Order Thinking

Skills to Upper
Secondary School
Students in kuala
lumpur
Aimi Syafiqah Ghazali
Nur Iswanah
 Statement of Problem
PISA 2012 Malaysia ranked 59th out of 74 countries
that joined this collaboration. 1/3 lowest ranking in the
list. 52.5% of the students did not achieve the second
stage the minimum stage considered necessary to live
productively as an adult.
Teachers are the key person in the success of teaching
HOTS in Malaysia. They find it difficult to construct
pedagogical content knowledge to teach HOTS
(Rajendran, 2001)
They are not adequately prepared to make this
innovation in their classroom (Rajendran, 2001)
 Research Objectives and Questions
Research Objectives
1- To find out the confidence level of the
teachers in teaching Higher-Order Thinking
Skills (HOTS) to upper secondary school
students
2- To find out the confidence level of the
teachers in assessing Higher-Order Thinking
Skills (HOTS) to upper secondary school
students
Research Questions
1- What is the confidence level of the teachers
in teaching HOTS to upper secondary school
students?
2- What is the confidence level of the teachers
in assessing HOTS to upper secondary school
students?
 Literature Review
Anderson & Krathwohl (2000), the levels are Analyzing,
Evaluating, and Creating. The Higher-Order Thinking
Skills use more cognitive process as compared to the
other levels mentioned in the taxonomy.
The activities involving thinking skills in the classroom
that are often used by teachers consist of three types of
activities, namely discussion in groups, pairing
activities, and questioning and answering (Kamarudin et
al, 2016). According to Kamarudin & Ghani (cited in
Kamarudin et al, 2016), those activities do not indicate
higher-order thinking skills development process in
teaching.
 Research Methodology
Sampling Purposive sampling
Instruments Questionnaire (3 sections)
Likert Categorical Scale (5= very confident, 1= not
confident)
Data Online QA form via email
collection
Data SPSS
analysis
Limitations Upper secondary school teachers
KL and Klang Valley
 Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean Deviation
I can teach students how to reflect on the important information within their
4.1556 .47461
reading materials.
I can teach students when to apply concepts and ideas in different contexts. 4.2889 .81526
I can teach students to know how to apply information they have
4.4889 .69486
learned to their everyday lives.
I can teach students to summarize what we have learned each class. 4.2444 .71209

Fi
I can teach students to synthesize what we have learned each class. 3.7111 .54864
I can teach students to create goals for their learning. 4.4667 .86865
I can teach the students to sit in groups to demonstrate how to solve problems,
discuss answers to relevant questions, and how to apply information to 4.1556 .56228

nd
situations they are familiar with.
I can teach students how to think about concepts or ideas, discuss it with a
4.4000 .57997
peer, and share with the classroom for further discussion.
I can teach students how to write their own questions for discussion by their
3.9111 .55687

in
peers.
I can teach students to discuss in groups that have varying abilities. 4.0222 .58344
I can teach students to think out loud when answering questions in class to
4.1111 .80403
help them (and others) reflect on how they arrived at answers.

gs
I can teach students how to express their own opinions and perspectives in
4.0889 .63325
class relevant to the material I am teaching them.
When discussing current issues, I can hold class debates, to teach students how
to take a position, research information, reflect on its relevance, and discuss 3.9556 .92823
with the opposing position.
Overall 4.1538 .45744
 Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean Deviation
I can assess students reflection on the important information within
4.1111 .53182
their reading materials.
I can assess students application of concepts and ideas in different contexts. 4.0444 .60135
I can assess students application of information of what they have learned to
4.2889 .78689
their everyday lives.
I can assess students summarizing skill towards what they have learned each

Fi
3.8444 .76739
class.
I can assess students synthesis of what they have learned each
3.7333 .83666
class.
I can assess students creation of goals for their learning. 4.0889 .73306

nd
I can assess the students problem-solving skill, by having them to discuss in
groups, and their application of information to situations they are familiar 4.0667 .61791
with.
I can assess students thinking about concepts or ideas, their discussion with
4.0667 .75076

in
a peer, and how they share with the classroom for further discussion.
I can assess students construction of questions for discussion with their
3.9556 .56228
peers.
I can assess students discussion in groups that have varying abilities. 3.9111 .41682

gs
I can assess students expression of their opinions and perspectives in class
4.0444 .60135
relevant to the material I am teaching them.
When discussing current issues, I can assess students on how they take a
position, research information, reflect on its relevance, and discuss with the 3.9333 .68755
opposing position while in a debate.
Overall 4.0074 .52938
 Conclusion and Recommendations
The overall data presented in the previous chapter
suggests that the target group of teachers are
confident in teaching and assessing Higher-Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS) to upper secondary school
students.
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations for
improving teaching practices are proposed:
1. Secondary teachers need to be continuously knowledgeable on HOTS
strategies and to adopt them for optimum teaching and learning
outcomes.
2. Secondary teachers should also explore how policies for promotion and
for teaching and learning evaluation may be designed to recognize and
reward teaching and learning that engages students in HOTS activities.
3. Secondary teachers should be offered more professional development
training pertaining to HOTS and critical thinking that move beyond the
content of syllabus to address more thoroughly application and
curriculum integration issues. Apart from that, senior teachers should
also be provided training on a continuous basis instead on a one-off
basis in order to heighten their knowledge and skills in using HOTS in
the classroom.