HOW TO ASSESS

HIGHER-ORDER
THINKING
SKILLS
IN YOUR CLASSROOM

SUSAN M. BROOKHART

Basic Principles of Building

an Assessment

pecify clearly what you want to assess

Types of
Hydrocarbons
Types of
Differentiation

Slope
Calculation

Basic Principles of Building

an Assessment
2)Design tasks or test items that require
students to demonstrate the knowledge
or skill
Summaries
Presentations
Quizzes
Classwork

On-line Exercises
Games

Basic Principles of Building

an Assessment
3)Decide what you will take of evidence of
the degree to which students have shown
the knowledge or skill

Principles of Assessing
Higher-Order of Thinking
1) Use Introductory Material

A Piece of a Story

1
H

1
N

An International

Large Hadron Collider

End of the World?
A Description of an
Experiment

Principles of Assessing
Higher-Order of Thinking
2) Use Novel Material

Principles of Assessing
Higher-Order of Thinking
3) Manage Cognitive Complexity and
Difficulty Separately

Recal
l
Highe
r
Order
of
Thnki
ng

What should we look for in the

classroom?
Instruction

and assessments

should match
your intended learning targets
In both
Context and Cognitive Complexity

What are Cognitive Taxonomies

for?
They are schemes which classify
instructional learning targets
into various levels of
complexity.

Blooms Taxonomy
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehensi
on
Knowledge

Judging the value of

materials and methods
Putting parts together to
form a new whole
Breaking down information
into its parts then reasoning
it
Using facts and concepts to
solve new problems (one
answer)
Basic understanding by
restating with the students
own words
Recall of Facts & Concepts

Gardner

Other Taxonomies

Anderson and
Krathwohl's Taxonomy
2000

Lorin Anderson

Pipsqueak's cognitive wheel

What is common among the

different Cognitive Taxonomies?

As the
thinking
level gets
more
complex

Students
need to
deal
with..

More
Pieces of
Informatio
n
More
complicat
ed
relationshi
ps among
Informatio
n

What is the final outcome from

Blooms Taxonomy?
Higher
Order
Thinking

Blooms

Taxonomy

Analysis

Creation
Evaluation

Assessing.Types of Assessment
Analysis
Creation

Evaluation

Assessing Analysis

Create

Analysis

Focus on
Questions
or Main
Ideas

Analyze
Arguments
or Theses

Compar
e and
Contrast

Assessing Analysis
Focus on Questions or Main Ideas
Infering Main Idea from Individual Points

Give
Problem
Policy
Political Address
Cartoon
Experiment
Result

Ask
What is the Main Issue or
Problem?

Ask
What is the Criteria used
to evaluate?

Assessing Analysis
Analyze Arguments or Theses
Evidence that supports argument
Evidence that contradicts the argument
Assumptions needed to validate the argument
Irrelevant aspects
Logical Structure of the argument

Assessing Analysis
Compare and Contrast
Give Material
to work with,
or ask to look
fo it
Identify various elements or
Organize elements as alike or not
alike

Similarities

Differences

Final Product

Idea .
Analyze
Thinking
and
Writing
separatel
y

Assessing Evaluation
Capacity to Judge

Evidence

Logic

Write favorite part

In the Classroom..

Read a book/story

Write a summary

and support it

Assessing Creation
Capacity to Judge

eation (also called Synthesis) means

Put unlike things together in a new way

Reorganize existing things to make something n

In the Classroom..
Task to do or
Problem to
solve

Generate
multiple
solutions

Plan a Procedure
to accomplish a
goal

Produce something NEW!

Assessing
Creativity
and
Creative Thinking

What is Creativity or Creative

Thinking?
Creativity
Brainstorming

Creative Thinking
Evaluates & places them in
order

Creative Thinking as Generative,

Not Evaluative
Norris & Ennis approach

Thinking
Creative
Critical
Reasonable
Productive
Reflective
Evaluative

Creative Thinking as both

Generative & Evaluative
Sir Ken Robinson & Sweller approach

Creativity is a process of having original

ideas
that have value.
Knowledge comes first

then Creativity follows.

Improving Critical
Thinking
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Logic & Reasoning
Critical Judgment

Improving Creativity
Ideas Generation
Reorganization of Ideas
Trial & Error

Deep Knowledge Base

Promoting Creativity in the

Classroom
Make a Guessthen Check it out
Create. Critique to improve
Brainstorm Evaluate
Writing Reader Response Logs (Thoughts, Feelings,
Suprises)
Open-ended assignments

Assessing Creativity
+ Require production of new ideas or new products, or
reorganize existing ideas in a new way. Juxtaposing two
different content areas
+ Allow choice on materials realated to the learning targets,
NOT tangential aspects like format.
+ If graded, evaluate work against the criteria students were
trying to reach, as well as conventional criteria for real work
in the discipline

Formative & Summative Uses of

Results
F
O
R
M
A
T
I
V
E
S
U
M
M
A
T
I
V
E

Promote production of drafts, sketches, or

questions which allow self assessment,
peer assessment, and teacher feedback

Improvement

Final work