Items analysis of physics assessment based on cognitive level of high order thinking skills in bloom taxonomy

Abstract There are many challenges faced by some countries which lead them to revise their educational curriculum, including in Thailand. In Thailand, the revised of curriculum in science learning field with Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) is indirectly demands teachers to include High Order Thinking Skills in their teaching and learning as well as in assessment process. By concerning this phenomenon, this study was aimed at describing the realization of the cognitive levels from bloom taxonomy used by Physics teachers. Six classifications of the cognitive levels in bloom taxonomy were divided into two order thinking skills, namely Low Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) and High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). To achieve the aforementioned objectives, this study employed qualitative research design. Accordingly, the subjects of this study were a Physics teacher in Matthayom Siriwanwari II Songkhla Secondary School and students in two classes, covering matthayom 5th and matthayom 6th. As stated earlier, there were three types of analysis in this study, the analysis of level, the evaluation of level, and the creation of level. Besides, the reasons which prevent the teacher to use cognitive level of bloom taxonomy High Order Thinking Skills were also investigated. The results showed that according to the analysis of matthayom 5th and 6th physics final examination items the cognitive levels used were 0% of remembering, 3.3% of understanding, 33.3% of applying, 50% of analyzing, 3.3% of evaluating, and 3.3% of creating. Meanwhile, matthayom 6th had 0% of remembering, 0% of understanding, 25.7% of applying, 51.4% of analyzing, 5.7% of evaluating, and 17.1% of creating. By referring to these results, it is known that the physics test items used small portion of evaluating and creating aspects. Based on these findings, it is known that the portions of evaluating and creating aspects are still low. However, these results actually can be a starting point in fulfilling the demand of the revised curriculum by the ministry of education in Thailand.