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High Order Thinking
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Teachers play a crucial role in instructing students and facilitating understanding and
learning. For instance, teachers use instructions to inform students and facilitate
understanding to ensure learners get meaning out of various concepts. This paper will critique
two presentations from those provided in class based on information gathered from the course
materials. Keeping the role of a teacher in mind, the two presentations that stood out and I
found interesting include the presentation on "Understanding Emotions" by Michael Trexler
and the presentation on "the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences" by Vickie.
Teaching Strategies Employed
In the first presentation by Michael Trexler, the lesson was well thought-out and
planned since it utilized various active teaching strategies to impact learning. One of the
strategies utilized is the use of case studies. This method involves using real-life stories that
happened to an individual or people in the community to help students integrate what they
learn in classrooms into real-life situations (Svinicki & McKeachie, 2014). This method was
used to develop problem-solving skills among students using the skills, knowledge, and
concepts relevant to the course. For instance, Michael started the lesson using a video clip
from the movie "Inside Out" (Trexler, 2016). The video gave students an idea of what the
lesson would cover and allowed them to elicit a discussion about emotions. For instance,
students were able to analyze and evaluate by themselves what emotions were based on the
video content.
The other strategy utilized was the question and answer technique. For instance,
Michael asked his students various open-ended questions to elicit a discussion and set the
direction for the lesson. According to Svinicki & McKeachie (2014), questions that use the
"why" and "how" rather than "what" allow students to process material and information
deeper. Michael utilized these questions to challenge students to evaluate what emotions
meant to them. In addition, Michael utilized the think-pair-share strategy. This is where
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students work or reflect on a question/problem individually, discuss their answers with
partners, and develop a joint solution to share with the class. By using this strategy, Michael
allowed students to learn through their peers since students could discuss their reflective
journals on the subject matter (emotions) (Trexler, 2016). Class discussions were also a
commonly used technique among students. According to Walker (2003), class discussions
promote critical thinking. In addition, observing and evaluating other students' reasoning
skills during discussions helped promote critical thinking. Michael's use of humor is a
strategy that cannot go unnoticed. For instance, humor was used through his magic finer
snaps that motivated students to continue contributing to the discussions resulting in
improved student engagement.
On the other hand, Vickie utilized a number of teaching strategies throughout her
lesson on the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). For instance, she started the
lesson by asking questions to gauge students' understanding of what adverse childhood
experiences meant to them (King, 2018). This aimed to refresh students' memories and
promote critical thinking. Using open-ended questions throughout the lesson allowed students
to remain engaged in the course material. In addition, Vickie utilized the critical questioning
strategy to help students become aware of their thought processes, understanding, and
performance. This increased students' self-awareness since they could reflect on information
from the provided articles and how it relates to their understanding of various concepts
(Svinicki & McKeachie, 2014).
Another strategy Vickie used was the motivational technique. Although students were
asked to read the course material before coming to class, they were also given a chance to go
through the material during the lesson. This motivated students to read since this has a
bearing on the learning process. The discussion strategy was also used with the board being
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used to write down information given by students to help compare and achieve high order
and critical thinking.
Graduate-Level Elements in the Teaching
Michael utilized various graduate-level elements based on Bloom's Taxonomy.
Bloom's Taxonomy has six levels, with knowledge, comprehension, and application being the
lowest level of thinking and analysis, synthesis, and evaluation being the highest levels of
thinking (Adams, 2015). During the presentation, Michael asked students why people have
emotions (Trexler, 2016). This allowed students to predict what emotions are (create) and
describe their value (evaluate). During the start of each emotion (including fear, sadness, and
anxiety), Michael used vignettes that stimulated students to analyze and apply knowledge.
Also, Michael applied Bloom's Taxonomy element "synthesis" since he asked each of his
students to read a slide, allow them to discuss the scenario, and then reflect on what students
provided, comparing it with what was on the slide. Finally, Michael did a great job with
evaluation by asking students to evaluate what they had learned about why people have
emotions. He also clarified questions and guided students, stimulating them to a higher level
of thinking.
