Development of a Higher-Order Thinking Skills Measurement Instrument in the Science and Technology Learning Area for Grade 9 Students
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Abstract
Higher-order thinking skills are essential competencies for learners in the 21st century, enabling them to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, make reasoned decisions, and develop new approaches to problem solving. These skills are particularly important in the Science and Technology Learning Area, which emphasizes inquiry, empirical evidence, systematic thinking, and the application of knowledge to real-life situations. This research aimed to 1) develop a higher-order thinking skills measurement instrument for Grade 9 students and 2) examine the quality of the developed instrument. Content validity was evaluated by five experts. The tryout group consisted of 100 Grade 9 students, while the sample for quality examination included 300 Grade 9 students from schools in Phetchabun Province, selected through multi-stage random sampling. The instrument was a situational multiple-choice test covering four dimensions: analytical thinking, synthesis thinking, creative thinking, and critical thinking. Data were analyzed using the Index of Item-Objective Congruence, item difficulty, discrimination index, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings revealed that the developed instrument consisted of 32 situational multiple-choice items: 12 analytical thinking items, 8 synthesis thinking items, 4 creative thinking items, and 8 critical thinking items. The item structure was consistent with the operational definitions and indicators used in instrument development. All items had IOC values ranging from 0.60 to 1.00, difficulty indices from 0.610 to 0.800, and discrimination indices from 0.260 to 0.760. The reliability coefficient of the overall instrument was 0.933, while the coefficients for analytical, synthesis, creative, and critical thinking were 0.838, 0.847, 0.645, and 0.864, respectively. The four dimensions were positively correlated at the .01 level, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.365 to 0.747. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that all four measurement models were consistent with the empirical data. Overall, the developed instrument demonstrated appropriate quality for assessing higher-order thinking skills among Grade 9 students. However, the creative thinking dimension should be interpreted with caution because it contained fewer items and showed lower reliability than the other dimensions.
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