Technology and the HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) and the PSS (Problem Solving Skills)

According to Teacher Tap (http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.htm), when we talk about higher order thinking skills, we are talking about the top three of the six levels of learning in Bloom's Taxonomy (explanations of the levels courtesy of http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial011c.shtml):

1. Knowledge: What do you know?

2. Comprehension: What do you understand about what you know?

3. Application: How can you use what you know?

4. Analysis: What similarities, problems, parts, trends, do you see in what your know?

5. Synthesis: Can you combine what you know to develop a new idea?

6. Evaluation: How can you evaluate what you know? 

In my own words, it means that someone knows something, understands what that something is and can do something with that something that is relevant to the something. That is, an individual can gather information, process it and make use of it.

Problem solving skills are achieved when level three is reached because now the student can examine his present condition and take what he has learned to attempt to bring a resolution to his dilemma.

Technology can help in the development of higher order skills and problem solving skills because it can provide students access to an almost unlimited source of information (knowledge) with ease. Then, with the guidance of the teacher, the students can process the information (comprehension) they have collected and relate (application) it to their present circumstances.

I believe that an effective educator strives to achieve these three levels of learning with his students because otherwise his presence is unnecessary. In our present time, students can very easily obtain all kinds of information. It is then the educator's role to guide the students to learn how to process the information and how to put it to work in a way that is relevant to their lives or the lives of others.