Benjamin Bloom created a framework in the 1950s that categorized "higher order" versus "lower order" thinking skills. According to this theory, thinking skills appear on a spectrum, with remembering and recognizing being "lower order" skills. A progression of ability takes the competent student from simply recalling facts to understanding, applying, creating and constructing new ideas from those presented. The social sciences ask students to interact with concrete, technical skills like cartography, as well as the more theoretical concepts typically found in sociology and economics. This variety requires that students be well prepared to move along Bloom's spectrum of thinking skills with ease.
The distinction between concrete and abstract concepts is important when considering how to apply higher-order thinking skills. Concrete ideas, or those you can touch and see, are relatively easy for most students to grasp. For instance, it's easy to provide several tangible examples of a globe in the classroom and to demonstrate how to locate a country or find the Prime Meridian. Abstract concepts, however, are more difficult to both teach and learn and usually require higher-order thinking skills. Understanding why a war begins, for example, requires a student to not only understand facts, but to develop a theory about how cultures and countries interact and to evaluate cause and effect relationships.
The concepts found in social studies naturally lean toward higher-order thinking skills. Teachers can create a variety of activities toward the end of a unit or learning cycle by asking students to move along Bloom's spectrum and use their acquired knowledge to create something new. For example, if students are studying maps and globes, a natural final product would be an original map of a fictitious country that includes a key, a compass rose, landforms, and latitude and longitude. Such final products exhibit a student's ability not only to remember, but also to synthesize specific skills.
The more practical application involved with everyday learning, the more readily a skill set will transfer to a collegiate or professional setting. Higher-order thinking often involves defining and solving complex problems. When students are able to practice this process in the classroom, they are able to build experience and confidence in their own abilities. These critical thinking and communication skills are highly sought after by employers of all types, making higher-order thinking a worthy investment of time and resources in the classroom.