There is no secret formula that will improve academic achievement in students. If it had been there, it would differ by faculty. The purpose of this article is to lay out theories that have worked; real studies that are directly achieving academic success and student success.

Leveraging the science of Bloom's Taxonomy

Students reaching higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) can achieve good grades. HOTS is widely known for its application in STEM-related courses, such as how students analyze problem sets in mathematics courses [4]. Bloom's Taxonomy is a learning concept that classifies educational goals to foster higher-order thinking skills [1]. The progression of elements centers around the domain of cognition.

According to Krathwohl, Bloom's revised taxonomy is a hierarchy of learning elements that starts with remembering, understanding, application, analysis, evaluation, and creation. The learning pyramid together will enable students to engage in a cognitive process where they build their skills to ensure that learning is groomed appropriately [3].

How does Bloom's Taxonomy apply to your course structure?

In applying Bloom's Taxonomy in real life, Kritik's gamified online peer assessment tool allows students to earn Kritik points to showcase their strength as a peer assessor. The Evaluation score combines how well you were able to assess your peers' work (based on rubric criteria laid out by the professor) in comparison to how the rest of the students evaluated the same creation. Also, the Kritik system can determine the potentiality of the feedback you provided to ensure that your assessment was from a critical and motivational perspective.  We have found that after administering 5-6 activities on Kritik, students generally increase their Evaluation score points total. Through our research and feedback so far, we have found that students who adopt a "Learning by Teaching" mindset can maintain course concepts more efficiently and effectively. This loop of consistent and increasingly quality feedback throughout the term is leading to students becoming more engaged in their work with a positive attitude. Also, the comments and feedback allow for students to improve on their creations, ultimately leading to good grades and higher class averages.

Food for thought:

• What level of Bloom's Taxonomy do your current assessments sustain?
• What aspects of the pyramid does your course heavily focus on?
• Do your assessments allow for a vivid and accurate tracking of student performance and facilitate increases in quality as the term progresses?

To integrate the science behind Bloom's Taxonomy it is essential to construct feasible course goals. Higher-level goals relate to applying concepts whereas a lower-level goal would be more of remembering a definition or filling in multiple-choice questions [3]. Binding both goals together is the bridging goal, where a concept must be understood. Thus, student achievement is also tied to proper goal setting. So students need to know how to set course goals.

Breakdown

Lower-level cognitive task: Remembering [3]

e.g, when asked, the learner will list all six levels of Bloom’s revised taxonomy of learning.

Green - Criteria Red- Condition Orange- Performance

In action

A study conducted at the University of Papua focused on the relationship between HOTS and Mathematics for student academic performance. Their research method consisted of a practice exam conducted for 41 final year mathematics students within an hour to complete 9 HOTS-related questions and be assessed by a holistic rubric [4]. Critical thinking questions included conceptual understanding, prediction of impacts, comprehending principles, problem-solving, and decision-making. While creatively thinking on how they could work within a competency limit and their level of time-management was assessed, new challenges were addressed, and their thinking patterns merged with their imagination. The evaluation of the questions consisted of reviewing the understanding of problems, the problem-solving procedure, and the correct answers. According to the regression analysis model developed, the GPA value was estimated to increase by 0.017 units for every one-unit increase in HOTS [4]. In conclusion, the relationship between HOTS and the students' GPA was linear, positive, and strong. [4]

The effect of assessing vs being assessed

An interesting question arises: Can peer review be used as a tool in your classroom to increase students HOTS? Peer review integrates the teaching concept of learning that is the most effective way of retaining information and knowledge.

A study at the University of Barcelona focused on assessment and evaluation of higher education to determine whether giving or receiving feedback was more efficient for student performance [5]. To draw up a written paper on which to give feedback, a graduate class was put into groups behind the study. Students submitted and completed a survey based on their learning experience [5]. Using a survey that incorporated research indicators analyzing the relationship between cognitive learning and the development of discipline-related academic skills, they found that students as evaluators gained more from their experience and had a greater impact on assignment and knowledge transfer to future tasks [5].

Students who adopt a "Learning by Teaching" mindset can more efficiently and effectively retain concepts of a course. This loop of consistent and increasingly high-quality feedback throughout the term leads to more engagement with their work among students.

In the Kritik creation stage (which is the initial phase of activity or assessment), students are encouraged to understand the instructions and rubric evaluation criteria. So, it is clear how to approach a problem. However, by assessing peers' work, students need to actively analyze the submissions to identify errors and implement new ways to further simplify the hard work of their peers to help them get the correct answer and improve their study skills. Moreover, they can engage in HOTS by reviewing other creations by re-evaluating their methodology to solve the problem (learning strategies). By providing peer evaluations, students encompass learning by teaching mindset, encouraging students to analyze and evaluate the course concepts and knowledge to create submissions that meet the expectations of the assignment.

How to optimize peer assessment in your classroom

Not sure how to integrate peer assessment into your work syllabus? Kritik users Professor Alex Gainer and Jeff Boggs saw that reading-related activities helped high school students better engage with their material. Readings can usually be passive, but students can further increase their academic performance through note-taking during an interactive lecture prep.

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