Why do we need to know LOTS and HOTS...

Let's come to the point of discussion.

¶ Why do we need to know LOTS and HOTS...

LOT - Lower order thinking

HOT - Higher order thinking

We teach our students to learn. 

When we teach, we develop not only learning, reading and writing skills, but thinking skills as well. But how do we do that in a proper and consistent way? 

Therefore we need to know about LOTS and HOTS.

¶ What are LOTS and HOTS?

According to Lord Benjamin Bloom taxonomy:

There are three modules: 

1. Cognitive

2. Affective

3. Psychomotor.

Much focus on Cognitive modules are given here by Bloom.

The cognitive one is applied to the education and learning objectives and activities. 

This module includes six levels that you can use to structure your lesson or the whole syllabus from the easiest to the most difficult.

Those Six levels are:

1. Knowledge — an ability to remember and recognize facts, information, skills.

2. Comprehension —  an ability to understand, describe, compare facts, information, skills.

3. Application —  an ability to use the acquired information, knowledge, facts.

4. Analysis — an ability to examine the new information.

5. Evaluation —  an ability to assess the information and ideas.

6. Creation —  an ability to generate, design new ideas, concepts.

And these six levels can be categorised into two types of skills: 

1. High order skills (HOTs)

2. Low order skills (LOTs). 

In simple words:

• LOTs are about gathering information 

• HOTs are about processing it

Let’s imagine you are going to teach a lesson in any subject.

¶ How do we apply these skills to teaching?

1. Remembering: Students know the rules, principles, concepts......

2. Understanding: Students can describe it. 

3. Application: Students can give examples relevant to it. 

4. Analyzing:  Students can examine, use and know to describe differences..... 

5. Evaluating: Students can change the rules, principles according to the situation. 

6. Creating: Students can describe their daily routines or talk about their day from their known facts, rules, principles....

¶ How do we create these skills in Students:

For example, you are teaching a lesson.

Step 1:. Remembering: Recall “old”, “new” and other key words related to content of the lesson.

2. Understanding: Students say what is known to them - Old,  and unknown to them - New. 

3. Application: Students choose what things are new and old.

4. Analyzing: Students compare old and new things.

5. Evaluating: Students discuss which things are better and why.

6. Creating: Students design their own old and new things or find old and new things at home and describe them.

Sometimes teachers confuse the skills and cannot identify skills their tasks refer to or cannot design activities for each skill. 

I think this upcoming taxonomy wheel with examples and it's explanation may quite useful when you plan your lessons and think of aims.

¶ DIVING DEEPER INTO THINKING 

Recall: Blooms taxonomy stages are as follows. 

Remembering 

Understanding 

Applying 

Analyzing 

Evaluating 

Creating

In which 

¶ LOTS - Lower order thinking stages are:

• Remembering 

• Understanding 

• Applying

¶ Use of Lower-Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) 

Lower-order thinking skills are used to understand the basic story line or literal meaning of a story, play, or poem. 

This includes: 

• Wh questions. 

• teaching relevant lexical items. 

• relating to grammatical structures when relevant.

¶ Key Words for LOTS Questions:

Who?  What?  Where?  When?  Do you know…?  Can you identify…?

After the LOTS……. 

Once a student has mastered the basic understanding of a text, s/he is ready to move on to the next level which involves using that information in some way.

After the LOTS……. 

¶ HOTS -Taxonomy stages are:

• Analyzing 

• Evaluating 

• Creating

¶ HOTS - Higher-order thinking skills are used to:  interpret a text on a more abstract level. 

 manipulate information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning and implications.

Indicators are:

 Predicting 

 Explaining cause and 

 Applying effect 

 Inferring 

 Distinguishing different 

 Sequencing perspectives 

 Identifying parts and 

 Problem solving whole 

 Uncovering motives 

 Classifying 

 Generating possibilities 

 Comparing and 

 Synthesizing contrasting 

 Making connections 

 Explaining patterns 

 Evaluating

While critical thinking can be thought of as more left-brain and creative thinking more right brain, they both involve "thinking." 

When we talk about HOTS "higher-order thinking skills" we're concentrating on the top three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: 

• Analysis, 

• Synthesis, and 

• Evaluation.

Lower Order Thinking Skills:

 Answers given in the reading 

 Students state or recite answers 

Higher Order Thinking Skills:

 Answers NOT provided 

 Student use information from the reading to figure out the answer.

¶ Is higher level thinking activities only for high level achievers??

When a student crosses the primary stages of taxonomy -  Remembering, Understanding and Applying, He is into the next stage of LOTS, that's HOTS.

Lower level questions are those at the remembering, understanding and lower level application levels of the taxonomy. 

