Higher order thinking skills in a Maldivian primary school - a case study / Aishath Nadhiya

Abstract

The study investigated the factors influencing the development of higher order thinking skills along with the challenges in a Maldivian primary school using a qualitative approach known as the case study. To answer the research questions: (1) what are the factors influencing the development of HOT skills? (2) What are the challenges in developing HOT skills? Necessary data was collected using semi-structured interviews, document reviews and observations. Interviews were commenced with the six participants selected by judgmental sampling. By content analysis the factors found out which influence the development of higher order thinking skills are interpretation of HOT skills, guidance support provided to the teachers, instructional strategies implemented, assessment methods along with tools and curriculum. The challenges 'discovered' are awareness of parents, qualification of teachers, ability of students, pressure to cover the syllabus and transformation of assessment from knowledge based to skill-based assessments. The research recommends the case study school to aware teachers and parents to develop HOT skills and curriculum as well. The policy makers should design the curriculum so that it is aligned with instructional strategies and assessment as well.

Keywords: Higher order thinking skills, Blooms Taxonomy, assessment, instructional strategies and curriculum