Thinking Skills

Thinking Skills are just like other skills, they need to be explicitly taught and

practiced in all subject areas so that students can apply them in all their learning.

As students learn, they go beyond the information given to them, and are able to

make meaningful connections across the curriculum by applying, analysing,

creating, categorizing, observing and reflecting. These types of thinking processes

help students to construct their own learning and build their capacity to do

additional learning ( French and Roder, 2011).

In our daily lives, students and people in general face problems every single day;

some maybe simple while others complex. In order to find the solutions to everyday

problems, one need to have thinking skills. Thinking skills are sequences of

choices, made via various mental process. Your repertoire of thinking skills

comprises your strengths and weaknesses in each skills area (Richard Nelson-

Jones, 1989). But it is insufficient just to know what a thinking skill is. You have to

use it when required. Effectively using your thinking skills helps you to both prevent

avoidable problems and manage unavoidable problems constructively. There are

two basic thinking skills; creative thinking and critical thinking.

Critical thinking can be defined as disciplined thinking regulated by clear

intellectual standards. The most intellectual standards identified are clarity,

accuracy, relevance, consistency, logical correctness and fairness (Bassham,

2000; as cited by Dr. Haresh & Dr. Anton, 2013). Critical thinking skill emphasizes
on analytical ability; how to logically follow an argument, how to compare, classify

and sequence, and how to use deductive and inductive reason to arrive at a

conclusion. Critical thinking encompasses a wide repertoire of cognitive skills and

intellectual characteristics needed to effectively identify, analyze and assess

arguments or truth of claims. To think critically means to discover and overcome

personal prejudices and biases, to prepare and come up with convincing reasons

in support of conclusions and to make rational, smart decisions about what to

believe and what to do.

Creative thinking can be defined as being in an optimal state of mind where

new ideas can be generated. In other words, creative thinking is a purposeful

thinking that improves the chances of new thoughts transpiring. Creative thinking

involves thinking outside the box which can be difficult at times. There are five

characteristics of creative thinking that includes; dynamism, daringness,

resourcefulness, diligence and independence, Understanding and knowing these

five characteristics can help you build up your creative abilities if you are willing to

make the effort to develop them. Lateral thinking is defined as a way of solving a

problem in which you use your imagination to try to think about it in a different or

unusual way (Macmillan, 2007). Besides teaching you to think in a creative

manner, lateral thinking has the ability of transforming problems into opportunity

search for alternative solutions and significantly increase your number of original
and practical ideas employing unusual thinking techniques that are normally not

within the ability of our normal methods of thinking.

Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective,

metacognitive, and creative thinking. They are activated when individuals

encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties, questions, or dilemmas. Successful

applications of the skills result in explanations, decisions, performances, and

products that are valid within the context of available knowledge and experience

and that promote continued growth in these and other intellectual skills. Higher

order thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such as discriminations,

simple application and analysis, and cognitive strategies and are linked to prior

knowledge of subject matter content.

A variety of terms have been invented to describe various types of thinking,

including thinking reflexively, critical thinking, creative thinking, deductive thinking,

logical thinking, inductive thinking, analytical thinking and analogical thinking. The

definition of thinking skills, adopted in this study was, the process of using the mind

to search for meaning and understanding of something, to examine the possibilities

of ideas or products and to make a good judgement for problem solving and

decision making, reflection and metacognition of the experienced process ([18 and

[19]). However, thinking skills discussed in this study only focuced on critical
thinking skills, creative thinking skills, problem solving skills and decision-making

skills [9] (refer figure 1).

Educators must not only have sound knowledge about the subject in their fields to

promote thinking skills among students, they must also be well equipped with good

pedagogical knowledge to improve students' thinking skills and general skills in the

context of the subject matter [20]. [21] explained that, the dimensions of thinking

skills can be summarized as the integration of the knowledge of teaching of

thinking into the "knowledge of the elemental thinking". [21] further mentioned that,

there were four sub-categories, which were very useful for future references to

teachers and researchers, namely, knowledge of strategic thinking individually,

knowledge of the genre of thought, knowledge of additional issues with the

tendency of thinking (habits of mind) and knowledge of metacognition.

According to [22], teachers must have certain metacognition (thinking about

thinking) components to have a clear knowledge on the strategies used in teaching

thinking skills.

