Raising the Rigor. Eileen Depka
is to not stop there. When students demonstrate comprehension, they need to move beyond and be given ample opportunity to demonstrate understanding using methods unfamiliar to them. Application of higher-order thinking skills requires instruction, practice, and repetition. Multiple opportunities to employ these skills support and extend the ability of students to experience success (Brookhart, 2014).
You can design tasks that build these skills. This chapter offers Bloom’s taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, which help you promote higher-order thinking through task design, followed by a template to help you formulate those tasks. How will you know students are engaged in higher-order thinking when they tackle those tasks? This chapter tells you the indicators to look for. Bloom’s taxonomy provides a structure with which to evaluate the sophistication of the work students are being asked to perform. Webb’s Depth of Knowledge assists in understanding the cognitive complexity of the standards and the task intended to measure the standards.
Building Higher-Order Thinking Skills With Tasks
Meaningful tasks promote higher levels of thinking. Authentic, performance-based assessments provide a structure for students to intellectually engage with the content. These tasks characteristically:
• Involve the learner’s skills, imagination, and originality
• Require students to use skills that will prepare them for life
• Remain rooted in realism
• Have a clear purpose that extends beyond the classroom
• Increase cognitive engagement
Good tasks are most often associated with real-world problems, which help students associate classroom skills with their purpose in life. Students recognize that they can transfer skills to uses beyond the classroom, and that gives them a purpose beyond a request of the teacher (Burke, 2009). For example, at some point in mathematics, students learn to use formulas to find the areas of a square, rectangle, and triangle. A task provides real-world experience if students have to find the area of a nontraditional shape—the area of an oddly shaped room, or a spot on the playground or parking lot, for example. This requires students to use their knowledge of area and apply it to the real world, applying formulas they know to solve an unknown.
When developing a higher-order thinking skills task, consider the following steps.
1. Identify the standards and content to address.
2. Determine ways in which the standards and content are applicable to a real-world situation.
3. Create a scenario that will engage the students in a task that requires them to apply their knowledge and skills to a new and unique situation. One effective way to create the task is to determine a situation in which students can apply the skills, state the situation, and create the need for student involvement. Flexibility in the methods that students use to complete the task will provide more opportunity for the use of higher-order thinking skills.
4. Determine the task requirements. Specifically, decide what students need to accomplish in order to successfully complete the task.
5. Identify the task evaluation criteria and the tool. Establish the characteristics that should be evident within a successful performance.
The following section provides a template that facilitates task design.
Using a Template to Design Tasks
The template in figure 2.1 can assist when you are designing tasks. Template completion requires the following information.
• Standards and Content: In this portion of the template, list the specific standards and content on which the task will focus. After creating the task, revisit this section to ensure that it measures the standards and content it intended to measure.
• Task Scenario: Design a task scenario that places the student into a real-life situation that they will need to solve. The task should indicate the problem and the required outcome. Avoid telling students what they will do. Let students determine the best path to obtain a solution.
• Task Requirements: Provide a list of any expectations connected to the task solution. This would include any specifics as to the format of the solution, components to be included in the response, and any supporting information that might be necessary.
• Evaluation Method: Share a rubric, point scale, or any other method of evaluation. Provide criteria for success to students prior to completing the task.
Figure 2.1: Developing higher-order thinking skills tasks.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.
The templates can be used across subjects and curricula. Figure 2.2 provides an example of English language arts study with a completed template.
Source for Standard: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) & Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), 2010a.
Figure 2.2: Template for English language arts skills.
Figure 2.3 provides an example of a class some schools might call a special with art as the subject.
Figure 2.3: Template for art skills.
The template works not just for arts and humanities, but for sciences as well. Figure 2.4 is a completed template for a science-related task.
Figure 2.4: Template for science skills.
Design tasks to fit within a shorter or more extended time frame depending on the complexity of the task. If less time is available, construct a task that relates to the same standards but is more simplistic in nature. You can simplify tasks by limiting the expectations and by supplying tools or organizational structures to complete the task. For example, figure 2.5 shares a task to demonstrate knowledge and application of area and perimeter. You can alter the task for simplicity and time constraints by:
• Using a room in the school instead of a room outside of school
• Supplying the tools students need to measure the room
• Incorporating teamwork
• Sharing catalogs or advertisements so students can determine pricing
• Providing charts to facilitate students’ organization of findings
Source for standard: NGA & CCSSO, 2010b.
Figure 2.5: Template for mathematics skills.
Indicators of Student Engagement in Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Students who are processing information at higher levels show certain characteristics. Being aware of these attributes can help us evaluate student qualities and provide individual