Higher-order Skills Research Articles

Four Facts about Human Capital

This paper synthesizes what economists have learned about human capital since Becker (1962) into four stylized facts. First, human capital explains at least one-third of the variation in labor earnings within countries and at least half of the variation across countries. Second, human capital investments have high economic returns throughout childhood and young adulthood. Third, we know how to build foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy, and resources are often the main constraint. Fourth, higher-order skills such as problem-solving and teamwork are increasingly valuable, and the technology for producing these skills is not well understood. We know that investment in education works and that skills matter for earnings, but we do not always know why.

Tools Designed to Support Self-Regulated Learning in Online Learning Environments: A Systematic Review

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a crucial higher-order skill required by learners of the 21st century, who will need to become lifelong learners to adapt to the continually changing environments. Literature provides examples of tools for scaffolding SRL in online environments. In this article, we provide the state-of-the-art concerning tools that support SRL in terms of theoretical models underpinning development, supported SRL processes, tool functionalities, used data and visualizations. We reviewed 42 articles published between 2008 and 2020, including information from 25 tools designed to support SRL. Our findings indicate that: 1) many of the studies do not explicitly specify the SRL theoretical model used to guide the design process of the tool; 2) goal setting, monitoring, and self-evaluation are the most prevalent SRL processes supported through functionalities, such as content navigation, user input forms, collaboration features, and recommendations; 3) the relationship between tool functionalities and SRL processes are rarely described; and 4) few tools assess the impact on learners’ SRL process and learning performance. Finally, we highlight some lessons learned that might contribute to implementing future tools that support learners’ SRL processes.

Cooperative Learning as a Pedagogical Approach and Strategy for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

This article discusses cooperative learning as a pedagogical technology based on two different pedagogical approaches. One based on Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) and structured in steps to guide the learner through the learning process. The second one is based on Gamification, applied as an integrated teaching and learning strategy, and includes the definition of formative assessment, student classification and learning experience, based on traditional practice tasks and educational games. The author emphasizes that these approaches and cooperative learning strategies have a positive effect on building higher-order skills, such as communication skills, critical thinking and cooperation.

Are 9th Grade Students Ready to Engage in the Theoretical Discursive Process in Geometry?

This study was conducted to examine whether newly enrolled 9th grade students were ready to directly engage in the theoretical discursive process from the perspective of Duval’s Cognitive Model. The sample of the study was comprised of 51 newly-enrolled 9thgrade students between the ages of 14 and 15, who had not received any prior geometry instruction. These 51 students were posed two open-ended questions that would enable them to make a transition between perceptual and discursive apprehension. The qualitative data obtained from the open-ended questions were classified into three categories, and clinical interviews were held with three students from each category. According to the findings obtained from the study, many of the students could not display the necessary behaviors for theoretical discursive process. Students were mostly unsuccessful in converting discursive information into perceptual information, in writing discursive information based on perceptual information, and making inferences based on discursive information. These findings indicate that recent graduates of secondary school are not ready enough to directly engage in theoretical discursive process and, thus, they could experience difficulties in such high order skills as providing proof requiring the theoretical discursive process.

Revenue Recognition and Sales Return Issues at Medicis Corporation

ABSTRACTSales returns are often considered a simple financial accounting topic, but in this case, accounting for sales returns led to a significant lawsuit and the largest fine ever imposed against a CPA firm by the PCAOB at the time. This case study is designed to aid instructors in teaching accounting for sales with right of return under ASC 606 and is suited for an intermediate financial accounting course or a graduate course in accounting research. Students are required to exercise higher-order skills, such as professional research and analysis, as they research and understand the following: (1) the FASB's prior revenue recognition guidance when a right of return exists (ASC 605) and the FASB's new revenue recognition guidance ASC 606; (2) the financial statement impact of alternative methods of accounting for sales returns; and (3) how to account for unique return policies, such as a return for expiration.