Abdullah et. al.,

The delivery of quality health care in today’s environment requires that learners

acquire

good thinking skills. These are the skills that will enable them to apply successfully

what

they learn in class to workplace situations in which their actions and decisions have
potentially serious consequences. Knowing how to observe, assess, ask

appropriate

questions, see relationships, and draw conclusions are skills that require

considerable

practice. It is a large order for instructors, who have a great deal of technical

information to

convey, to also be expected to teach thinking skills, but doing so represents an

opportunity

to make a real contribution to their learners’ success.

Long after memorized facts are forgotten, learners can use their ability to think to

research and gather needed facts and information. Learning to learn is more

critical today

than ever because of the rapid changes taking place in society in general and

health care in

particular.

The authors have included features to assist instructors in the challenging task of

teaching thinking skills to their learners. The following suggestions draw on the

elements in

the text: According to Instructor’s Manual to Accompany Introduction to Health

Care, Fourth Edition

Thinking involves critical and creative aspects of the mind. In our thinking process,

there are a lot of reasoning works in

mind. These are named according to the operations performed; problem solving,

decision-making, critical thinking,

reflective thinking, creative thinking, reasoning and so on. These are the reasons

for creating thought. In the process of

thinking, the individual must use the thinking process in an effective and

meaningful way. At this stage, the individual

needs to construct his thinking system in a good way (Fisher, 2005, Ersoy & Basar,

2012, Gunes, 2012). Thinking,

unlike feelings, impressions and designs, is defined as the independent and unique

state of the mind, its ability to

comprehend, separate, merge, as well as to connect and understand forms (TDK,

2005).

Thinking skills are often said to be the kind

of skills that people need to make

decisions (e.g. Ennis, 1996). There used to

be many fewer decisions for most people

to make. Plato, for example, advocated

teaching reason only to the small elite who

would have to take all the major decisions,

(and even then only when they were over

thirty!) See Plato’s Republic, (1970). The

majority of the population of his ideal

‘Republic’ would be given a more

vocational education fitted to their station.

Plato saw little point in equipping them

with skills that they would not have an

opportunity to use. Plato’s point makes

some sense in the economic

circumstances of Ancient Greece and a

similar principle was applied until quite

recently in the UK.

One point of agreement running through

almost every article that I have read on

teaching thinking skills is that the need to

teach thinking skills now is rooted in our

particular socio-historical situation.

Thinking skills are everywhere described

as ‘skills for the new century’, ‘skills for

the workers of the future’ or ‘skills for the

knowledge society’. Basically the argument

is that changes in the economy require

more people to be more actively involved in

decision making than was ever the case

before. It is usually also claimed that these

changes in the economy are driven by the

development of new information and

communication technologies. The thinking

skills literature is full of references to the

need to produce new knowledge workers

for the new knowledge economies (e.g

Swartz, 2001). One idea behind this is that

new technologies have led to increasing

automation of the kinds of work that

computers can do thereby forcing people

into jobs where they have to take more

subtle decisions and solve more complex

problems (Levin and Rumberger 1995

quoted in Rassool, 1999 p153). A second

key idea is that new technology in the work

place has led to rapid and accelerating

There is a general consensus in literature that critical thinking is an expected

outcome of all
college (university) graduates (Oliver, 2001; Perkins & Murphy, 2006). Social

constructivists

believe that collaborative work can help problem solving or learning performance

(Liu & Tsai,

2008). There are few studies which focus on critical thinking (Perkins & Murphy,

2006) and the

aspects of critical thinking in online asynchronous discussions (Angeli, Valanides

& Bonk, 2003;

Khine, Yeap & Lok, 2003). With appropriate course design and instructional

interventions, critical

thinking skills can be cultivated and maintained in asynchronous discussion forums

(Yang, Newby

& Bill, 2005). The asynchronous discussion forum affords students the time for

thoughtful analysis,

composition, negotiation and reflection as their discussion of an issue evolves and

allows

instructors to model foster and evaluate the critical thinking skills exhibited during

the discussion.

Though difficult to foster, teaching and learning critical thinking is worth the effort

according to

research in the area (Yang, Newby & Bill, 2005; Perkins & Murphy, 2006).
Mathematics teaching has always exalted its goal of aiming to develop the ability

to solve a

variety of complex mathematics problems (NCTM, 2000 in Kosiak, 2004).

