TASK 1: Higher Order Thinking Skills If you want to change student learning, change assessment.

Many scholars believe that the teaching of higher order thinking skills is vital for purposeful schooling. Based on the quote above, evaluate the claim that higher order thinking skills can be developed in students by changing assessment. In at least two of your arguments, you are expected to make some comparison to assessment practices in the Malaysian educational institution in your country.

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Introduction

Toffler is often quoted for his claim that the greatest challenge in the 21st century is not learning, but to unlearn and relearn. The term change management has long a place in the context of continuous improvement. Cheung (2001) claims that there are various reasons why changes such as innovations fail. He commented that of the various reasons, one reason seems to be the most important; concerns of the staff involved in the innovation attempt. According to Wilhelm and Chen Pei (2008), since the mid 1970s, a number of Asian countries have been concerned with economic reforms which in turn have brought about various improvements in the education system. Teachers will be given empowerment in assessing their students. Nonetheless, the empowerment also comes with the requirements of sufficient knowledge and skills in using various informal methods of testing and psychometric testing such as diagnostic general ability, and aptitude test (Teacher Education Department, Ministry of Education, 2007).

Valid assessment of higher order thinking skills requires that students be unfamiliar with the questions or tasks they are asked to answer or perform and that they have sufficient prior knowledge to enable them to use their higher order thinking skills in answering questions or performing tasks. Over long periods of time, individuals develop higher order skills (intellectual abilities) that apply to the solutions of a broad spectrum of complex problems. Classroom teachers recognize the importance of having students develop higher order skills yet often do not assess their students progress. Several performance -based models are available to assist them in teaching and assessing these skills.

The Malaysian government has proposed to implement school-based assessment in public schools in the attempt to replace the current public examinations. However, as schoolbased assessment currently in full swing, relatively little is known about the concerns of the teachers who would directly be involved in the implementation system.

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Definition

Higher order thinking skills include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and creative thinking. They are activated when individuals encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties, questions, or dilemmas. Successful applications of the skills result in explanations, decisions, performances, and products that are valid within the context of available knowledge and experience and that promote continued growth in these and other intellectual skills. Higher order thinking skills are grounded in lower order skills such as discriminations, simple application and analysis, and cognitive strategies and are linked to prior knowledge of subject matter content.

Two of the most important educational goals are to promote retention and to promote transfer (which, when it occurs, indicates meaningful learning) retention requires that students remember what they have learned, whereas transfer requires students not only to remember but also to make sense of and be able to use what they have learned. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001, p. 63)

Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments facilitate their growth as do student persistence, self-monitoring, and open-minded, flexible attitudes. This definition is consistent with current theories related to how higher order thinking skills are learned and developed. Although different theoreticians and researchers use different frameworks to describe higher order skills and how they are acquired, all frameworks are in general agreement concerning the conditions under which they prosper.

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Classroom Assessment Changes

As society changes, educators find themselves faced with the task of creating schools that will serve their students well, even if they are uncertain about the nature of the society that their students will face in the future. During the past 50 years, massive cultural, social, economic, political, environmental, and technological changes have meant that every facet of schooling has been subjected to investigation and rethinking, including classroom assessment. Throughout most of the 21st century, classroom assessment was considered a mechanism for providing an index of learning, and it followed a predictable pattern: teachers taught, tested the students knowledge of the material, made judgments about students achievement based on the testing, and then moved on to the next unit of work. More recently, however, this approach to assessment has come into question as societal expectations for schooling have changed, cognitive science has provided new insights into the nature of learning, and the traditional role of assessment in motivating student learning has been challenged.

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Classroom Assessment Changes change the Learning Process.

Motivation is essential for the hard work of learning. The higher the motivation, the more time and energy a student is willing to devote to any given task. Even when a student finds the content interesting and the activity enjoyable, learning requires sustained concentration and effort. Past views of motivation were heavily influenced by the behaviourist psychology of the 1960s and 1970s, in which a schedule of rewards and punishments led to either reinforcing or extinguishing a particular behaviour. It was believed that assessment and grading motivated students to work hard and to learn. It is now understood that the relationship between grades and motivation is neither simple nor predictable. Grades have been found to be motivating for some students, and demotivate for others. Students who generally do well are often motivated by the likelihood of success and praise that accompanies doing well. Students who typically do not do well may choose to avoid the likelihood of a failure by devaluing the assessment process and even school. According to cognitive research, people are motivated to learn by success and competence. When students feel ownership and have choice in their learning, they are more likely to invest

time and energy in it. Assessment can be a motivator, not through reward and punishment, but by stimulating students intrinsic interest.

Classes consist of students with different needs, backgrounds, and skills. Each students learning is unique. The contexts of classrooms, schools, and communities vary. As well, the societal pressure for more complex learning for all students necessitates that teachers find ways to create a wide range of learning options and paths, so that all students have the opportunity to learn as much as they can, as deeply as they can, and as efficiently as they can. Assessment practices lead to differentiated learning when teachers use them to gather evidence to support every students learning, every day in every class. In order to meet the wide range of abilities, motivations, and learning styles of their students, teachers need to differentiate the extent of independence with which students work, and the types and complexity of the learning. Curriculum guides and programs of study provide the learning outcomes that teachers use to tailor assessment and instruction to help students learn and make sense of their learning. The learning needs of some students are so significant, however, that they may require individualized learning plans in which the curricular learning outcomes have been adjusted. Teachers of these students can access support from professionals and resource materials specific to the students particular learning needs.

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Referencess
Wilhelm, Kim Hughes, and Chen, Betty Pei, (2008) University Teachers And Students

Perceptions Of ELT Methodologies And Their Effectiveness. GEMA Online Journal of

Language Studies, 18 (2). pp. 79-102. ISSN 1675-8021.