On the other hand, Vickie utilized various graduate-level elements based on the
highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. For instance, Vickie elicited critical thinking from
students by guiding them to a higher level of thinking skills. They used the presentation slides
and board notes to help students virtually compare urban and rural ACE scores from the
readings (King, 2018). This allowed students to utilize evaluation and analysis, which are
high-order thinking skills. She also used the strategy of the open-ended question to help
students identify differences in trauma in urban and rural areas. This helped keep the
discussion going during the lesson.
Adult Learning Theory Elements in the Demonstrations
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One of the techniques teachers use to teach adults is andragogy. This is an approach
developed by Malcolm Knowles, providing that adults are considered self-driven and directed
and hence require independent learning methods (Pappas, 2019). Michael's teaching strategy
incorporated various principles used in adult learning. For instance, the demonstration
included an experience where Michael incorporated elements of experiential learning theory
to promote critical thinking and discussion. He understood that adults learn when they make
sense of their experiences, allowing students to reflect on their own experiences to draw their
understanding of emotions from their experiences (Trexler, 2016). In addition, Michael
understood that adult learning is problem-centered and not content-oriented and hence
presented students with real-life scenarios that required problem-solving, keeping the
students engaged. As asserted by Merriam & Baumgartner (2020), Michael understood that
adult students are more interested in subjects relevant to their lives or jobs and that they need
to feel respected, supported, and accepted. In this case, he ensured his students were actively
engaged and supported them through finger snaps to keep them motivated to share during the
discussions.
On the other hand, Vickie cultivated andragogy by creating a safe atmosphere that
allowed her to work collaboratively with the students. In addition, she kept her students
engaged through intriguing discussions about adverse childhood experiences to make them
feel responsible for their learning. In addition, Vickie understood adults prefer to build on
their experience and use the experience as the basis for learning activities. For instance,
Vickie used open-ended questions to draw upon students' past experiences incorporating
various aspects of the experiential theory. This helped promote discussion and critical
thinking. Vickie also understood that adult students need to know why they need to learn
something. For instance, she helped students understand that understanding trauma and
adverse childhood experiences would help them in their own research journey and in teaching
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or their professions (King, 2018). Lastly, Vickie promoted self-directed learning, which
involves ensuring students take the initiative to plan, execute and evaluate their learning
experiences (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). For instance, Vickie ensured students had work
to complete outside the classroom by reading course material to ensure they bring back
knowledge to class in the next lesson.
Appropriateness and Clarity of LOs
Although the lesson by Michael Trexler was fantastic, the learning outcomes (LOs)
were not clearly stated. However, my understanding of the presentation was that the objective
was to learn what emotions are, why we have emotions, and understand the three components
of emotions (Trexler, 2016). If these questions were to be learning outcomes, it would mean
that the LOs were not clearly identified. I believe LOs could be stated more clearly as"
students will investigate what emotions are and judge why we have them." The other LO
would be "students will distinguish the three components of emotions." If these were the
learning outcomes, they would fall on the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (creating,
evaluating, analyzing) since they would require students to think critically and deeper about
emotions. As the questions appear, recalling and understanding what emotions are, why we
have them, and what the components of emotions would be the basic or lower level of
Bloom's Taxonomy.
The demonstration by Vickie also lacked clear LO. For instance, my first thought was
that the LO was to define adverse childhood experiences. However, the demonstration
included a comparison of articles evaluating the differences between ACE in rural and urban
areas (King, 2018). This made LOs for the lesson less clear. If the lesson LO were to define
ACE, this would fall under a lower level of Bloom's Taxonomy since it would not exhibit
higher order thinking as per Svinicki & McKeachie (2014) since it would require memorizing
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to remember. However, a strong LO would be "students will differentiate between rural and
urban ACE." Such LO would be clear, valid, and appropriate.
Appropriateness and Effectiveness of Teaching Strategies for the Lesson Topic
and LO
In my view, the teaching strategies Michael used in the lesson were appropriate and
very effective. For instance, he utilized active teaching strategies that promoted students`
active participation in learning. In addition, the thought process for the lecture presentation
was guided by the questions. Michael also made significant progress by keeping students
engaged and focused on the course topic and the LO. For instance, the lesson started with a
video that prepared students on the lesson's topic and allowed them to participate actively
throughout the lesson (Trexler, 2016). In addition, Michael used various strategies, including
case studies, demonstrations, discussions, questions and answers, and motivational
techniques, to keep them engaged and help them retain information as required by the
learning outcomes. This promoted effective learning since students were engaged, they were
thinking, reflecting, comparing, and discussing/interacting with their peers as required by
Fedeli & Bierrema (2019). Michael executed his lecture correctly and effectively such that I
have no other strategies I would have used.
