thinking is, “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and or evaluating
….”
46
It can be seen that the higher order thinking skill tends to be complex but
important in today’s world.
In conclusion, the higher order thinking skill is the ability to think in the complex process which useful for transferring the knowledge in real life,
thinking critically, and solving the problems. The students who already have the higher order thinking skills should be able to examine assumptions and
values, evaluate evidence, and present the conclusions with their own words. It is also very crucial in today’s world.
2. The Advantages of Higher Order Thinking Skill
Many advantages that the students got from the learning process when the teachers teach the students the higher order thinking skill. Therefore, teaching
the higher order thinking skill for the students is important for the better outcomes of the teaching and learning process.
Some of those advantages are stated by Mayer in his writing. He states that higher order thinking skill gives a broader vision of learning that includes
not only acquiring knowledge but also being able to use knowledge in a variety of new situations, promotes the meaningful learning, and actively engages the
students in the process of constructing meaning.
47
It means that the higher order thinking skill is useful in creating the meaning learning in the teaching
and the learning process in the classroom. In addition, Brookhart highlights that the higher order thinking skill not
only could improve the students’ thinking skill but also their overall
46
Ibid.,
47
Richard E. Meyer, Theory Into Practice: Rote Versus Meaningful Learning, The H.W. Wilson Company, Vol. 41 No. 4, 2002,
performance.
48
It could happen because they learn by constructing meaning and incorporating new context into their background knowledge which could
improve their content knowledge and their understanding as well. Moreover, Airaisan and Russel explain that the advantage of the higher
order thinking skill is to promote deeper processing.
49
It means that when learning and improving the higher order thinking skill, the teachers let the
students to activate the students’ thoughts and ideas. Those processes for promoting the thinking and reasoning some ideas which lead to deeper
processing of information in the learning process. To sum up, the advantages of higher order thinking skill are helping
students to learn something in meaningful process and improving the students’
overall performance.
3. The Higher Order Thinking in Bloom’s Taxonomy
There are some taxonomies from many experts in the educational field. One of the most famous one is Bloom’s taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy
explains the way of thinking. In Bloom’s taxonomy itself, there are three
domains of objectives that are useful for assessing students’ behavior in the
teaching and learning process. Those three domains are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
Nevertheless, Airasian and Russel state that, “The most commonly taught
and assessed educational objectives are those in the cognitive domains. ”
50
Therefore, cognitive domain is familiar with the teachers’ knowledge because it is the most commonly taught and assessed for accomplishing the educational
objectives.
48
Brookhart, op.cit., 2010, p.8
49
Airasian and Russell, op.cit., 2008, p.111
50
Peter W. Airasian and Michael K. Russell, Classroom Assessment: Concepts and Applications, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008, 6
th
Ed., p. 67
