Getting the HOTs with ICTs Kerrie Smith, Schools Information Officer

The story of Julius the important questions are not “what…?” but “why is it so?” it isn’t the knowledge itself that is important, but what we do with it.

The Knowledge Explosion … it became apparent that our school curricula had to change – no longer could we define the knowledge that a child must leave school with in terms of a list of facts, but we had to talk in terms of transferable thinking skills.

HOTs pre-date ICTs Long before we were talking about ICTs in the curriculum, we were encouraging HOTs in the classroom. Teachers of history, geography, maths, science and English, were asking their students to analyse, discuss issues, develop arguments, and make judgements.

Can we do it better with ICT? The basic answer is ‘yes’ – well, we think so.. Much of the current interest in teaching thinking skills is prompted by technology-driven changes in the nature of work. There is a consensus that new technology is bringing about a new kind of economy in which the main products are information and knowledge rather than material goods. Workers in this new economic climate require transferable thinking skills more than content knowledge or task-specific skills. They particularly require an ability to learn how to learn new things since accelerating technological change is making old skills (and knowledge) redundant and generating needs for new skills (and knowledge).” NESTA Futurelab

Defining HOTs So what are higher order thinking skills? They are skills that enable us to do something with the raw information. E.g. size up a problem Determine what we know that might be useful Recognise that we might need more information and where we might find it Carry out complex analysis Exercise judgement Step outside our routine

Can every student achieve HOTs? In my own teaching subject, history, many students never get beyond collecting the facts. One of the problems is that you really need a certain mastery of the facts before you can synthesise and analyse and make judgements. The facts are often difficult to organise, and for many students, difficult to visualise, and often difficult to remember. They rely a lot on a student’s literacy. They think that history is just a collection of dates..

It is often the teacher’s fault The fact that some students never get around to using HOTs is often the teacher’s fault The task is not structured to encourage HOTs The task is too large, and some students will never get beyond the basic information collection stage The task is not engaging The task is not collaborative

So Can ICTs help us develop HOTs? One of the big problems with using computers in education is that we have had to focus on mastery of the beast. In reality skill mastery was very important in using computers in the late 20 th century. Programs were not intuitive, the beast was often slow, and programs often focussed on information processing. Even with the internet we have focussed on information gathering, search skills etc., rather than on what we do with the information once we’ve found it.

Investment in ICTs Education systems all over the world have spent mega-bucks on ICT infrastructures. The concern now is that in classrooms we are not using those tools to do anything more than collect and store information. Even when students process that information, they don’t necessarily analyse it. E.g. they create the chart in Excel, but are not required to interpret it.

What the research says There is now a considerable body of research that says that not only can ICTs give us enabling tools for HOTs in the classroom, but that we can use these tools to develop better HOTs in our students. BUT having the technology doesn’t automatically translate to better instructional outcomes. Whether a given school experiences the potential benefits of technology depends on the software it chooses, what students actually do with software and computer hardware, how educators structure and support technology-based learning and whether there is sufficient access to the technology.” Advice given to principals by Becta

Why is this so? The old question from Professor Julius Sumner Miller.. What do ICT tools do for HOTs? Aggregate and store information in re-usable format Enable collaborative activities Engage students by presenting information in a variety of ways Allow students to present analysis and conclusions in ways that can be shared, discussed, re-drafted, and re-presented.

What do teachers need to do? Develop in students the ability to use a range of ICT tools Facilitate a range of task types which encourage students to work collaboratively, consider open-ended questions, expand their skills in using the available ICT tools, present their work in an appropriate fashion.

Tools for teachers Various taxonomies assist teachers in structuring rich meaningful tasks for their students: Bloom’s Taxonomy De Bono’s Six Hats The Big Six GrassRoots Taxonomy (handout) Pirozzi WebQuests

Help from EdNA Online Thinking Skills theme page (handout) enables you to further pursue the research into HOTs and ICTs Review software related to thinking skills – ReasonAble!, Inspiration, Kidspiration Locate websites with thinking skills related activities URL: See also Literature review available on ACEC2004 website