Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Explicit instruction in thinking skills must be a priority goal of all teachers. In this book, the author presents a framework of the five Rs: Relevancy, Richness, Relatedness, Rigor, and Recursiveness. The framework serves to illuminate instruction in critical and creative thinking skills for K-12 teachers across content areas. Each chapter treats one category of thinking skills. A chapter begins with a brief anecdote that illustrates the category, then discusses the skill, presents relevant life questions, and concludes by examining chosen strategies for the three thinking levels.