The Effects of Higher Order Thinking Skills and Lower Order Thinking Skills on Academic Achievement of Students in World History Class

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of lower order and higher order teaching methods on academic achievement of students in a world history class. The sample for this study consisted of eleven females and eleven males. Data were collected by using teacher made quizzes. The students were taught first from half of a unit on the Renaissance for the first five days using lower order instruction based on Bloom’s Taxonomy levels 1-3. After instruction, students were tested. The second half of the unit was taught using higher order instruction based on Bloom’s Taxonomy levels 4-6. After instruction, students were tested. Data were analyzed by using a paired t-test. The results indicated that there was a significance difference on average performance of students when taught with higher order methods and when taught with lower order methods of instruction. However, there was no significant difference between genders on performance. The results suggested that using higher order instruction is beneficial to the students. The results of this study warrant to be duplicated to determine if different results would be realized.