-oOo-
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Activity 2
Instructions: Answer the following questions/items:
1. What is the distinction between lower and higher order thinking skills?
The distinction between lower and higher order thinking skills is lower-order thinking
skills (LOTS) involve memorization, while higher-order thinking requires
understanding and applying that knowledge. Students who are able to think are those
who can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to new contexts.
2. What are the outcomes from?
a. lower order learning?
The outcomes from the lower order learning are (1) students will be able to recall
relevant knowledge from long-term memory; (2) students will be able to construct
meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying,
classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining; and (3) students will be
able to carry out or use a procedure through executing, or implementing.
b. higher order learning?
The outcomes from the higher-order learning are students can break materials into its
constituent parts and detecting how the parts relate to one another and to an overall
structure or purpose (differentiating, organizing, attributing) ; make judgments based on
criteria and standards (checking, critiquing) ; and put elements together to form a novel,
coherent whole or make an original product (generating, planning, producing)
3. What instructional activities can enable
a. lower order learning?
The instructional activities can enable lower order leaning are simple recall – test of memory
in which participants are presented with stimuli and then, after a delay, are asked to
remember as many of the stimuli as possible; (2) Skeleton stories - read a short story/text out
loud to the class and students have to mime what’s happening. Read it again and students
mime again. Then get students to retell the story to each other in pairs. Then give students a
handout with the ‘skeleton’ of the story and they have to fill in the gaps.
b. higher order learning?
The instructional activities can enable lower order learning are: (1) connect concepts- lead
students through the process of how to connect one concept to another. By doing this you
are teaching them to connect what they already know with what they are learning.; (2) use
graphic organizers – graphic organizers provide students with a nice way to frame their
thoughts in an organized manner. By drawing diagrams or mind maps, students are able to
better connect concepts and see their relationships. This will help students develop a habit
of connecting concepts; (3) teach students to elaborate their answers - higher-order
thinking requires students to really understand a concept, not repeat it or memorize it and
encourage students to elaborate their answers by asking the right questions that make
students explain their thoughts in more detail.
4. What are the different roles of the teacher and the students in the process of
learning?
The different roles of the teacher and the students in the process of learning are: for the
teacher, they serve as an educator, learning resources, facilitator, counselors, demonstrator,
manager, advisor, innovator, motivators, coach, and elevators; for the students , they will
contribute to class culture and accountability, be inquisitive, active participants, and take
personal accountability. In addition, for these teachers and students develop interactive
process of learning and result to good outcomes.
5. What are the different complexities in the classroom? How do you manage
these complexities?
The different complexities in the classroom are (1) student-teacher relationship; (2) high
expectations for students, non-verbal cues and redirection; (3) teacher consistency; (4)
teacher perseverance and assertiveness; (5) capitalizing on human resources; (6) restorative
justice; (7) school wide consistency for student behavior; (8) classroom issues and students
in trouble; (9) gender and race in the classroom: highly verbal male students may still
dominate class discussions and women and minority students are occasionally more
reluctant to speak in classroom.
To manage these complexities, as a teacher you have a complete responsibility for guiding
students' actions constitutes a different learning environment than one in which students are
encouraged and taught to assume responsibility for their own behaviors. Content will be
approached and understood differently in each of these settings. Furthermore, more
intellectually demanding academic work and activities in which students create products or
encounter novel problems require complex management decisions. This correlation between
instructional activity and management complexity further reinforces the interrelated nature
of classroom management and curriculum.