Abstract
The aim of this research was to explore primary school teachers’ understanding about higher order thinking skills (HOTS), its implementation in classroom assessments, and the quality of the HOTS assessment instrument constructed by the teachers. This qualitative research that was conducted from August to December 2018 involved 10 public and private primary school teachers in Jakarta and it is surrounding areas. Data about the teachers’ understanding of HOTS and how teachers applied the assessment of HOTS were obtained through semi-structured interviews. Meanwhile, the quality of the HOTS assessment instrument constructed by the teachers was analyzed to assess its alignment with basic competencies which have become the purpose of learning and the revised Bloom’s taxonomy to determine the level of cognitive process in each item. The research results showed that the primary school teachers that participated in this research have not had a comprehensive understanding of HOTS. The majority of the HOTS items that they made were still limited to analysis in the form of multiple choice items. There were also misunderstandings about the HOTS items. In general, the HOTS instrument constructed by the primary school teachers had good content validity, but there was a difference regarding the cognitive process involved in the items the between the perception of the teachers and the perception of the expert. Teachers had the tendency to perceive the items that they have made as HOTS items, although those items were categorized as remembering and understanding. This difference in perception occurred because the teachers did not have a comprehensive understanding of HOTS yet.
Highlights
The rapid development of knowledge and technology has resulted in a variety of jobs and social interaction patterns that are different from previous eras
The primary school teachers that participated in this research were aware of the importance of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) to prepare the students to face the challenges of the 21st century
The majority of the HOTS questions that they made were limited to analysis in the form of multiple choice questions
Summary
The rapid development of knowledge and technology has resulted in a variety of jobs and social interaction patterns that are different from previous eras. The world of education has to prepare itself to face these changes, such as equipping students with higher order thinking skills (HOTS). According to Bloom’s revised taxonomy, the cognitive process is a continuum that starts from the lowest to the highest, which are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Anderson, et al, 2001). Remembering and understanding are categorized as lower order thinking skills, while applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating are categorized as higher order thinking skills (Aksela, 2005; FitzPatrick & Schulz, 2015). Brookhart (2010) defined the higher order thinking skills into three categories which are transfer, critical thinking, and problem solving. Transfer is a student’s ability in understanding and using the knowledge and skills that they have learned in a new context.
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