Instrument Development of Teaching Practice on Higher-Order Thinking Skills for 21st-Century Learning

Abstract

The 21st-century learning paradigm emphasises the need for students to develop thinking skills, particularly higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). In this regard, teachers play a crucial role in facilitating the application of HOTS in the classroom. Thus, this paper aims to develop a measuring instrument to assess teachers' practice of HOTS in secondary schools. The questionnaire consists of 30 items and three dimensions: facilitating HOTS, Socratic questioning, and applying the i-THINK map. Three experts validated the instrument for face and content validity. Data was collected in Terengganu from a total of 126 respondents and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The analyses included exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Bartlett's sphericity test, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) sampling adequacy test, and Cronbach's alpha reliability test. The findings revealed a three-dimensional model with 28 items. In addition, Bartlett's sphericity tests for all dimensions were significant (P<0.05), the sampling adequacy revealed a favourable result (KMO>0.6), and the values of Cronbach's alpha exceeded the threshold value of 0.7. Overall, the results indicate that the instrument has high validity and reliability in measuring HOTS teaching practice. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of teachers' roles as facilitators, effective questioning techniques, and thinking aids in holistic teaching.