Mathematical

instruction thus should ideally emphasize the process (how to solve) rather than

the product (getting

the final answer). Problem solving has been operationally defined as a ‘process’

by which students

apply previously acquired skills and knowledge to new and unfamiliar situations

(Branca, 1980;

Kosiak, 2004; Krulik & Rudnick,1989; NCTM, 2000). Problem solving engages

higher order skills

and is believed to be among the most authentic, relevant, and important skills that

learners can

develop. Thus, critical thinking is often associated with problem solving. Critical

thinking is a form

of problem solving, but a major difference between the two is that critical thinking

involves

reasoning about open ended or “ill structured” problems, while problem solving is

usually

considered narrow in scope (Kurfiss, 1991; Tapper, 2004). Pellegrino (2003)

discussed critical
thinking involved in solving complex problems as: representing the problem in

context, formulate

sub problems, testing, presenting, justifying the solutions chosen. But much more

than analyzing

arguments, critical thinking is a larger process which includes not only discovery

(the intuitive and

creative processes), but also justification (the evaluative and logical-reasoning

processes).

Experts define higher order thinking skills (HOTS) with different approaches and

viewpoints. Resnick (1987: 44) argues that HOTS is hard to define, but easily

recognizable by its characteristics. Further, Resnick (1987: 3) revealed some of

the characteristics of HOTS as follows: (1) non-algorithmic, meaning that the action

steps can not be fully determined at the beginning; (2) tends to be complex,

meaning that steps can not be seen or predictable directly from a certain

perspective; (3) often produces a lot of solutions rather than a single solution; (4)

involve disagreements (nuanced judgment) and different interpretations; (5)

involves the application of multiple criteria, which are sometimes mutually

contradictory; (6) often involve uncertainty; (7) involving self-regulation in the

process of thinking; (8) involving imposing meaning, such as discovered the

structure of the irregularity; and (9) requires effortfull. If examined closely, the
general characteristics of HOTS above demonstrates the need for unusual thought

processes or thinking that is more complex and requires an unusual effort anyway.

Thomas & Thorne (2009) state that “higher level thinking is thinking on a level that

is higher than memorizing facts or telling something back to someone exactly the

way it was told to you”. Furthermore Thomas & Thorne (2009) state that “higher

level thinking requires that we do something with the facts. We must understand

them, infer from them, connect them to other facts and concepts, categorize them,

manipulate them, put them together in new or novel ways, and apply them as we

seek new solutions to new problems”. In line with these opinions, Lewis & Smith

(1993: 136) states that “higher order thinking occurs when a person takes new

information and information stored in memory and interrelates and/or rearranges

and extends this information to Achieve a purpose or find possible answers in

perplexing situations”. From the opinions that have been raised before it can be

concluded that HOTS demand for more complex thinking in dealing with situations

or solve a problem.

In connection with the framework of thinking skills, HOTS is often described as a

cognitive activity or thinking skills at a high level. In this case, the term is usually

contrasted with the term HOTS LOTS (Lower Order Thinking Skills). Saido, Siraj,

Nordin, & Al-Amedy (2015: 18) states that the LOTS only require routine

applications of information obtained previously as registering the information from

memory beforehand and enter the numbers into the formula that has been studied
before, while HOTS requires students to interpret, analyze, or manipulate

information.

Some experts, including Fisher (2010: 375) classifies the cognitive process

analysis, synthesis, and evaluation in Bloom’s taxonomy as HOTS, while cognitive

process knowledge, understanding, and application as LOTS. While in the

cognitive process by Krulik & Rudnick (1999: 138), explained that the critical

thinking and creative thinking as HOTS, while recall and basic included in LOTS.

As if it is associated with Bloom’s taxonomy revisions proposed by Anderson &

Krathwohl (2001), Liu (2010: 54) argues that the dimension of the cognitive

process analyze, evaluate, and create as HOTS.

Based on some of these opinions can be concluded that HOTS is thinking skills

that are more complex in solving various non algorhitmic problems that include

critical thinking and creative thinking, As if it is associated with cognitive processes

in Bloom’s taxonomy, HOTS involve students’ skills to analyze, synthesize, and

evaluate, whereas if it is associated with cognitive processes in Bloom’s taxonomy

revision HOTS involves the ability to analyze, evaluate, and create.

According to Ennis (Costa, 1988: 54) critical thinking is reasonable, reflective

thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. Eggen & Kauchak (2012:

111) states that critical thinking is the ability and the tendency of a person to make

and assess the conclusions based on evidence. Based on those two opinions, the
critical thinking can be interpreted as an attempt to process and evaluate the

information on a situation or problems based on evidence and logical. Another

opinion stated Arends & Kilcher (2010: 233), as many of our readers know, critical

thinking focuses on thinking that is reflective and that is directed toward analyzing

particular arguments, recognizing fallacies and biases, and reaching conclusions

based on evidence and sound judgment. This suggests that the critical thinking

skills provide proper guidance in thinking and working, and help in finding

relationship among elements are known. Thus the critical thinking skills so

necessary in solving the problems.