Supplementary Material in Intermediate Mathematics

In the K-12 curriculum, mathematics plays a significant role and is given specific attention. To keep up with the pace, teachers need have a set of teaching options, including not simply chalk talk but also other methods and tactics for gaining students' attention and imparting knowledge. Reducing the learning competencies by 60 the prescribed module may not be sufficient to the learners to achieve a variety of objectives and ideas or skills that our learners expected to master?s in mathematics. Providing supplementary material that anchor in MELCs to promote motivation, interest, skill practices and to fill the gap in the topics. This study determined the acceptability and effectiveness of supplementary material in intermediate mathematics in Duhat Elementary School, School Year 2021-2022. It sought to answer the following questions: 1. the level of acceptability of supplementary material in intermediate mathematics in terms of component with regards to objectives, content, language used and activity; 2. the level of acceptability of supplementary material in intermediate mathematics in terms of characteristics with regards to adaptability, appropriateness; aesthetic value and usability; 3. the extent of learner?s mathematical performance in the pretest and posttest in using supplementary material in terms of arithmetic skill, geometric skill and higher order thinking skill (HOTS) 4. Do the learner?s mathematical performance have significant difference in terms of pretest and posttest? The study's research design was quasi-experimental. Purposive sampling was utilized, which is a non-probability sample that is chosen based on population characteristics and the study's objective. The selected fifty ? eight (58) Grade 4 Learners of Duhat Elementary School are the one whose answered the pretest and posttest while the twenty ? four (24) teachers from Division of Laguna answered the survey questionnaire. All these learners are modular distant learning as their mode of learning. The findings revealed the majority of teachers who evaluated the supplementary material found its component which are objectives, content, language used, and activity to be highly acceptable and for its characteristics which are adaptability, appropriateness, aesthetic value and usability to be highly acceptable as well it indicates the usefulness of supplementary material to continue the education and motivates the learner to attain the desired competencies in mathematics. The learners scores in pre-test in terms arithmetic skills and higher order thinking skills got proficient, approaching proficiency respectively as same result in the posttest while the geometric skills got approaching proficiency on pretest and received the proficient in posttest. This indicates that the learner?s mathematical performance improved after using supplementary material despite of small scale of mean increase it shows improvement. The study shows that supplementary material affects the mathematical performance in terms of arithmetic skills, geometric skills and higher order skills (HOTS). Therefore, there is a significant difference between learner?s mathematical performance in pretest and posttest scores in using supplementary material.

Teachers’ Use 0f Higher-Order Cognitive Skills, Instructional Skills in Online Science Teaching and Students’ Achievement in Elementary Science

This descriptive-correlational study investigated the relationship between the teachers’ use of higher-order cognitive skills, instructional skills in online science teaching and academic achievement of students in elementary science. The respondents of the study were 91 elementary science teachers who were randomly sampled from the 117 Grade 3-6 elementary science teachers of DepEd Division of the City of Sta. Rosa. The research instrument was validated by experts in the field and its internal consistency reliability was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha. The findings revealed that the teachers always used higher order cognitive skills in online science teaching (WM=3.28). They had very high level of instructional skills in online science teaching (WM=3.42.). Sixty-five (65) or 71.43 percent of the elementary science teachers reported an aggregated GPA of 85 to 89 for their classes; 18 or 19.78 percent had 80 to 84; and 8 or 8.79 percent got 90 to 94. There were no significant relationships between the respondents’ frequency of use of higher-order cognitive skills in online science teaching and the students’ academic achievement in elementary science (p>0.05); and between the respondents’ level of instructional skills in online science teaching and the students’ academic achievement in elementary science(p>0.05). It was concluded in the study that the teachers’ use of higher order teaching skills in online science teaching and their instructional skills have no bearing on the academic achievement of the students. A study on the correlation between higher-order skills of students and their academic achievement in elementary science may be conducted to verify this study’s findings and confirm the other studies’ findings.

Identifying best practices in a process evaluation of a novice driver education program

Best practice for learning to drive programs should be evidence-based and incorporate the range of lower and higher-order skills outlined in the internationally recognized Goals for Driver Education (GDE) matrix. A set of practices derived from the matrix, together with pertinent adult learning approaches and driving instruction research formed the basis of an evaluation checklist developed to review the Keys2drive program (a national single-session interactive education program for learner drivers in Australia). The checklist criteria consisted of 18 practices, including: having a sound theoretical base; reflecting various GDE components; facilitating parental involvement; provision of feedback; building resilience; use of coaching approaches; commentary driving; self-assessment; understanding of risk factors; and supporting safe vehicle choices and graduated licensing schemes. The program review sought to determine the extent to which Keys2drive is aligned with best practice according to the checklist criteria. Evaluations of driver education programs should recognize that novice drivers, in discussions with their instructors/supervisors, may have differing interpretations and values concerning various GDE goals, such as their awareness of critical risk factors. As a best practice, instructors should be prepared to ask the novice ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’ questions relevant to their GDE goal interpretations and values.

