EVALUATION OF HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS IN THE LIGHT OF BLOOMS’ TAXONOMY: THE PRESCRIBED VERSUS TESTED CURRICULA

Abstract

Higher order thinking skills plays a vital role for the development of cognitive abilities of students. So, it is important to curriculum must have the instructions related to the development of cognitive skills of the students. The major objective of this research was to enlighten the prescribed and tested curricula with the cognitive domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy. For this purpose text book of general science 8^th grade was selected. This study was qualitative based on content analysis approach to analyze each chapter’s Student Learning Outcomes and exercises questions of Punjab curriculum. The findings revealed that prescribed curriculum showed more significant as compare to tested curriculum. Moreover,  the book analysis showed that SLOs support HOTS incorporation, but exercise questions and Punjab Examination Commission exams tend towards Lower Order Thinking Skills. Book exercises and exams should be improved and aligned with SLOs to incorporate HOTS in students. Moreover, book and exam criteria need to be revised to enhance higher-order thinking skills among students.