Based on the opinion of experts, to determine the indicators of HOTS from the

aspect of critical thinking necessary synthesis. This synthesis aims to obtain

operational verbs that will be used in formulating the indicators of HOTS.

Based on the results of the synthesis of the above, it can be concluded that in

general critical thinking characterized by their ability to analyze and evaluate. The

ability to analyze emphasis on the ability to specify something basic elements into

parts and see the relationship between these sections. Anderson & Krathwhol

(2001: 79) argues that the ability to analyze operationally characterized by their

ability to differentiating, organizing, and attributing. Still according to Anderson &

Krathwohl (2001: 83), the ability to evaluate the ability can be defined as ability to

make an assessment (judgment) based on the criteria and certain standards. This
ability according to Anderson & Krathwohl (2001: 83) is characterized by the ability

of checking and critiquing.

A further aspect in HOTS is creative thinking. In a lot of levels of thinking that has

been compiled by experts, many of which put creative thinking as the highest levels

of thinking. Krulik & Rudnick (Warli & Yuliana, 2015: 211) states that “creative

thinking is thinking that is original and reflective and that produces a complex

product. ... includes synthesizing ideas, generating new ideas, and determining

reviews their effectiveness. ... the ability to make-decisions ...”. Other opinions

expressed by Pressesisen (1985: 45), creative thinking using basic thinking

processes to develop or invent novel, aesthetic, constructive ideas or products,

related to percepts as well as concepts, and stressing the intuitive aspects of

thinking as much as the rational. Emphasis is on using known information or

material to generate the possible, as well as to elaborate on the thinker’s original

perspective. Creative thinking is emphasized on how to use the information or

materials that are known to generate original ideas and elaborating perspective.

Arends & Kilcher (2010: 233) argues that creative thinking is another type of

thinking is of interest to educators. This type of thinking is normally associated with

cognitive skills and abilities for coming up with novel solutions to problem

situations. The opinion states that creative thinking is usually associated with

cognitive skills and the ability to find a new solution of the problem. While Perkins

(1988: 58) states that creative thinking leads to creative outcomes, someone said

to be creative when the person consistently produce something creative.

The results of creative thinking is creativity. Brookhart (2011: 124-125) suggests

that creativity is defined as putting things in new ways, observing the other things

were missing, to build something new, unusual or unconventional, using imagery

to keep working to make things interesting, and the like. In line with these opinions,

Garaigordobil & Berrueco (2011: 609) states that creativity is the capacity to

create, to produce new things.

Effective learning is expected to not only facilitate students to develop the ability

of memorizing, understanding of the concept and its application, but also must

facilitate the students to be able to develop high order thinking skills. Thus the

teacher must have appropriate learning strategies in order to meet these demands.

Learning strategies that can be used to develop HOTS students in the class are

summarized in the opinion of King, Goodson, & Soul (2010) are as follows:

1) Learning provides the opportunity repetition, elaboration, organization, and

metacognition.

2) Learning that specifically centered to student-centered teacher.

3) The presentation of no more than fifteen minutes and adjusted the process gain

knowledge and practice in learning.

4) Teachers or students generate questions, new problems and new approaches

and obtain answers that have not been previously studied.

5) Providing direct feedback, specific and informed of student progress.

6) Learning to use small group discussions, peer tutoring, and cooperative

learning.

7) Activities in learning tasks that involve challenging the need for students,

teachers motivate students to work on assignments and provide feedback on the

results of student work.

Further results of research conducted by Miri, David, and Uri (2007) proposes

three strategies of learning in high school that can be used to develop HOTS,

namely: (1) providing real-world problems in the classroom; (2) provide an open

classroom discussion; and (3) guide students conduct investigations and research.

Thus the effective learning to develop HOTS students are essentially involves the

students to play an active role in the learning process itself. Besides giving

feedback is also very important to help students develop HOTS.

