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INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING
Higher-order Thinking Questions
3 April 2023/ By Zineb DJOUB
The kinds of questions teachers address in class can pose different cognitive demands on students. Some questions require recalling facts, while others need more critical thinking and creative problem-solving. Therefore, teachers should know what type of questions to pose and how within each stage of the lesson to make their questioning process more strategic. Indeed, to help students apply what they have learned in real-world settings, and encourage them to think about their learning process, there is a need to go beyond posing literal questions. Addressing higher-order thinking questions in class is essential to promote students’ critical thinking skills.
What are higher-order thinking questions?
These are open-ended questions that cannot be answered with a yes or no statement, but they require students to think deeply.
The higher cognitive levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (1956) and Anderson and Krathwohl’s revision (2001)—analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and create—are seen to involve higher-order thinking.
So, students need to think critically using their knowledge and skills to provide the answers. Because answering higher-order thinking questions requires more reflection, students will build a deep understanding of the material.
They will also get more engaged in learning and are curious to learn more.
However, this does not mean that teachers should avoid posing question items that require the students to respond using Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTs), such as remembering and recalling memorized information. These are prerequisite for acquiring other levels of thinking.
Higher-order thinking questions examples
Higher-order thinking questions concern not only math and science courses, but all teachers can use them.
Here are some higher-order thinking questions examples you can use in the classroom to stimulate your students’ thinking.
Analysis
- What is the difference between….?
- What is the relationship between …..?
- What is the main idea of…….?
- What are the elements/parts of…….?
- How would changing X affect Z?
- What causes X?
- What are the effects of……?
- Why did Z happen?
- How do we know?
- What makes you say that?
- Why do you think that……?
- Why is this a problem?
Synthesis
- How would you combine these…………to……….?
- What conclusions would you draw from……?
- What sources will you use to research that question?
- How would you describe….?
- What steps will you take to…?
- Can you think of ……?
Evaluation
- Do you agree or disagree with…?
- What kind of evidence do you suggest backing up your arguments?
- What do you think about what was said?
- Why are you asking this question?
- What is according to you the best solution to solve this issue?
- What do you think about….? Why?
- How would you rate your understanding/mastery of the content?
- How do you know this?
- Why does this matter?
- When does this work?
- How do you find….?
- Which of these ………………will you choose? Why?
- What strategies did you use to………………..?
- How good is this evidence?
To encourage your students to be creative, you can use the following questions:
- What is another way to look at this issue?
- What if…….?
- Do you want to add something to…?
- What changes would you bring to…?
- How could we avoid this problem in the future?
- How could this story have ended differently?
Higher-order thinking questions are posed to encourage students to think critically about the material they have learned and go beyond basic comprehension and understanding. They help students explore concepts and engage in deep learning. So, you can address these questions after checking out your students’ understanding of the lesson.
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