In addition, the relationship between Vickie's teaching strategy and the perceived LOs
can be seen. For instance, the teaching strategies utilized allowed students to move through
stages towards higher-order critical thinking. In addition, Vickie used a self-directed learning
approach that improved adult learning. In addition, Vickie ensured her students understood
the various differences between ACEs in rural and urban populations since current and future
teachers should be aware of this information to understand existing research bias in
ACEs(King, 2018). In addition, Vickie's demonstration strategy through the board allowed
students to visualize and identify differences creating high-order thinking since students to
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organize information and formulate opinions/judgments while criticizing provided
information based on their life experiences. This made Vickie's teaching strategies
appropriate and effective.
Strengths and Weaknesses: How I would Change the Presentation to Improve
the Lesson
One of Michael's strengths that improved his lesson facilitation was his use of
experiences, the seamless integration of discussions into his lecture, and his ability to keep
students engaged throughout the lesson. This kept students focused on the lesson's topic. In
addition, Michael offered students multiple ways of learning, allowing students with different
learning styles (visual, social, logical, verbal, and aural learners) to learn from the different
teaching styles (Trexler, 2016). Michael's teaching strategies also facilitated critical thinking
from the beginning to the end of the lesson. In addition, Michael captured his student's
attention and encouraged participation through finger snaps, promoting critical thinking.
However, one weakness was that Michael did not state the learning objectives clearly in the
presentation. In this case, the only thing I would change to improve the lesson is to state LOs
more clearly to set learning expectations from the lesson. This would determine the strength
of the demonstration.
Vickie also showed various strengths that improved her facilitation of the lesson. For
instance, she utilized open-ended questions to elicit discussions and facilitate critical
thinking. According to Walker (2003), questioning techniques promote critical thinking
since, based on how a question is asked, a student could use CT skills such as analysis,
interpretation, and others to form conclusions. Another strength was that Vickie gave students
time to think about questions and answers since she did not actively give answers (King,
2018). This allowed her to guide the discussion to ensure learners were self-driven in
learning. Similar to Michael's demonstration, the lack of clear LOs was a major setback.
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Lessons Learned: What to Incorporate into the Proposed Teaching Demonstration
I have learned several lessons from the two presentation videos. For instance, one
lesson is keeping students engaged throughout the lesson by applying various active teaching
strategies. For instance, I could utilize discussions, questions, and answers, think-pair-share,
case studies, and demonstrations to help students with different learning needs through
learning. In addition, I have learned different questioning techniques that can help promote
critical thinking among students. The use of reflective journals and pair thinking has also
shown to be effective in promoting learning. The other crucial lesson is that although lecture
is the most used instruction method, it is not effective in promoting learning (Svinicki &
McKeachie, 2014). In this case, combining lectures with other active teaching strategies is the
best way to keep learners engaged and focused in class. Lastly, Michael and Vickie have
provided crucial lessons on the need to promote self-directed learning. This approach allows
students to plan, execute or carry out and evaluate their learning experiences (Merriam &
Baumgartner, 2020). This is an element of andragogy that can help promote high-order
learning among adults.
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References
Adams N. E. (2015). Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives. Journal of the
Medical Library Association: JMLA, 103(3), 152–153. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-
5050.103.3.010
King, S. (2018). The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences.YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP2e0WGwD6I
Merriam, S. B, & Baumgartner, L. M. (2020). Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive
Guide (4th eds). Jossey-Bass.
Pappas, C. (2013). The Adult Learning Theory - Andragogy - of Malcolm Knowles.
eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-
andragogy-of-malcolm-knowles
Svinicki, M., & McKeachie, W.J. (2014). McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research,
and Theory for College and University Teachers. Wadsworth Publishing.
Trexler, M. (2016). Teaching Demonstration - Understanding Emotions. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp5BZu3hepg&t=5s
Walker S. E. (2003). Active learning strategies to promote critical thinking. Journal of
Athletic Training, 38(3), 263–267.
