EVALUATING THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM OF COMPUTER SCIENCE GRADE 6 TO 8 BY USING BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

Abstract

Critical thinking, problem solving and logical reasoning are considered as the 21st century learning skills. These higher order thinking skills (HOTS) can only be developed through curriculum and teaching and learning strategies, because it include critical, logical, reflective, metacognitive, and creative thinking. The purpose of this study is to analyze National Curriculum 2006 (Pakistan) of Computer Education in order to observe that how much it is helpful for the development of higher order thinking skills among the students and whether it has focused on merging 21st century interdisciplinary themes with core contents of the subject. The National Curriculum2006 (Pakistan) of Computer Education from grade VI to VIII was analyzed using the revised blooms taxonomy. Out of six levels, upper three levels Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating were considered as HOTS. Frequency and Proportions were calculated for Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) meeting HOTS criteria. P21 framework was used for checking the contents and SLOs which merging the 21st century interdisciplinary themes in curriculum. Overall only 9% of the SLOs in curriculum met the requirement of HOTS. There was a slightly increasing trend was observed from grade 6 to 8. Grade 6 had 6%, grade 7 had 9% and grade 8 had 11% of HOTS. However overall proportion of SLOs meeting HOTS was low but an increasing trend was observed from grade VI to grade VIII. In order to develop HOTS among the students, there is a need to redesign the curriculum, teachers should be trained accordingly and assessment standards should also be meeting with curriculum needs. It will help in the re-designing of National Curriculum for Computer Education Grade VI-VIII. This study can be expended to analyze the National Curriculum for other subjects. Keywords Higher Order Thinking Skills, Curriculum, SLOs, 21st century skills, Critical Thinking