Higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) in teaching and learning biology at Madrasah Aliyah

The study was conducted to analyze Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in teaching and learning biology at Madrasah Aliyah in terms of planning and evaluation. Twenty four randomly selected biology teachers from eight Madrasah Aliyah in West Lombok Regence were involved in this study. The results indicated that the teachers, in general, have not understood the planning and assessment of HOTS-based teaching and learning; 6,25% of the teaching and learning objectives was HOTS-oriented, 17,19% of the teaching and learning activities was HOTS-oriented, 5,83% of the test questions was HOTS-oriented, and all of the teachers considered HOTS very important and it became the orientation of biology teaching and learning at Madrasah Aliyah.


Introduction
Education should be managed well in order to be able to produce thinker resources. Students should be trained to use the power of argument, thinking skills in education becausethey will face rapid and challenging changes in science and technology [1].In the 21 st century, thinking skills are crucial to support economic prosperity [2].In consequence, students deserve HOTS education, in order to equip them with the skills how to make decisions and think critically and creatively [3], andteachers need to understand how to teach in the 21 st century in order to be able to provide the students with skills [1].
HOTS involves high order cognitive thinking skills which are adapted from Bloom's Taxonomy [4]. High order thinking refers to the mental process of analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, and producing new ideas [5,6] and it is generally used in such activities as problem-solving, reasoning, thinking, evaluating, and drawing conclusion [5]. HOTS contains analyzing information to determine a problem, evaluating the problem, and creating a new solutionwhich can be applied [7]. Analysis of information includes understanding facts, drawing conclusion, connectingthe information with other facts and concepts, categorizing, manipulating, and combining the information with new ways [8].
Thus, the quality of identified questions and statements during the teaching and learning process needs to be enhanced in the domain of analyzing (C4), evaluating (C5) and creating (C6).
HOTScontinues to undergo expansion in its dimensions; it is not limited to the skills of analysis, synthesis,and evaluation only. HOTS includes skills such as searching out order and imposing meaning on information, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving, planning, decision making [9], visualization [10], and self-regulated thinking skill [11].HOTS define as three different categories: (1) HOTS as a transfer, (2) HOTS as a critical thinking, and (3) HOTS as a problemsolving. As a transfer, HOTS is a skill of applying knowledge and it is the one trained during the teaching and learning in a new situation. As a critical thinking,HOTS is thinking, reflecting, and 2 making a good decision. As a problem-solving, HOTSencompasses analyzing information to determine a problem, evaluating the problem, and creating a new solutionwhich can be applied [12]. The aspects of higher-order thinking skills areproblem-solving, decision making, and creative thinking [13]. HOTS can be taught and learned, and developing HOTS is not only a matter of developing high cognitive abilities but also developing all individuals capacities [14].Encouraging students to develop HOTS is a goal to be achieved bythe teachers and science curriculum developers [15].
Researches conducted in Indonesia on the students' higher-order thinking skills show synchronous results. The students' scientific literacy are on thefunctional level;low literacy skill category [16], the results of test of scientific literacy skills (TOSLS) on the materials of certain natural science subjectsaremediumby category, affected by such factors as curriculum and education systems, selection of methods and models of teaching and learning, facilities and infrastructures, learning resources, and teaching materials [17,18]. Researches conducted in somefavorite schools wherethe students gain high average scores also revealthatthe students' competencies on HOTS are still very low [19]. Especially for higher students, they must not only have a lower order thinking, but also have to reach a higher order thinking. Most of students still have low ability, if it is seen from cognitive aspect knowing, applying, and reasoning [20].
Besides the learning outcomes, the studentshigher-orderthinkingskills in the teaching and learning process is still low. The students are only used to do lower order thinking activities [21]. The whole data show that the students' high order thinking skills become a problem which should be addressed seriously in education. This study reveals how the teachers understand about HOTS concepts and planning in teaching and learning, and HOTS-based teaching and learning evaluation conducted by biology teachers in Madrasah Aliyah.

