Assessing Higher Order Skills in the Early Years

A child must use their higher order skills in order to develop their capabilities in ICT. It is the decision by the child to determine whether a software or hardware is appropriate, a technique is appropriate or both are appropriate to use for an ICT solution to a problem. Questioning and discussions about how and why a student did something is vital in any assessment.

There are three main principles involved when assessing higher order skills. According to Brookhart (2010, p23), these are:

• Present something to students to think about, usually in the form of introductory text, visuals, scenarios, resource material or problems of some sort; • Use novel material – material that is new to the student, not covered in class and thus subject to recall; • Distinguish between level of difficulty (easy versus hard) and level of thinking (lower-order thinking or recall versus higher order thinking), and control for each separately.

In the development of ICT capability, the use of ICT demands higher order skills such as:

1. Recognising when the use of ICT might be appropriate; 2. Planning how ICT resources, techniques and processes are to be used in a task; 3. Conjecturing, discussing and testing the strategies and data to be used; 4. Monitoring the progress of problem-solving activities; 5. Making and testing hypotheses; 6. Evaluating the outcomes of using ICT for a task; 7. Explaining and justifying the use of ICT in producing solutions to problems and; 8. Reflecting on the learning that have occurred during the task. (Kennewell, Parkinson, & Tanner, 2000)

• Decide when it is appropriate to use a particular ICT for specific purpose; • Plan what techniques, routines and processes are to be used; • Work independently to solve problems; • Evaluate their use of ICT and the outcome of an activity; • Explain and justify their choices and approaches and; • Reflect on their learning and explain how things could be done differently next time. (Morgan & Siraj-Blatchford, 2009, p. 16)

How will I know if a student has progressed in their capabilities?

Progression in student ICT capability is mainly to do with being able to assess their strengths and weakness. In order to be able to accomplish this in your classroom, it is essential that you recognise the key aspects of progression.

Research indicates that progression in ICT capability demands that:

• Students develop greater autonomy and confidence in their selection and use of information sources and tools; • Students are expected to develop into discerning users of ICT, with an increasing awareness of the benefits and limitations of the systems they use; • Students become able to present their ideas in an increasing variety of ways with a developing sense of audience; • Students use ICT-based models of growing complexity for increasingly complex lines of enquiry involving progressively greater decision making and personal autonomy; • Student ability to evaluate their own work grows, and they become progressively more able to discuss and appreciate social, economic, political, legal and ethical issues.

Progression in the early years was demonstrated earlier in Planning.