In more detail Murray (2011) suggest that in HOTS facilitate the learning of

mathematics can be focused on the following aspects: (1) mastery of content and

conceptual understanding; (2) communication in mathematics; (3) the use of

cognitive and metacognitive strategies; (4) the mathematical relationship with life

and other disciplines; (5) the application of knowledge to solve problems; (6)

provision of sufficient time for students to explore mathematics; (7) modeling

submitted by teachers; and (8) habituation critical thinking. This suggests that the

ability to think critically is one of the capabilities that need to be trained in order to
develop HOTS students. Therefore, for effective learning to develop HOTS should

also be able to facilitate students to think critically.

Based on some opinions on the above, it can be concluded that for effective

learning to develop HOTS necessary to focus on activities that facilitate students

to make the process more complex thinking. To realize that the activities can be

done: (1) elaboration; (2) small group discussions, peer tutoring, and cooperative

learning; (3) The problem solving; and (4) metacognitive and critical thinking

activities. The main role of the teacher in this case is to give feedback on any

activity undertaken students, organizing tasks to be more challenging and

motivating for students, as well as the selection of appropriate learning model.

Saido, Siraj, Nordin, & Al-Amedy (2015) stated that the strategy can be used to

improve students’ HOTS is through problem solving activities. It is become a

demand for math teachers to have the skills to provide the problems that can

develop students’ HOTS. Here is one example of the use of problem oriented

students’ HOTS in mathematics quoted from PISA (Ward & Rumiati, 2011: 31).

In their book, Bertrand Bruce and A. Rubin (1993) remarked:

The training model misses the most salient fact about implementation: that it is a

creative

process involving critical analysis of the innovation's potential in the light of

institutional
and socio-cultural context, physical resources, student needs, and pedagogical

goals. The

innovation process doesn't end, but begins, with the teacher. (p. 140)

Thinking involves critical and creative aspects of the mind. In our thinking process,

there are a lot of reasoning works in

mind. These are named according to the operations performed; problem solving,

decision-making, critical thinking,

reflective thinking, creative thinking, reasoning and so on. These are the reasons

for creating thought. In the process of

thinking, the individual must use the thinking process in an effective and

meaningful way. At this stage, the individual

needs to construct his thinking system in a good way (Fisher, 2005, Ersoy & Basar,

2012, Gunes, 2012). Thinking,

unlike feelings, impressions and designs, is defined as the independent and unique

state of the mind, its ability to

comprehend, separate, merge, as well as to connect and understand forms (TDK,

2005).

Mathematics is always a topic at all levels of education, from primary school to

university. Mathematical properties are

different from those of other sciences (Baykul, 2005, s.33, Husnaeni, 2016).

Mathematics is one of the most important

branches of science that develop thinking. Mathematics is a discipline that requires

a certain way of thinking, is

associated with many fields, and can develop to a certain degree (Maddox, 2002).

The ability to think, which is the most

important feature that distinguishes man from other living things, means being able

to make deductions from the

experienced events; to interpret and rearrange them from its own point of view.

For these reasons, mathematics

education constitutes one of the most important building blocks of basic education.

Mathematics education provides

important skills such as thinking in life, establishing relationships between events,

reasoning, estimating, problem

solving apart from gaining calculation skills and teaching numbers and

mathematical operations (Umay, 2003). These

skills are learned, develop and support each other as they are used, mathematical

skills are the skills that are used to

make meaningful or develop one another (Olkun & Toluk, 2006). A mathematical

thinking style is the way in which an

individual prefers to present, to understand and to think through, mathematical

facts and connections by certain internal

imaginations or externalized representations (Ferri, 2015).

According to Cotton (2010), everyone can think mathematically; mathematical

thinking can be improved by reflection;

mathematical thinking evokes contradiction, tension, and excitement;

mathematical thinking is supported by the

atmosphere of questioning, difficulties and reflection; mathematical thinking helps

us understand ourselves and the

world. Physical, mental, and emotional connections are seen as requirements that

provide mathematical thinking

(Hudson, Henderson & Hudson, 2016). In mathematical thinking, there is an effort

to reach a product by moving from our perceptions, as in every thinking. There

may be individual differences in approaches used during this effort (Alkan

& Bukova, 2005). It can be said that mathematical thinking is a form of thinking

that is realized not only in cases with

numbers and abstract mathematical concepts but also in daily life (Yesildere &

Turnuklu, 2007). Mathematical thinking

involves all important skills such as logical and analytic thinking as well as

quantitative reasoning (Devlin, 2012).

