How to Work on Your Students Higher Order Thinking Skills

In order for a student to be best applying themselves to their education, it is vital that they have established higher order thinking skills. By adapting these skills, students can fully optimize their potential. But how can these higher order skills be worked on and indeed improved?

Higher order thinking is a hugely important aspect of a student's array of skills. It allows them to set themselves a cut above. As well as this, it gives them a much more in-depth ability when understanding and solving problems. It displays just how to apply the theory they have learnt in class. However, students do not just stumble upon these skills by coincidence. They require refining and sculpting by teachers.

It is a great relief for teachers when applying the method of higher order skills. There are always occasions where teachers feel they are doing students an injustice by simply teaching them what is required to pass a test. With higher order thinking skills, the students are being best equipped and best prepared for a lifetime of problem solving outside of the educational system.

The best ways to efficiently work on and enhance student's higher order thinking skills are far simpler than you would expect. Initially, teachers can encourage such critical thinking by provoking its usage throughout most instructions. To begin, spend a period of time teaching the students about the topic content. Once the lecture is over, ask the students a number of questions so as to prove they are recalling the information basically.

From here, the teacher should then be asking the students to apply the information to a particular situation. In this task, they should be able to correctly and successfully evaluate and act analytically when applying the information. This method is a process that is inducing higher level thinking. Repeating this format will only improve a student's ability to perform. Debates and class discussions are largely effective ways in working on higher order thinking. Again these methods are only enhancing a student's ability to analyze and evaluate a problem. In a very interesting perspective, students could be asked to debate in favor of the side of the argument that they do not agree with. This then greatly modifies a student's ability to best recognize what aspects of a topic make it worthy in the debate. Categorizing information can help students when trying to understand the intertwining links between topics and how they are relevant. Once students are able to recite the information; as well as understand how and why it links in the particular ways it does, they have improved their analytical skills, as well as their ability to solve a problem. The most advanced level of the higher order thinking is a student's ability to apply their understanding of a topic to an aspect of everyday life. By frequently encouraging this through the methods stated previously, students will become far more capable at recognizing that what they are learning in class is relevant to their lives.