Abstract
The acquisition of higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as problem (not exercise) solving, decision making and critical thinking, by our students, constitutes a major instructional goal in contemporary science teaching. The driving force for this research has been to provide supporting research-based evidence that will encourage the use of HOC S-promoting science teaching strategies and examinations by science teachers at all levels. The main findings of two of our relevant studies were: (1) college science students consistently perform best on algorithmic (ALG), compared to their performance on lower order cognitive skills (LOCS) which, in turn, is higher than on HOCS exam questions; (2) given a free choice, LOCS questions are pragmatically preferred on HOCS questions by the students; (3) students’ “ideological” preference is HOCS, compared to ALG/LOCS which are referred to as ‘computational questions’. The implications concerning the current HOCS-oriented reform in science education will be critically discussed.
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