Developing mathematical thinking is the main goal of mathematics education. In

today's information-based society, it is

desirable to develop process skills such as innovative ways to find a solution to a

problem. As for the extent to which

mathematical thinking is effective, it is important to have the proficiency to

mathematical processes of questioning; to

understand the content and areas of application of mathematics; to cope with

emotional and psychological situations,

and to be confident to use the adverse situations to one’s own advantage. In

certain situations, mathematical and

statistical thinking develop creative and critical thinking (Mason, Burton, & Stacey,

2010, Isoda & Katagiri, 2012).

When looked at the studies on mathematical thinking, it is evident that the studies

on mathematics education are more

common. (Alkan & Bukova, 2005; Yesildere & Turnuklu, 2007; Arslan & Yildiz,

2010; Ersoy & Baser, 2012; Tataroglu,

Celik & Erduran, 2013; Ersoy & Guner, 2014; Gibney, 2014; Herlina, 2015; Saragih

& Napitupulu, 2015; Hudson,

Henderson & Hudson, A, 2016). The authors emphasize the need for continuous

improvement of mathematical thinking

in mathematics education.

Looking at the neurophysiology of learning in recent years, it is seen that studies

conducted in certain areas such as

physical activity, physical education, and sports make important contributions to

thinking skills. These studies focus

more on thinking skills and different types of intelligence (Bozkurt, 2004; Hosgor &

Katrancı, 2007; Tekin, 2009;

Coskuner, Gacar & Yanlic, 2010; Certel, Catikkas & Yalcınkaya, 2011; Hekim &

Tokgoz, 2012; Cinkılıc & Soyer, 2013;

Kucuk & Oncu, 2014; Kiremitci & Canpolat, 2014; Holmes, Liden & Shin 2013,

Shalar, Strikalenko & Ivaschenko,

2013; Chatzipanteli, Digelidis, Karatzoglidis & Dean, 2014; Furley & Memmert,

2015; Singh, Singh & Singh, 2015;

Jakovljevic, Pajic & Gardasevic, 2015; Gogoi, 2016).

High Order

Thinking Skills

Five High Order Thinking Skills

Introduction

The high technology like computers and calculators has profoundly changed the

world of mathematics education. It is not only what aspects of mathematics are

essential for learning, but also how mathematics is done and what attitude towards

mathematics learning is fostered. Therefore, apart from mathematical content,

thinking processes and attitude are also essential core components for

mathematics learning at various stages of schooling.

Teaching high order thinking skills (HOTS) is currently at the centre of educational

attention. In particular, the revised secondary mathematics curriculum has shifted

its emphasis to the fostering of HOTS. In general, measures of high order thinking

include all intellectual tasks that call for more than the retrieval of information.

Therefore, in broad terms, HOTS can be considered as the skills required for

performing these tasks. Five fundamental HOTS have been identified in the

Syllabus. They are: problem solving skills, inquiring skills, reasoning skills,

communicating skills and conceptualizing skills. These fundamental and

intertwining ways of learning mathematics, thinking and using mathematical

knowledge are considered important in mathematics education. In fact, many of

students’ problems in learning mathematics originate from their weaknesses in one

or more of these skills. Students are expected to enhance the development of

these skills and use them to construct their mathematical knowledge, and hence

engage in life-long learning.

Teachers should note the following four points. First, there is no simple, clear and

universally accepted definition of HOTS. In fact, they may be arranged into several

overlapping categories such as metacognitive skills, critical and creative thinking.

Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that high order thinking is non-algorithmic and

complex; it involves self-regulation of the thinking process and often yields multiple

solutions to tasks. This generally agreed features of HOTS give rise to the common

technique of posing open-ended problems for fostering HOTS in mathematics

classes.
High Order

Thinking Skills

This technique gives students chances to think about mathematics and to talk

about

mathematics with each other and with their teacher.

Second, the five HOTS cannot be easily isolated from each other in mathematical

work. For example, a student using reasoning skills to solve a problem may also

be

considered as demonstrating his/her problem solving skills. Similarly,

communicating skills are always involved in doing mathematical tasks, and

conceptualizing skills are engaged in all exploratory work. Therefore, the

exemplars

compiled in this teaching package only demonstrate the main HOTS which can be

developed through the accomplishment of the exemplars concerned.

Third, HOTS can be taught in isolation from specific contents, but incorporating

them

into content areas seems to be a popular way of teaching these skills. The key to

generalizing HOTS into a content area is for the student to focus on a skill that was

learned in one setting and to see its relevance in another.

