<P> Higher - order thinking, known as higher order thinking skills (HOTS), is a concept of education reform based on learning taxonomies (such as Bloom's taxonomy). The idea is that some types of learning require more cognitive processing than others, but also have more generalized benefits . In Bloom's taxonomy, for example, skills involving analysis, evaluation and synthesis (creation of new knowledge) are thought to be of a higher order, requiring different learning and teaching methods than the learning of facts and concepts . </P> <P> Higher - order thinking involves the learning of complex judgmental skills such as critical thinking and problem solving . Higher - order thinking is more difficult to learn or teach but also more valuable because such skills are more likely to be usable in novel situations (i.e., situations other than those in which the skill was learned). </P> <P> It is a notion that students must master the lower level skills before they can engage in higher - order thinking . However, the United States National Research Council objected to this line of reasoning, saying that cognitive research challenges that assumption, and that higher - order thinking is important even in elementary school . </P>

What is the difference between critical thinking and higher order thinking skills