Higher Level Thinking Skills

• Thinking strategies in problem solving include some activities such as:

    1. Identifying and analyzing a problem

   2. Applying past learning

   3. Gather new information

   4. Organizing and comparing data

   5. Analyzing elements and relationships

   6. Clarifying and judging alternatives

   7. Summarizing a solution or selecting a course of action

Analysis

Analysis refers to the ability to break down material into its component parts to understand how it is organized. The analysis category contains objectives which require the learner to determine the elements of some problem or material under consideration, the relationship among the elements, and the relationship of the elements to the whole. This level can be characterized as taking the "whole" of a problem and braking it down into its various parts to extract meaning from the situation. Breaking it down into its various parts to extract meaning from the situation.  

a. Identification of the elements

The materials in question contain a set of elements either shown explicitly or implicitly. The implicit ones can be inferred by analyzing the hidden message in the materials. For instance the learner is asked to infer or outline if a statement is a viewpoint, fact, assumption or a trend. He is also asked to identify the unsaid or undeclared assumptions in the materials.

1.      Determine two unsaid hypotheses in the passage.

2.      Identify a statement representing a assumptions and another representing a fact.

3.      Differentiate between facts and viewpoints.

4.      Discriminate between the opposing viewpoints

5.      Identify a result concluded by the author and its supporting details.

b. Analysis of the relationship between elements

The learner is asked to identify the relationships between the different elements and how they are related and interacting among each other. Here the learner would lay hand on assumptions and supporting details and how they conclude to the results. Moreover, it requires the learner to see how the content of the material is related to the main idea. Not just that the learner may go beyond that to see the relevance of the parts to each other and to the main idea as well.

1.      Identify the irrelevant details in a passage.

2.      Restate the relationships between the ideas in the passage.

c. Recognition of the organizational principles:

Here the learner is to identify the organizational principles and their arrangement and construction which make the material a whole. This subcategory refers to the ability of handling the different organizational elements to the main construct of the material such as the approach, viewpoint, or the target of the author. This subcategory is the most difficult in this level as author tend not to show explicitly the principles or approaches they use in the materials of such high level.

1.      Illustrate the technique used by the author to present the passage so effectively.

2.      Identify the viewpoint of the author.

3.      Point out the supporting details that show the author bias / favoritism. 

Synthesis

The ability to put parts together to form a new whole. This may involve the production of a unique communication (theme or speech), a plan of operations (research proposal), or a set of abstract relations (scheme for classifying information). Learning outcomes in this area stress creative behaviors, with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns or structures. However, there is no complete freedom in the creative behaviors yet because the learner is expected to perform within certain limits prescribe by a certain problem or material.

Although comprehension, application and analysis have to do with combining the material elements together and creating meaningful message, the performed task is not as demanding as synthesis. The focus of individualization and creativity is very minimal compared to synthesis. Nevertheless, the basic difference between these levels and synthesis is that the former deals with a set of elements that make up a whole whereas the latter requires the learner to use different element from different sources to categorize them under a unified structure or pattern that wasn’t clear before. The learning outcome should be clearly observed by one or more of the senses. This level certainly covers a wide rage of instructional levels starting from the kindergarten to high school and afterwards.

Synthesis objectives are very important as they:

1. Focus on individual personal expressions rather than passive acceptance or materials.
2. Focus on self-independence in thinking and behavior when making a decision.
3. Make the learner a producer rather than a consumer.
4. Encourage the learner to learn more as it contains real problem solutions.
5. Stimulate the learners enthusiasm towards learning as to helps him/her be self-satisfied.

Example: Given the assumption that throwing factory trash in the Gulf water was the reason behind the extinction of many living creatures, design a plan to test this assumption.

The learning outcome in this level can be classified as followed:

1.     Production of a unique communication:

The learner would transfer his ideas, feelings, or experience to others. Achieving this task effectively requires the learner to:

a.       Realize the type of impact he wishes to make (gain knowledge, idea, viewpoint, self satisfaction, or persuading other)

b.      Know his / her future of his outcome, background, cultural, academic levels.

c.       Effectively use a communicative message to express himself better.

d.      Identify the ideas and experiences that he /she wants to convey.

Example: After studying the demographic characteristics of advanced and developing countries, writes a 500 words paragraph about the different negative influences that may affect India if it does not seriously stand up to the hyper-growth of its population.

2.     A plan of Operations:

It is an attempt to propose a plan of operation while the learner has to bear in mind a certain set of criteria and considerations.

3.     A set of Abstract relations:

The learner here is asked to categorize and interpret the learnt material and accordingly he / she would extract some abstract relationships such as arriving to assumptions from analyzing a certain material or making a generalization out of some results or predicting some results through some current events.

Example: Predict the changes that may affect the Gulf Countries when oil runs out.

Evaluation

The ability to judge the value of material (statement, novel, poem, research report) for a given purpose. The judgments are to be based on definite criteria. These may be internal criteria (organizational) or external criteria (relevance to the purpose) and the student may determine the criteria or be given them. Learning outcomes in this area are the highest in the cognitive hierarchy because they contain elements of all the other categories, plus conscious value judgments based on clearly defined criteria.

1.     Judgment based on Internal Criteria:  

It refers to the judging of the materials according to the consistency of its content in terms of internal factors like logical sequence, cohesion and organization.

2.     Judgment based on External Criteria:

It refers to the judgment of the materials according to external factors such as relevance to purpose, way of presentation, level of perfection or comparing it to other similar material.  

Examples of specific outcomes involved in thinking skills

Identifies

Adequacy, assumptions, bias, causes, central issues, concepts, defects, distortions, effects, exception, fallacies, inconsistencies, inferences, limitations, main ideas, nature of evidence, organization, problems, reasoning, relationships, stereotypes, trends, validity.

 Distinguishes

Accurate and inaccurate, cause and effect, consistent and inconsistent, dominant and subordinate, facts and inferences, plausible and probable, relevant and irrelevant, summaries and conclusions, valid and invalid, verifiable and unverifiable, warranted a unwarranted.

Infers

Assumptions, attitudes, biases, characteristics, conditions, moods, motives, points of view, purposes, qualities, relationships.

• Demonstrates thinking skills in reading:

1. Distinguishes between main ideas and supporting details.

2. Distinguishes between facts and opinions.

3. Distinguishes between facts and inferences

4. Identifies cause – effect relations.

5. Identifies error in reasoning.

6. Distinguishes between valid and invalid conclusions.

7. Identifies assumptions underlying conclusions.

 Formulates

Classification systems, concepts, designs, equations, explanations, generalizations, hypotheses,  plans, poetry,  predictions, questions, stories, summaries, theories.

Generates

Criteria, standards, procedures,

 Judges

Accuracy, adequacy, appropriateness, clarity, cohesiveness, completeness, organization, reasonableness, reasoning, relationships, reliability, significance, usefulness, validity, worth. 

• Evaluates arguments for and against a proposal:

1. Identifies the accuracy of statements

2. Identifies bias in statements

3. Distinguishes between relevant and irrelevant statements

4. Distinguishes between supportive and non-supportive statements

5. Identifies the assumptions underlying n argument

6. Identifies the adequacy of an argument

7. Identifies the consistency of the facts supporting n argument

8. Identifies the credibility of sources cited in an argument.