Fourth, computer provides an excellent tool for teaching HOTS because of its

interactive capabilities and its ability to present and stimulate problems. The

computer is an effective medium to help teach the skills initially and to promote
generalizations. Using a computer enables students to spend more time on the

actual

thinking tasks rather than on peripheral and trivial activities. It indirectly enhances

thinking skills by making it possible for students to spend their overall time more

effectively.

Problem Solving Skills

Problem solving is an integral part of all mathematics learning and it involves

identifying obstacles, constraints or unexpected patterns, trying different

procedures

and evaluating or justifying the solution. The National Council of Teachers of

Mathematics (NCTM) 1 considers problem solving as a process of applying

previously acquired knowledge to new and unfamiliar (or unforeseen) situations.

To

High Order

Thinking Skills

solve a problem, students draw on their knowledge and develop new mathematical

understandings. They should also acquire ways of thinking, develop confidence

and

habits of persistence in unfamiliar situations through the problem solving process.

The general problem solving strategies embrace understanding the problem,

devising
a plan of solving the problem, carrying out the plan, examining the reasonableness

of

the result and making evaluation2. These four phases have formed a framework

for

problem solving in many mathematics textbooks.

Successful problem solving involves the process of coordinating previous

mathematical knowledge and experience to develop a solution of a problem for

which

a procedure for determining the solution is not known. Intuition may also be

involved in the thinking process. Therefore, in the problem solving process,

students

may make conjectures and try many different ways to tackle the problem. Teachers

should note that any method, which can be properly used to solve a problem is a

“correct” method. Teachers should not discourage a student merely because

his/her

method is too long or too complicated. Instead, teachers should guide the student

with patience to examine the process or method he/she adopts.

Both non-routine and open-ended problems give students more opportunities to

demonstrate their problem solving skill. However, teachers should note that

problems of the similar type, even they are non-routine or open-ended problems,

when done repeatedly, will become routine problems and hence lose their function

of
fostering students’ HOTS.

Teachers should note that problem solving is more than solving problems. The

latter

involves strategy of writing down the rule (or formula), demonstrating how to use

the

rule and providing exercises to students for practising the rule. The former, on the

other hand, emphasizes on heuristic processes, developing flexibility and creativity

in

applying mathematical ideas and skills to unfamiliar questions. Students can

acquire

opportunities to develop their interest in mathematics and foster their capability of

independent thinking through problem solving.

High Order

Thinking Skills

Inquiring Skills

Inquiring involves discovering or constructing knowledge through questioning or

testing a hypothesis. Observation, analysis, summarizing and verification are the

essential elements in carrying out inquiring activities. Inquiring activities mainly

involve self-learning processes, but suitable guidance from teachers are

sometimes

necessary depending on the abilities of students and the complexity of the

activities.
Posing questions is one popularly adopted means to guide students to make

exploration. In fact, well-designed questions are useful to stimulate students to

discover similarities, differences, patterns and trends. Students may also be asked

to

test mathematical conjectures, which enable them to participate in a more active

role

in the learning process.

Inquiring activities designed should cope with the abilities of students so that they

can

enjoy the discovery of mathematical results. Moreover, it may be more effective to

arrange students in small groups (whenever possible) because it is easier for them

to

put forward their ideas. The following list of verbs may be helpful in guiding

students to perform inquiring activities: explore, discover, create, prove, validate,

construct, predict, experiment, investigate, etc.

Inquiring activities usually requires some teaching aids. Teachers should therefore

make proper preparations well before the lesson so that adequate sets of aids are

available. The following questions should be considered before organizing the

inquiring activities in class:

• Will students be grouped when performing the activities? If yes, how many

groups should be organized?

• How can we ensure that the right amount of guidance (in the form of hints or
questions) is provided? (It should be noted that either insufficient or too much

guidance will do no good to students.)

• When computers are available, what software could be used? Is there sufficient

software for the whole class? If no, what can be done?

High Order

Thinking Skills

Communicating Skills

Communication involves receiving and sharing ideas and can be expressed in the

forms of numbers, symbols, diagrams, graphs, charts, models and simulations. It

is

viewed as an integral part of mathematics instruction as it helps clarify concepts

and

build meaning for ideas. Through the communication process, students learn to be

clear and convincing in presenting their mathematical ideas, which definitely help

develop their logical thinking.

Since mathematics is very often conveyed in symbols, oral and written

communication about mathematical ideas are often overlooked by teachers.

