thinking skills education

Developing Critical Thinking

• Posted January 10, 2018
• By Iman Rastegari

In a time where deliberately false information is continually introduced into public discourse, and quickly spread through social media shares and likes, it is more important than ever for young people to develop their critical thinking. That skill, says Georgetown professor William T. Gormley, consists of three elements: a capacity to spot weakness in other arguments, a passion for good evidence, and a capacity to reflect on your own views and values with an eye to possibly change them. But are educators making the development of these skills a priority?

"Some teachers embrace critical thinking pedagogy with enthusiasm and they make it a high priority in their classrooms; other teachers do not," says Gormley, author of the recent Harvard Education Press release The Critical Advantage: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in School . "So if you are to assess the extent of critical-thinking instruction in U.S. classrooms, you’d find some very wide variations." Which is unfortunate, he says, since developing critical-thinking skills is vital not only to students' readiness for college and career, but to their civic readiness, as well.

"It's important to recognize that critical thinking is not just something that takes place in the classroom or in the workplace, it's something that takes place — and should take place — in our daily lives," says Gormley.

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Gormley looks at the value of teaching critical thinking, and explores how it can be an important solution to some of the problems that we face, including "fake news."

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iT unes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber and co-produced by Jill Anderson, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.

An education podcast that keeps the focus simple: what makes a difference for learners, educators, parents, and communities

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Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in Education

Teaching Students to Think Critically

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Higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) is a concept popular in American education. It distinguishes critical thinking skills from low-order learning outcomes, such as those attained by rote memorization. HOTS include synthesizing, analyzing, reasoning, comprehending, application, and evaluation.

HOTS is based on various taxonomies of learning, particularly the one created by Benjamin Bloom in his 1956 book, " Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals . " Higher-order thinking skills are reflected by the top three levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Bloom's Taxonomy and HOTS

Bloom's taxonomy is taught in a majority of teacher-education programs in the United States. As such, it may be among the most well-known educational theories among teachers nationally. As the Curriculum & Leadership Journal notes:

"While Bloom’s Taxonomy is not the only framework for teaching thinking, it is the most widely used, and subsequent frameworks tend to be closely linked to Bloom’s work.... Bloom’s aim was to promote higher forms of thinking in education, such as analyzing and evaluating, rather than just teaching students to remember facts (rote learning)."

Bloom’s taxonomy was designed with six levels to promote higher-order thinking. The six levels were: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. (The taxonomy's levels were later revised as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, revising, and creating.) The lower-order thinking skills (LOTS) involve memorization, while higher-order thinking requires understanding and applying that knowledge.

The top three levels of Bloom's taxonomy—which is often displayed as a pyramid, with ascending levels of thinking at the top of the structure—are analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These levels of the taxonomy all involve critical or higher-order thinking. Students who are able to think are those who can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to new contexts. Looking at each level demonstrates how higher-order thinking is applied in education.

Analysis , the fourth level of Bloom's pyramid, involves students use their own judgment to begin analyzing the knowledge they have learned. At this point, they begin understanding the underlying structure of knowledge and also are able to distinguish between fact and opinion. Some examples of analysis would be:

• Analyze each statement to decide whether it is fact or opinion.
• Compare and contrast the beliefs of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.
• Apply the rule of 70 to determine how quickly your money will double at 6 percent interest.
• Illustrate the differences between the American alligator and the Nile crocodile.

Synthesis, the fifth level of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid, requires students to infer relationships among sources , such as essays, articles, works of fiction, lectures by instructors, and even personal observations. For example, a student might infer a relationship between what she has read in a newspaper or article and what she has observed herself. The high-level thinking of synthesis is evident when students put the parts or information they have reviewed together to create new meaning or a new structure.

At the synthesis level, students move beyond relying on previously learned information or analyzing items that the teacher is giving to them. Some questions in the educational setting that would involve the synthesis level of higher-order thinking might include:

• What alternative would you suggest for ___?
• What changes would you make to revise___? 
• What could you invent to solve___?

Evaluation , the top level of Bloom's taxonomy, involves students making judgments about the value of ideas, items, and materials. Evaluation is the top level of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid because at this level that students are expected to mentally assemble all they have learned to make informed and sound evaluations of the material. Some questions involving evaluation might be:

• Evaluate the Bill of Rights and determine which is the least necessary for a free society.
• Attend a local play and write a critique of the actor’s performance.
• Visit an art museum and offer suggestions on ways to improve a specific exhibit.

HOTS in Special Education and Reform

Children with learning disabilities can benefit from educational programming that includes HOTS. Historically, their disabilities engendered lowered expectations from teachers and other professionals and led to more low-order thinking goals enforced by drill and repetition activities. However, children with learning disabilities can develop the higher-level thinking skills that teach them how to be problem solvers.

Traditional education has favored the acquisition of knowledge, especially among elementary school-age children, over the application of knowledge and critical thinking. Advocates believe that without a basis in fundamental concepts, students cannot learn the skills they will need to survive in the work world.

Reform-minded educators, meanwhile, see the acquisition of problem-solving skills—higher-order thinking—to be essential to this very outcome. Reform-minded curricula, such as the Common Core , have been adopted by a number of states, often amid controversy from traditional education advocates. At heart, these curricula emphasize HOTS, over strict rote memorization as the means to help students achieve their highest potential.

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• Benjamin Bloom: Critical Thinking and Critical Thinking Models
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• Project Based Learning for Special Education and Inclusion
• Asking Better Questions With Bloom's Taxonomy
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• Higher Level Thinking: Synthesis in Bloom's Taxonomy
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