Agent of Change: Empowering Teachers and Students through Reflection

Abstract

Freshman students begin their engineering studies at the Petroleum Institute after having met the Institute's language proficiency prerequisites. In many of their courses these engineering students are required to write in a concise form in accord with all aspects of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). In this pilot research, students produced three in-class pieces of writing at five -week intervals between the writings. After their first writing, students were exposed to Bloom's Taxonomy table. The paper is based on the reflection/observation of the teachers and students whilst and after the exposure to Bloom's taxonomy, and student focus groups in which students were asked to reflect back on their experiences of the best practices from their point of view that can be inferred that this exposure helps facilitate some level of HOTS transferability. The aim of this paper is to intensify the role teachers in teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills in a systematic way that would allow students to grasp its essence and take an active role in the redesign of its instruction.

The Role of the Professional Teacher as the Agent of Change for Students

“…On EL to realize transform learning. Research conducted by (Hassan & Balfaqeeh, 2015) with the title Agent of Change: Empowering Teachers and Students through Reflection. This study's results are to systematically intensify the teacher's role in teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills, which allows students to understand its essence and take an active role in redesigning its teaching.…”