Inculcating higher-order thinking skills in mathematics: why is it so hard?

Abstract

Despite the challenges in delivering the content of the mathematics syllabus, teachers nowadays are also facing difficulties in catering for a wide range of students' abilities. Each student has the ability to learn mathematics at a different rate. However, students' potential for learning mathematics can be lost if it is not discovered and supported at the appropriate time (Borovik and Gardiner, 2006). Throughout the transformation of education in Malaysia, which emphasizes higher-order thinking skills among students, students' performance in mathematics has persistently been poor. Therefore, this study will highlight the challenges mathematics teachers face in inculcating higher-order thinking skills among students. This study was conducted with 160 mathematics teachers who were selected from secondary schools in Johor state. All the respondents were asked to give their response to the open ended questions regarding the difficulties they faced in teaching higher-order thinking skills. All the collected data were analysed by thematic analysis. The result showed that three main factors (teachers, students, and others) contribute to the challenges mathematics teachers face in inculcating higher order thinking skills. Based on the result, this study could serve as a guideline to provide intervention in addressing the corresponding challenges faced by mathematics teachers in inculcating higher-order thinking skills among students.