However, it should be noted that both oral and written language are needed to

describe, explain and justify mathematical ideas. These abilities can help students

clarify their thinking and sharpen their understanding of concepts and procedures.

Furthermore, during the process of communicating, students may construct, refine

and
consolidate their mathematical understandings.

Among all forms, written communication is of special importance because it

provides

students with a record of their own thinking and ideas. Moreover, the process of

writing in mathematics learning promotes students’ active involvement.

Nevertheless, students should be reminded to write concisely, precisely and neatly

as

mathematics needs clear, consistent, concise and cogent language.

Communication can be fostered in many ways. For example, students can be

asked

to describe a practical task and to tell what characteristics they discover.

Investigative activities and project work are ideal tasks for developing students’

communicating skill. Open-ended questions that allow students to construct their

own responses and encourage divergent or creative thinking furnish fertile areas

for

communication. Small group discussions and debates are also helpful. They can

be used to encourage students to read, write and discuss their mathematical ideas.

However, teachers should pay attention to the suitable arrangement of classroom

and

groupings for facilitating students to share their ideas. Small collaborative groups

afford opportunities to explore ideas while whole-class discussions can be used to

compare and contrast ideas from individual students.

High Order

Thinking Skills

Reasoning Skills

Reasoning is drawing conclusions from evidence, grounds or assumptions. It

involves developing logical arguments to deduce or infer conclusions. Reasoning

may be classified into inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Inductive

reasoning works from specific observations to broader generalizations and

theories

while deductive reasoning moves from the other way round, that is, from the more

general to the more specific. By its very nature, the inductive reasoning method is

more open-ended and exploratory and the deductive one is narrower in nature and

is

usually concerned with testing or verifying hypotheses and theories. Therefore,

finding the general term of a sequence like 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, …… involves inductive

reasoning while doing a geometric proof by applying a geometrical theorem (say,

the

corresponding angles of two similar triangles are equal) involves deductive

reasoning.

Since reasoning is a fundamental aspect of mathematics, being able to reason is

essential to the understanding of mathematical concepts. By making investigations

and conjectures, developing and evaluating mathematical arguments, justifying

results,
etc., students are able to understand and appreciate the power of reasoning and

produce proofs, which entail logical deductions of conclusions from theories and

hypotheses. Reasoning, like other HOTS, cannot be taught in a single lesson.

Instead, it is a habit of mind and should be a consistent part of students’

mathematical

experience. It is fostered or developed through a prolonged learning of

mathematics

in different contexts.

To develop reasoning skills, students should be familiar with the following:

1. Sorting and classifying information, interpreting information and presenting

results with pictures, diagrams, graphs, models, symbols and tables.

2. Describing, generalising, justifying patterns presented in a variety of forms and

contexts, making conjectures, thinking flexibly, proving and refuting,

recognising logical and illogical arguments, following a chain of reasoning,

making deductions and demonstrating methods of mathematical proof (including

proof by contradiction, counter-example and induction).

High Order

Thinking Skills

It should be noted that reasoning involves informal thinking, making hypotheses

and

validating them. Students should be encouraged to justify their answers and

solution
processes. Questions which are useful to help students develop their reasoning

skills

include:

• Why do you think it is true/false?

• If we go in this way, what happens? How do you know?

• If we change angle A to 90 degrees, will the result remain the same?

• If the lines are not parallel, the theorem is not true. Why?

• Pythagoras’ theorem is true for any triangle. Comment.

Conceptualizing Skills

Conceptualizing involves organizing and reorganizing of knowledge through

perceiving and thinking about particular experiences in order to abstract patterns

and

ideas and generalize from the particular experiences. The formation of concepts

involves classifying and abstracting of previous experiences.

The particular problem of mathematics lies in its abstractness and generality.

Abstract concepts cannot be communicated to students by a definition but only by

arranging for him/her to encounter a suitable collection of examples. It follows that

abstract concepts should be backed up by an abundance of mathematical and

daily-life

examples. Teachers need to provide students with a clear guidance to construct

mathematical concepts from the examples and use these concepts to solve

problems in
unfamiliar situations.

When a new concept is introduced (like “All symmetrical triangles are similar.”),

examples or counter-examples may be provided for illustration. Students may also

be asked to explore the information relevant to the concept (like similar triangles

or

symmetrical triangles) and classify the similarities and differences in the examples.

In short, to help students build up mathematical concepts, suitable examples or

activities, which allow students to construct new concepts independently are

necessary.