Usually questions at the lower levels are appropriate for: 

▪ Evaluating students’ preparation and comprehension.

▪ Diagnosing students’ strengths and weaknesses 

▪ Reviewing and/or summarizing content

Higher level questions are those requiring complex application, analysis, evaluation or creation skills. 

Questions at higher levels of the taxonomy are usually most appropriate for: 

• Encouraging students to think more deeply and critically 

• Problem solving 

• Encouraging discussions 

• Stimulating students to seek information on their own

¶ Taxonomy Level

HOTS:

• Analyzing: can the student distinguish between the different parts?

Verbs to trigger thinking at this level:

appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate,

• Evaluating: can the student justify a stand or decision?

Verbs to trigger thinking at this level:

appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate. 

• Creating: can the student create a new product or point of view?

Verbs to trigger thinking at this level:

assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write.

LOTS:

• Remembering: Can the student recall or remember the information shared?

Verbs to trigger thinking at this level:

define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce, state. 

• Understanding: Can the student explain ideas or concepts?

Verbs to trigger thinking at this level:

classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase

• Applying: Can the student use the information in a new way?

Verbs to trigger thinking at this level:

choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.

¶ Takeaway: To climb a mountain, start from the mountain’s foothills first. Same way, if you like to build good critical thinking skills, you need to improve your Lower Order Thinking Skills. And then move on to HOTS.

¶ The interdependence of Bloom’s different learning levels can be articulated through logic:

1. Before we can understand a concept, we must be able to remember it.

2. Before we can apply the concept, we must be able to understand it. 

3. Before we analyse it, we must be able to apply it.

4. Before we can evaluate its impact, we must have analysed it. 

5. Before we can create something based on the concept, we must have remembered, understood, applied, analysed and evaluated the concept.

¶ Bloom’s taxonomy in different learning situations:

Situation 1: Primary section [Ex: English-language classroom]

• Remembering – Teaching learners the letters of the alphabet through rote learning. 

• Understanding – Learners realise how words, for example, their names, are constructed by combining letters. 

• Applying – Learners use the letters of the alphabet to write words they are shown. 

• Analysing – Learners appraise a list of words and can point out correctly and incorrectly spelt words.

• Evaluating – Learners determine that the alphabet can be used to form written communication. 

• Creating – Learners construct simple pieces of communication from the words and phrases learnt.

Situation 2: Secondary school [biology class]

• Remembering – Teaching learners the scientific parts of a flowering plant using a diagram. 

• Understanding – Learners realise how different parts of the plant relate and work together. 

• Applying – Learners are divided into groups and given plants to cultivate for a set period. Each group is instructed to give their plant different amounts of water and sunlight and to use different soils.

• Analysing – The groups examine their own and each other’s plants under microscopes, to see the effects of variable cultivation on the plants’ different parts. 

• Evaluating – Learners propose optimal cultivating guidelines and their likely outcome.  

• Creating – Learners plant a vegetable garden at the school and create a cultivation roster.

Situation 3: University-level [politics class]

• Remembering – Teaching learners history’s most prominent political movements. 

• Understanding – Students gain an understanding of their different values, priorities and manifestos.

• Applying – Students divide into groups where each group represents a different political movement and conduct a class debate on a topical issue, taking the standpoint of the different movements.

• Analysing – Students appraise how the different political parties addressed the same issue and identify which parties shared the most common ground with each other.

• Evaluating – Students give reasons for the merits and relevance of the different political movements for today’s society.

• Creating – In groups, the students create new fictional political parties with their own names, values, priorities and manifestos.

Situation 4: Training in the workplace  

• Remembering – Employees remember and recite the steps of a trust-building training session.

• Understanding – Employees grasp why each step is important and how they build on each other.

• Applying – The employees put the steps of the training session into action.

• Analysing – Afterwards, they discuss the impact and benefits they experienced from each of the steps and rank the steps from most impactful to least. 

• Evaluating – The employees suggest changes to the training, and put forward related training topics that would be relevant for their workplace.

• Creating – In their different departments, the employees map out tailored trust-building sessions that they can take their different teams throughout.

Situation 5:  Training course 

[English as a second language]

• Remembering – Teaching learners to recite commonly used English phrases. 

• Understanding – There is a realisation of when and how these phrases are used in everyday life.

• Applying – In pairs, the students role-play using the phrases in everyday situations. 

• Analysing – The students are able to group English phrases into different categories – greeting, question, request, order, praise, criticism, warning, complaint, etc. 

• Evaluating – The students are able to assess different messages written in English and put forward better or clearer ways to express what is being said.  

• Creating -The students can create a written conversation between two people in English.