Neuronal Circuits Supporting Development of Visual Naming Revealed by Intracranial Coherence Modulations.

BackgroundImprovement in visual naming abilities throughout the childhood and adolescence supports development of higher-order linguistic skills. We investigated neuronal circuits underlying improvement in the speed of visual naming with age, and age-related dynamics of these circuits.MethodsResponse times were electronically measured during an overt visual naming task in epilepsy patients undergoing stereo-EEG monitoring. Coherence modulations among pairs of neuroanatomic parcels were computed and analyzed for relationship with response time and age.ResultsDuring the overt visual naming task, mean response time (latency) significantly decreased from 4 to 23 years of age. Coherence modulations during visual naming showed that increased connectivity between certain brain regions, particularly that between left fusiform gyrus/left parahippocampal gyrus and left frontal operculum, is associated with improvement in naming speed. Also, decreased connectivity in other brain regions, particularly between left angular and supramarginal gyri, is associated with decreased mean response time. Further, coherence modulations between left frontal operculum and both left fusiform and left posterior cingulate gyri significantly increase, while that between left angular and supramarginal gyri significantly decrease, with age.ConclusionNaming speed continues to improve from pre-school years into young adulthood. This age-related improvement in efficiency of naming environmental objects occurs likely because of strengthened direct connectivity between semantic and phonological nodes, and elimination of intermediate higher-order cognitive steps.

Impact of a Hybrid-Virtual Teaching Model on the Physical Examination Skills of Fourth-Year Medical Students.

A required fourth-year advanced core neurology-physical medicine and rehabilitation clerkship was adapted to hybrid format (2-wk remote; 2-wk in-person) during the COVID-19 pandemic. With teaching of the neurological physical examination being shifted to the remote component, we sought to determine whether this negatively affected student performance on an Objective Structured Clinical Examination, particularly the physical examination component. Mean pandemic-era total Objective Structured Clinical Examination scores ( n = 79, 85.1 ± 7.3) were similar to prepandemic era ( n = 137, 83.5 ± 6.0, P = 0.082). Pandemic-era physical examination scores were slightly higher than prepandemic (86.9 ± 6.5 vs. 84.9 ± 6.6). Despite conversion of the clerkship to a hybrid curriculum, the performance of the students on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination and the physical examination were unchanged. Reasons for this lack of change may include the constructiveness and integration of the case-based virtual demonstrations combined with in-person learning or the flexibility of the virtual course to allow students more time to prepare for the Objective Structured Clinical Examination and the physical examination. Our findings demonstrate that a hybrid-virtual model can be used to teach foundational skills such as the basics of the physical examination, while allowing faculty to address higher-order skills such as integration of clinical data with medical knowledge.

A Predictive Model for Student Employability Using Deep Learning Techniques

Education in the present scenario is outcome based and focuses mainly on the skill sets a student acquires on completion of the studies. The society is increasingly concerned about the quality of programs, international rankings, and placement statistics of HEI (Higher Education Institutions). This study concentrates on how demographic data, scholastic and co-scholastic abilities of students, faculty characteristics, and teaching practices contribute to the student learning. Dataset pertaining to the study were collected from the same institution for which the placement prediction needs to be calculated. The study models the problem as a sequential event prediction problem and employs deep learning techniques. The proposed model extracts data from dataset with 18 attributes. This predictive approach evaluates the performance of lower level and higher order skills and provide the enhancement methods by which a student can be on the path to full-time employment before leaving the campus.

