Lower & Higher Order Thinking skills : A comparison

Thinking skills are the mental processes or activities we use to process information, make relations, take decisions and create new knowledge.  They are the skills that enhances the logical faculty of the brain using an analytical ability, thinking creatively and critically, and developing problem-solving skills and improving decision-making abilities. Persons possess good thinking skills are able to make connection between various factors and be able to tie them together. They always try to develop innovative solutions to problems. It vary from simplest ones such as recalling to the higher ones such as creative.

Mainly thinking skills are classified as 

• Analytical Thinking : The breaking down of information into it’s component parts to solve a problem

• Divergent thinking : A  thought process of  generating creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. Also known as creative thinking

• Critical Thinking : The thinking process involving objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a rational judgement.

• Reflective thinking :  The thought process involving planning, monitoring and evaluating ones thinking process. It is also known as a stage of meta-cognition

Education is not the learning of facts, it is the training of mind to think creatively and act purposefully.  So the duty of every teacher is to foster metacognition in learners.

In 1956 Benjamin S Bloom proposed the taxonomy of instructional objectives. The objective of all type of instruction is to bring desired behavioural change among learners.

Later Revised by Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl  (2001) for better teaching, learning &  assessing. The new framework  of revised taxonomy of objectives helps the teacher to deliver appropriate instruction & design valid assessment strategies. According to RBT an objective contains a verb & a noun. The verb generally describes the intended cognitive process where as the noun describes the knowledge students are expected to acquire. 

For eg the pupil will be able to distinguish (cognitive process) physical change from chemical change (the knowledge).

The revised framework utilizes these two dimensions in the form of matrix to exactly locate the level of cognitive complexity involved in instruction & learning.

The Knowledge dimension includes 4 general type of knowledge viz

1. Factual knowledge

2. Conceptual knowledge

3. Procedural knowledge

4. Meta-cognitive knowledge

Factual knowledge 

The knowledge that is basic to specific disciplines. This dimension refers to essential facts, terminology, details or elements students must know or be familiar with in order to understand a discipline or solve a problem in it.

Conceptual knowledge

The knowledge of classifications, principles, generalizations, theories, models, or structures pertinent to a particular disciplinary area.

Procedural knowledge

It refers to information or knowledge that helps students to do something specific to a discipline, subject, or area of study. It also refers to methods of inquiry, very specific or finite skills, algorithms, techniques, and particular methodologies.

Meta-cognitive knowledge

The awareness of one’s own cognition and particular cognitive processes.  It is strategic or reflective knowledge about how to go about solving problems, cognitive tasks, to include contextual and conditional knowledge and knowledge of self.

Anderson and Krathwal very recently revised the bloom’s Taxonomy and developed it into Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTs) and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTs).

According to RBT, the cognitive process dimension includes 6 categories namely

REVISED BLOOMS TAXONOMY
↑ HIERARCHY	CREATING
	EVALUATING
	ANALYZING
	APPLYING
	UNDERSTANDING
	REMEMBERING

CLASSIFICATION OF THINKING SKILLS ON THE BASIS OF RBT

The thinking skills are mainly categorised in two namely lower oeder thinking skills (LOT) and higher order thinking skills (HOT). Lower order  and higher order thinking skills are known as concept assimilation and concept generation respectively.

CLASSIFICATION OF THINKING SKILLS
HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS  : HOT	CREATING
	EVALUATING
	ANALYZING
	APPLYING
LOWER ORDER THINKING SKILLS : LOT	UNDERSTANDING
	REMEMBERING

REMEMBERING
Retrieve relevant knowledge from long term memory.  

REMEMBERING
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OR  ACTION VERBS IN CLASSROOM	RECALL
	IDENTIFY
	FIND
	NAME
	LOCATE
	RECOGNIZE

EXAMPLE : Recall a historical date, event scientist name etc.

Who is the pioneer in taxonomical classification of educational objectives ?

UNDERSTANDING 

Constructing meaning from acquired knowledge.
May be oral, written or graphic messages or activities like interpreting, exemplifying, summarizing, inferring, explaining etc. The skill of Understanding can be nurtured by observing, listening, reading, rewriting lecture notes, and complementing with notes obtained from supplemental readings so that the meaning of statements and ideas is grasped completely.

UNDERSTANDING
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OR  ACTION VERBS IN CLASSROOM	EXPLAIN
	INTERPRET
	DESCRIBE
	SUMMARIZE
	PARAPHRASE
	EXEMPLIFY
	CLASSIFY
	INFER

EXAMPLE :  Briefly describe or explain a concept/phenomena

Write a short description on LIFE SKILLS

APPLYING

Means using a procedure in a given situation. Applying refers to situations where learned material is used through products like models, presentations, interviews or simulations.

The applying stage requires implementing and using the concepts to execute specific tasks such as solving a problem, interpreting the concept, or using or demonstrating understanding of a concept

APPLYING
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OR  ACTION VERBS IN CLASSROOM	EXECUTE
	SOLVE
	DEMONSTRATE
	SOLVE

EXAMPLE : Solve a thermodynamic equation, mathematics puzzle etc

ANALYZING

Breaking materials or concepts into parts, determining how the parts relate to one another or how they interrelate, or how the parts relate to an overall structure.

ANALYZING
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OR  ACTION VERBS IN CLASSROOM	ORGANIZE
	STRUCTURE
	INTEGRATE
	COMPARE
	ATTRIBUTE
	DIFFERENTIATE

EXAMPLE :Organize the stages involved in the process of CREATIVITY

EVALUATING

Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.

 In the newer taxonomy, evaluating comes before creating as it is often a necessary part of the precursory behavior before one creates something.

EVALUATING
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OR  ACTION VERBS IN CLASSROOM	VALUE
	JUSTIFY
	CRITIQUE
	SUBSTANTIATE
	JUDGE

EXAMPLE : "The CONSTRUCTIVISM is competent enough to nurture scientific process skills among secondary school students". Substantiate your comments.

CREATING

Putting elements together to form a new pattern, coherent whole or to make an original creative product.

CREATING
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OR  ACTION VERBS IN CLASSROOM	MAKE
	CONSTRUCT
	DEVISE
	IMPROVISE
	GENERATE
	DESIGN
	DEVELOP
	PRODUCE

EXAMPLE : CREATE A POSTER , THEME : CORONA EDIFICATION

CREATE ON ONLINE QUIZ ON COVID -19 EDIFICATION 

Let me conclude,

Benjamin S Bloom was the pioneer in the classification of taxonomy of educational objectives. (1956) . He classified the instructional objectives from simple to complex as Knowledge, Comprehension,Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation . Later the  taxonomy revised in 1990s by Anderson and Krathwohl and renamed as Remembering,
Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating. The first two categories come under LOTS and last four are HOTS. Blooms taxonomy in one dimensional form where as RBT in 2D form- knowledge & cognitive process dimension. Also a change in the hierarchical classification and synthesis renamed as creating.
In the older version, evaluation was at the top position, whereas in the revised version creating occupies the top order.