Development and Testing of High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Training Module for Sciences Subjects among Secondary School Students in Malaysia

Abstract

The study aims to develop, test the value of the content validity and the reliability of the High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Training Module for Science Subject among Secondary School Students in Malaysia. This module is developed based on six (6) HOTS main strategies by Bloom's1 Taxonomy (1956) and was updated with Anderson's2 Taxonomy (2001) which is to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. The HOTS module has eight sessions: Session 1: Introduction: Understanding HOTS in Science subjects, Session 2: HOTS Strategy 1: Remembering Skills, Session 3: HOTS Strategy 2: Understanding Skills, Session 4: HOTS Strategy 4: Analytical Skills, Session 6: HOTS Strategy 5: Evaluation Skills, Session 7: HOTS Strategy 8: Creating Skills and Sessions 8: Integrating 6 HOTS strategies in Science subjects. To test the content validity, a panel of 14 experts in HOTS, science, mathematics, psychology, counseling and education were selected to answer the content validity questionnaires of the module based on Russell3 (1974) and the validity questionnaire of session and activity suitability based on Mohammad Aziz Shah4 (2010). Subsequently, 34 respondents of secondary school students in Selangor undertook a pilot test to obtain the reliability value. The findings of the content validity of the module based on Russell3 (1974) were 0.844 (84.40%) and the validity value on suitability of the sessions and activities based on Mohammad Aziz Shah4 (2010) was 0.863 (86.30%). The value of reliability of the entire module is high at.987. The results of the study show that HOTS Training Module for Science Subjects in Secondary School Students in Malaysia have high content and reliability values and prove that HOTS Training Modules are suitable for use in school environments in Malaysia to enhance students’ high-level thinking skills in science subjects.