Teaching and Testing to Promote Higher Order Thinking in Science and Mathematics Education

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In science and mathematics education, leaders agree that instruction needs to focus more on understanding than coverage. There is little evidence however that teachers or test makers do much directly to promote such higher order thinking. To overcome this problem we will work with a high- stakes test maker to develop outcome measures of higher order thinking; assist a group of science and mathematics teachers in preparing assessment strategies which can be used to promote higher order thinking in their classrooms; study the effects of those strategies on student performance using the developed outcome measures and a related high stakes measure; and develop a teacher assessment inservice package which illustrates and explains sample classroom assessment strategies that promote higher order thinking. The one year funding allows completion of steps one and two above. If test makers see that higher order thinking is being promoted in the classroom they will emphasize such thinking in their high-stakes test development.