Primary sources, pedagogy and the politics of tertiary history in Australia

History education in Australian universities finds itself under increasing pressure in the age of neoliberalism and the crisis precipitated by COVID-19. Universities and professional associations have been forced to adopt a generic discourse of transferable ‘skills’ in order to justify the place of history in the curriculum. We show, however, that these skills may have specific or even contested meanings within disciplines. Moreover, students can only properly acquire higher-order transferable skills by practising them in disciplinary contexts. Consequently, reinvesting skills with disciplinary meaning is necessary for student outcomes even within a neoliberal rationale, enabling a new defence of the specific nature of historical work. We advance a means of working with primary sources using strategic questioning of increasing complexity as a tool for achieving these twin goals. We show how our approach is embedded in the cognitive processes of historical thinking as defined in both of the major theoretical models that have achieved currency, and posit it as a mode of pedagogical resistance in the neoliberal university landscape.

Autonomous learning strategies: critical and creative thinking in primary education

The objective was to design a model of autonomous learning strategies aimed at developing critical and creative thinking in primary school students of Educational Institution No. 11239 Las Dunas Lambayeque - Peru. The research was of a primary propositional type, in which 58 students participated, who were administered a test on the development of critical and creative thinking. The instruments were validated by experts who agreed with a reliability coefficient of 0.80. The results regarding the level of development of critical and creative thinking indicate that 60.3% of the total are at the average level for critical thinking, and 65.5% are also at the intermediate level concerning creative thinking, which allows determining that the students participating in the research need to develop higher-order skills in different situations to make decisions and solve problems of daily life.

What is Learner-Centered Education? A Qualitative Study Exploring the Perspectives of English Language Teachers in Colombia

Despite a recent influx of conceptual studies on the topic of ‘learner-centered education’ (LCE), the term continues to be interpreted inconsistently by a wide range of stakeholders. This study develops previous quantitative work on teachers’ understandings of LCE by exploring the perspectives of 16 Colombian EFL teachers. The methods consisted of semi-structured interviews based on a pre-interview questionnaire, which included both ‘open response’ and ‘closed response’ components. The study found similarities between participants’ views and the findings of previous quantitative research. Participants considered LCE to be a multifaceted term, but placed more emphasis on ‘practical’ classroom-based aspects (‘Active participation’) than those aspects implying changes to teacher-student relationships and epistemology (‘Power sharing’ and ‘Higher order skills’). Certain interpretations of LCE were considered more important by the study participants than is typically evident in the literature (notably ‘Formative assessment’, ‘Metacognition’ and ‘Humanistic role’), suggesting that a wider range of aspects could be taken into account as part of a more flexible approach to defining LCE. Differences were also found between aspects mentioned in participants’ initial ‘open response’ definitions, compared to their later ‘closed response’ questions, which may have implications for future conceptual research exploring stakeholder perspectives.

The influence of personal attitude on instructor intent to integrate online collaborative activities.

Collaborative activities are a method used in higher education to develop the higher-order skills that students need to succeed in today’s workforce. However, instructors have continued to make the integration of online collaborative activities a low priority. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of personal attitude on instructor intent to integrate collaborative activities. The principal results determined that participant behavioral beliefs determining personal attitude had a negative influence on instructor intent. The primary areas of influence were lack of real value, the increased difficulty with managing the activity, instructor challenges, and online student expectations. Major conclusions include providing instructors with expertise in instructional design and the tools needed to assess group performance, integrating a method for peer assessment, and implementing student contracts may have a positive impact on personal attitude. Future research should explore whether these strategies alter the intent to integrate online collaborative activities.

Enhancing the effectiveness of flipped classroom in health science education: a state-of-the-art review

BackgroundIn a flipped classroom, students acquire knowledge before class and deepen and apply this knowledge during class. This way, lower-order learning goals are achieved before class and higher-order skills are reached during class. This study aims to provide an overview of the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of the flipped classroom and how these factors can be stimulated. The effectiveness of the flipped classroom is conceptualized in this study as test scores, the achievement of higher learning goals, and student perceptions.MethodsA state-of-the-art review was conducted. The databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were consulted. The timeframe is 2016 till 2020. The studies were qualitatively analyzed according to the grounded theory method.ResultsAfter screening the studies based on the inclusion-and exclusion criteria, 88 studies were included in this review. The qualitative analysis of these studies revealed six main factors that affect the effectiveness of the flipped classroom: student characteristics, teacher characteristics, implementation, task characteristics, out-of-class activities, and in-class activities. Mediating factors are, amongst other factors, the learner’s level of self-regulated learning, teacher’s role and motivation, assessment approach, and guidance during self-study by means of prompts or feedback. These factors can be positively stimulated by structuring the learning process and focusing the teacher training on competencies and learning-and teaching approaches that are essential for the flipped classroom.ConclusionThis paper provides insight into the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of the flipped classroom and how these factors could be stimulated. In order to stimulate the effectiveness of the flipped classroom, the positively and negatively affecting factors and mediating factors should be taken into account in the design of the flipped classroom. The interventions mentioned in this paper could also be used to enhance the effectiveness.

