Developing higher-order thinking with ICT

Abstract

Leaders have often expressed a desire for citizens to acquire higher-order thinking skills, so that the population would become more disposed to problem solving, raising complex questions, developing consistent arguments, and expressing their opinions from critical perspectives. One way teachers can develop these attributes among students is for teachers to present learning tasks that will influence students to pursue inquiries from different perspectives, assess the sources of their information, reflect on their findings, and adopt personal positions based on rational thinking. Instructional systems in the past were limited in their capacity to support these processes; however, the new information and communication technology (ICT) tools can process information at high speeds, mobilize vast storage systems, and provide the means for both synchronous and asynchronous communication. These powerful attributes of ICT support many of the activities that influence the development of higher-order thinking skills by facilitating dialogue, interaction, and inquiries from multiple perspectives. There is now greater technological support for activities that can foster inquiry, evaluation, critical reflection, and rational decision making. This paper presents approaches for using ICT-based learning tasks to develop higher-order thinking skills among students