2.4 Higher Order Thinking Skills
Candidates model and facilitate the effective use of digital tools and resources to support and enhance higher order thinking skills (e.g., analyze, evaluate, and create); processes (e.g., problem-solving, decision-making); and mental habits of mind (e.g., critical thinking, creative thinking, metacognition, self-regulation, and reflection). (PSC 2.4/ISTE 2d)
Artifact: Internet Lesson Plan
Reflection:
The Internet lesson plan created to address the content standards and technology standards of students in a culminating lesson plan that uses research-based learner-centered strategies, authentic learning tasks, as well as differentiation to address the varying learners in the classroom. To choose a topic for the lesson plan, I decided to focus on the biomes discussed during the ecology unit. The topic of biomes tends to be quickly revisited and then quickly forgotten as students move into more important topics of ecology. What the curriculum fails to do is relate all the other content to the initial biome discussion. Because of this lack of connection, I chose to design a lesson plan that would interweave all aspects of the ecology unit around a biome of choice. I created and implemented this lesson plan individually after seeing this gap in ecology topics.
Standard 2.4 sets the expectation for the modeling and facilitating the effective use of digital tools to enhance higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits of mind by candidates. This artifact demonstrates higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits through the design of an elaborate lesson plan. The lesson plan is a model of higher order thinking skills by asking students to analyze the different biomes of the world and how ecosystem interactions are related to each biome. The lesson plan also models higher order processes by asking students to design a website, blog, or video and problem-solve to design and develop this final product. The lesson plan also provides an excellent example of how to model both critical and creative thinking through the design of the final product that shows all interaction in a biome in relation to each ecology content standard discussed in the unit.
The facilitation of the lesson plan is further enhanced by the effective use of digital tools throughout the lesson plan. Through the breadth of this lesson plan, I was easily able to facilitate the use of digital tools and encourage students to delve deeper into the content. By encouraging students to use higher order skills and processes, the facilitation of the technology use was essential to student success during the implementation of this lesson. Students were guided as they analyzed each biome and created a final product that incorporated all standards of ecology focused on a single biome.
In completing the Internet lesson plan, I learned a great deal about creating a well-rounded lesson plan that encourages and fosters higher order thinking skills, processes, and habits of mind. I had experience with lesson plan creation before, but this lesson also included troubleshooting and differentiation specifically related to the use of assistive technology. From the creation and implementation of this lesson plan, I also learned the true capabilities of my students. I was so impressed with their final products and the ultimate learning through the creation of these products. The only thing I would change if I could do this over again, would be to not offer the video option. Most of the video submissions were boring with a lack of creativity and ended up being a familiar technology to the students. The website and travel blog creation was a new technology and encouraged more creative thinking from the students than a simple video.
The Internet lesson plan had a great impact on student learning. The students were encouraged to learn a new technology and form new connections with the material they hadn’t previously been challenged to do in prior classes. Through the use of this new technology, they had a newfound confidence and several other teachers mentioned their confidence in using the same website technology in other classes. Faculty development was also affected in that several other biology teachers were interested in this lesson plan and decided to implement this lesson plan in their classrooms. In this manner, their students will also benefit as the teachers learn how to incorporate new technology in their classrooms to also encourage higher order thinking skills, processes, and habits of mind. The ultimate impact was assessed based on the performance of students on the end of course test specifically in reference to the ecology standards. These students scored higher than previous years’ students and is largely due to the all-encompassing nature of the lesson plan.
The Internet lesson plan created to address the content standards and technology standards of students in a culminating lesson plan that uses research-based learner-centered strategies, authentic learning tasks, as well as differentiation to address the varying learners in the classroom. To choose a topic for the lesson plan, I decided to focus on the biomes discussed during the ecology unit. The topic of biomes tends to be quickly revisited and then quickly forgotten as students move into more important topics of ecology. What the curriculum fails to do is relate all the other content to the initial biome discussion. Because of this lack of connection, I chose to design a lesson plan that would interweave all aspects of the ecology unit around a biome of choice. I created and implemented this lesson plan individually after seeing this gap in ecology topics.
Standard 2.4 sets the expectation for the modeling and facilitating the effective use of digital tools to enhance higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits of mind by candidates. This artifact demonstrates higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits through the design of an elaborate lesson plan. The lesson plan is a model of higher order thinking skills by asking students to analyze the different biomes of the world and how ecosystem interactions are related to each biome. The lesson plan also models higher order processes by asking students to design a website, blog, or video and problem-solve to design and develop this final product. The lesson plan also provides an excellent example of how to model both critical and creative thinking through the design of the final product that shows all interaction in a biome in relation to each ecology content standard discussed in the unit.
The facilitation of the lesson plan is further enhanced by the effective use of digital tools throughout the lesson plan. Through the breadth of this lesson plan, I was easily able to facilitate the use of digital tools and encourage students to delve deeper into the content. By encouraging students to use higher order skills and processes, the facilitation of the technology use was essential to student success during the implementation of this lesson. Students were guided as they analyzed each biome and created a final product that incorporated all standards of ecology focused on a single biome.
In completing the Internet lesson plan, I learned a great deal about creating a well-rounded lesson plan that encourages and fosters higher order thinking skills, processes, and habits of mind. I had experience with lesson plan creation before, but this lesson also included troubleshooting and differentiation specifically related to the use of assistive technology. From the creation and implementation of this lesson plan, I also learned the true capabilities of my students. I was so impressed with their final products and the ultimate learning through the creation of these products. The only thing I would change if I could do this over again, would be to not offer the video option. Most of the video submissions were boring with a lack of creativity and ended up being a familiar technology to the students. The website and travel blog creation was a new technology and encouraged more creative thinking from the students than a simple video.
The Internet lesson plan had a great impact on student learning. The students were encouraged to learn a new technology and form new connections with the material they hadn’t previously been challenged to do in prior classes. Through the use of this new technology, they had a newfound confidence and several other teachers mentioned their confidence in using the same website technology in other classes. Faculty development was also affected in that several other biology teachers were interested in this lesson plan and decided to implement this lesson plan in their classrooms. In this manner, their students will also benefit as the teachers learn how to incorporate new technology in their classrooms to also encourage higher order thinking skills, processes, and habits of mind. The ultimate impact was assessed based on the performance of students on the end of course test specifically in reference to the ecology standards. These students scored higher than previous years’ students and is largely due to the all-encompassing nature of the lesson plan.