From preconceptions to concept: The basis of a didactic model designed to promote the development of critical thinking

This work results from a research project aimed at designing a didactic model for developing critical thinking in university students supported by emerging technologies. In its design, a socio-constructivist pedagogical approach and the connectivist conceptual foundations that define its components, relationships and sequences were considered. First, as essential components, two didactic sequences were identified which define the routes that students must follow to develop the basic skills in their initial phase, and then the higher order skills that are part of the cognitive scaffolding of critical thinking, in problematic and challenging scenarios in didactic sequences that emphasise thinking routines. Next, an instrument was designed and validated in order to evaluate the quality of the proposed didactic model. Finally, the proposed model was evaluated, describing its attributes such as coherence with existing theory on pedagogy and emerging didactics, relevance with the needs detected in the students, relationships between participants and information, transversality of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the development of autonomy, cognition and dispositions.

Training Kuwaiti Teachers to Lead: A Case Study of Competitive Debate at the Basic Education College

This paper presents a case study of a competitive debate program designed for teachers-in-training at the Basic Education College in Kuwait. Stakeholders at different levels have expressed an interest in introducing more constructivist-based pedagogies into the Kuwaiti national education system, but institutional and ideological challenges have hindered implementation. Teachers at the college designed and implemented a debate program based on constructivist principles of authenticity, student meaning-making, collaboration, and high performance expectations. Survey data suggest that participants experienced debate as a transformative experience, changing their perception of themselves, of the world, and of their ability to effect change in it. Participants came to imagine themselves as future system leaders preparing future generations with higher-order skills involving complex solving, which an increasingly complex social reality demanded. From 2015 to 2018, a group of professors formed debate teams at the Kuwait University National English Debate League. This endeavour formed the empirical research presented here as evidence to support a move from instructivist teaching to constructivist learning for future teachers in Kuwait.

Rethinking Pedagogy: Interrogating Ways of Promoting Deeper Learning in Higher Education

Teaching and learning in higher education should shift from surface learning to deeper learning. Deeper learning provides opportunities for students to achieve high learning outcomes. However, there is a dearth of information on the utilization of deeper learning in higher education. Deeper learning demands educators to employ pedagogy that enhances the acquisition of higher-order skills. Through deeper learning, students develop critical skills that are necessary for the twenty-first century. Such skills enable the students to succeed in their careers and social life. In this paper, the authors explore deeper learning for enhancing teaching and learning in higher education. In particular, unpacking the competencies of deeper learning. The paper focuses on promoting problem-solving, content knowledge, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, contextualising learning, learning how to learn, transferring of knowledge and skills, the utilisation of digital technology supporting students to become life-long learners, as well as deeper learning and the 21st-century skills. To collect data, a desktop review of deeper learning competencies was done. In conclusion, the paper proposes the most appropriate strategies for promoting deeper learning for the attainment of 21st-century skills.

Constructing active casual self-regulated learners from novice cardio-respiratory physiotherapy students

Purpose: 21st Century Cardio-Respiratory Physiotherapy (CRP) profession requires graduates to deal with ubiquitous and complex problems in their workplaces. CRP modules in undergraduate studies often incorporate massive summative assignments based on conventional lectures. For the past two decades, educators are urged to use active learning strategies to produce agile students of the modern era. Pedagogy recommends the use of active learning strategies to enhance students higher-order skills, engagement and self-efficacy. This concept is supported by three main learning theories- Constructivism, Cognitivism and Behaviorism. To date, there is no clear consensus on the choice of active learning strategies that targets the enhancement of student's self-efficacy, a skill that directly links to their employability. Hence, the aim of this study was to implement and examine the impact of “team-based learning” (TBL), an active collaborative learning strategy for a respiratory key note lecture – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in year two physiotherapy undergraduate program.