Science teaching techniques associated with higher‐order thinking skills

Science teachers are encouraged to emphasize higher‐order thinking skills, but little is known about the use and relationships of teaching techniques related to these skills. This study reports on a recent survey in Minnesota designed to provide a picture of the instructional styles that are used by seventh and eighth grade science teachers. Further, the data were factor analyzed to identify underlying structure and the resulting factors were correlated to examine the relationships between the factors. Although relationships do exist, it appears that seventh and eighth grade science teachers are individualistic and diverse in their reported teaching technique preferences.