[8] Ma S. F., Yang X. D. (2021). Cooperative Reasoning-Based Learning to Promote Higher-Order Thinking Development. Research in Educational Development, 41(24), 64-73.
[9] Wang S. (2011). Foreign Higher-Order Thinking and Its Teaching Methods. Shanghai Educational Research, 09, 31-34.
[10] Zhong Z. X. (2004). Instructional Design Assumptions for Promoting Learners' Higher-Order Thinking Development. Research in Distance Education, 12, 21-28.