Higher Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS) Program
The Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program is a computer-based thinking program for at-risk students in grades 4 through 7. It was designed by Stanley Pogrow of the University of Arizona and now includes a network of more than 1,300 schools across the United States. Instead of focusing on traditional drill-and-practice activities and supplementary instruction in content areas, the HOTS program emphasizes "the basic thinking processes that underlie all learning" (Pogrow, 1987, p. 11). Central to the program is the premise that at-risk students need help in regulating their thinking processes. The HOTS curriculum and the use of computers enable students to improve their skills in metacognition, inference from context, decontextualization, and information synthesis. As a result, students improve their comprehension and gain confidence in their ability to learn.
For further information, refer to HOTS: Higher Order Thinking Skills Project (Lang, 1995).
