The data collected from teachers and students revealed different opinions of the latter on the HOTS programme and their perceptions of learning in general. Students’ responses were considered important in reflecting the developments in the HOTS intervention and significance thereof for the Arab school culture.
a) Adopting a generally positive attitude to the involvement in the HOTS-based learning
It was stated in teacher’s written reports and during interviews that there had been an improvement in the attitudes of students to the tasks requiring HOTS. Prior to the intervention, students were explained that it would help them to perform better in terms of thinking and learning performance, but many of them exhibited mixed attitudes toward the programme, as it is demonstrated by the extract below.
In general, students were interested to engage in something new. At the same time, t hey seemed to feel overwhelmed with the amount of work that they would have to do. I could understand their mixed feelings. An overloaded curriculum, the pressure of examinations and also other responsibilities they had (The history teacher’s report).
Another extract shows student’s opinion on the use of a thinking map when it was first introduced in the classroom.
.... I believe it is a good thing and maybe it will be also useful in the college (A 10th grade
student).
Teachers reported that in the course of the intervention, there had been a positive change in students’ interest in the HOTS-related activities. It was found that before the intervention, around 30 % of all the responses reflected a positive attitude toward the new educational policies while almost 70 % of expressed mixed and unfavourable feelings. Toward the end of intervention, more
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than 60 % seemed to understand how they could benefit from the HOTS-based activities. Teachers reported that more students became engaged in self-directed learning, such as using the information resources additional to those recommended by teachers, expressing the desire to solve more challenging mathematical problems, and learning more than required by the standard high school curriculum. This increase was reported not only among the advanced students, but also among average ones. Compared with the beginning of the intervention, there had been an increase in the number of students who showed persistence and self-confidence in accomplishing the tasks that required HOTS. The understanding of the usefulness of the HOTS-based tasks and persistence in achieving the goal are evident from the following extract.
We carried out a waste management project ... It was really hard to deal with research questions and analysis of the information, but I believe that it was worth doing because we know now how to deal with waste and how to dispose of it (An 11th grade student).
b) Demonstrating a negative attitude or indifference toward the HOTS-based learning
Despite the fact that there had been a general improvement in students’ attitudes to the HOTS- based learning, some of them failed to improve their attitudes towards new learning tasks. Teachers reported that those who were persistent in their negative view on the tasks requiring HOTS were mostly weak learners and some of the average students. This part of student population considered new learning challenges a burden and an obstacle both in learning the curr iculum and preparation to tests, which can be seen in one of the post-intervention written responses.
These open-ended problems are a real headache. I have not enough time to do all homework. Why do we need this stuff? (An 11th grade student).
The important change to be emphasized in this section is an increase in the positive attitudes of students to the HOTS-based methods and activities, including a higher persistence in accomplishing the tasks. The above findings are different from those presented in some other studies of the HOTS-based interventions (Barak et al., 2007; Zohar, 2003) in which the authors do not regard students’ perspectives on learning success or failure as important factors in implementing the intervention.
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4.1.14 Summary
Prior to the discussion of the qualitative study findings, which is provided in the next chapter, some preliminary conclusions can be drawn on the basis of thematic analysis of data. The data obtained from the interviews with teachers and their instructional plans suggest an improvement in their knowledge and skills needed for the implementation of the HOTS-promoting instruction. The findings from teacher interviews suggest that positive results were achieved in terms of developing the cognitive and metacognitive skills of students and their performance in collaborative activities. In addition, the data obtained from teachers create the basis for an indication of the transferability of learning skills acquired by students in school. It can be suggested that during the period of intervention, teachers made student-focused activities more frequent and more student-centered and their goal was to make this change sustainable.
An analysis of students’ written responses to open-ended questions provided valuable information on engagement of students in the HOTS-based tasks which contributed to an apparent increase in their awareness of problem solving strategies and principles of team behaviour. Unlike the pre- intervention responses, the post-intervention ones indicate a higher interest in the HOT-related activities and more persistence in accomplishing thereof. They suggest the signs of the transfer of thinking skills from learning activities to real life situations. Appendix 13 includes a comparison of the pre-intervention written responses provided by the student control and intervention groups. It shows that the characteristics of both groups are close in terms of the ability to plan and evaluate the work on a task, approaches to problem solving, attitudes to collaborative activities, views on the usefulness of the knowledge obtained in school, and the reflection on the ways to improve the welfare of their community. Post-intervention results point to higher differences between the two groups of respondents: the intervention group demonstrates an improvement in the perceptions of their HOTS and their academic performance.
In addition, interview and documentary data point to the challenges and problems faced by teachers and students during the implementation of the intervention. Themes indicate teachers’ complaints about time and curriculum pressure, inconsistency in implementing the HOTS-related reforms, and the necessity to increase the amount of extra-classroom work. Findings also revealed
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disagreements among teachers concerning students’ collaborative work in the classroom and creating the HOT-based curriculum. It seems that not all the teachers were completely convinced by what they learned under the in-service training, being more in favour of traditional ways of instruction. Their efforts to teach students how to apply their thinking skills in many aspects of community life had little impact on students’ to use their HOTS for the good of the local community. In addition, almost 40% of students either failed to improve their attitudes towards the intervention or had mixed feeling about it.
In terms of the theme recurrence, the most salient themes are related to the description of the instructional methods for developing the HOTS of students, emerging from the data collected by the five and four data collection tools. They appear in all interviews with teachers and their instructional plans, and in the majority of teachers’ written reports. The themes, which reflected teachers’ attitudes to the HOTS-based instruction and problems they experienced during the intervention were developed from the data contained in the individual and group interviews with teachers and in some of the teachers’ reports. Although the frequency of these themes in terms of appearing in data items is lower than that of the themes reflecting the intervention measures and intervention results, they point to the factors impeding the implementation of the HOTS programme.
It can be also concluded that the results of thematic analysis are congruent with the research conceptual framework which is based on the ideas of the constructivist pedagogy and the concept of an “infusion” approach to teaching HOTS. They are in line with a complex concept of HOTS, which includes both cognitive and affective dimensions of thinking (thinking dispositions), and reflect a complex, multi-aspect process of developing HOTS. It can be suggested that the themes that emerged from the interview and documentary data provide valuable material for the reflection on how the Arab school culture might benefit from the HOTS programme implementation.
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