Methods
This was a descriptive study conducted on twenty-four biology teachers from eight Madrasah Aliyah which were selected randomly in West Lombok Regence. The study focused on three aspects, namely (1) knowledge and response of the teachers to HOTS, (2) HOTS planning in teaching and learning, and (3) HOTS implementation in the evaluation of biology teaching and learning. Data were collected through interview and documentation techniques and they were analyzed descriptively. The use of descriptive statistics in this study in the forms of average, percentage, and graphs helped to draw conclusions.

Teachers'knowledge about HOTS
Preliminary exploration of the teachers' knowledge of high order thinking skills was the first thing to do in this study. The next wasto come into the main concern of this study, namely how was HOTS in teaching and learning biology at Madrasah Aliyah.The knowledge of biology teachers about HOTS related to some aspects; intention, link between HOTS and the demand of the 21 th century, HOTS aspects, and HOTS implementation in teaching and learning. Based on the results of structured interviews with 24 teachers,the data obtained were as in the following table. The table showed that most of the biology teachers at Madrasah Aliyah in West Lombok Regency did not have knowledge of the HOTS concepts and its implementation in teaching and learning. There were the teachers who just heard the term HOTS when questions about HOTS were asked to them. Even so, the teachers understood the dimensions of the thinking process C1 to C6. Theoretically, they also understood that teaching and learning should be planned and implemented through active learning approaches. Theteachers'lack of knowledge regarding the HOTS conceptscaused the planning, implementation,and assessment of teaching and learning unsuccessful to develop the students' higherorder thinking skills. The quality of teaching and learning depend on what the teachers understood and performed [22]. Teachers play a critical role in foregrounding and integrating HOTS [23], what the teacher performs in the class ultimately form the type of teaching and learning the students gained [22].
Under the condition of lack of knowledge about the HOTS concepts, all the teachers considered HOTS very important to be the orientation of teaching and learning biology at Madrasah Aliyah. They have a positive view of the implementation of HOTS in teaching and learning because it is beneficial to their real life [24]. The absence of specific education and training regarding HOTS causedthe teachers not to understand and apply the conceptsin teaching and learning, although in the teaching and learning plan documents and the test items they compiled contain teaching and learning objectives andactivities, and the test items containing HOTS were not well planned.

HOTS Planning in Learning
Although this study revealed that 21% of the sample had knowledge about HOTS, the study about documents related to biology teaching and learning planfor all samples remain to be done. HOTSoriented teaching and learning planwas obtained from the teaching and learning implementation plan (RPP) document developed by the teachers. HOTS planning aspects in teaching and learning includeda decision aboutteaching-learning objectives and activities. The teaching and learning objectives developed by the teachers were classified based on the cognitive levels of Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy. Theresults of the study were presented in the following figure. The figure above indicated that high order thinking skills-oriented teaching and learning objectives (C4, C5, C6) were only 6.25%. Thus, it can be said that the orientation of biology teaching and learning at Madrasah Aliyah in West LombokRegency still focus on lower order thinking skills.
In the aspect of teaching and learning activities plan, some of the students activities designed by the teacherswere observing pictures/objects, reading/ studying, analyzing problems, asking questions based on observations, recording important things, planning problem-solving, listening to the teachers' explanation, demonstrating/modelling, answeringquestions, conducting investigations/experiments, solving problems, analyzing, concluding, designing, creating, conveying ideas, presenting, reflecting. Each activity was carried out with different intensities inevery meeting. Based on the results of analysis of the teaching and learning implementation planning document developed by the teachers, it was obtained the data about the students' activities plan as in the following table. Observing objects 87.50 2.
Asking questions based on observation 25 4.
Listening to the teachers' explanation 100 6.
Planning to solveproblems 0.00 10. The table showed that the students' activities which were planned related to HOTS (numbers 8-15) are very small, on the average of 17.19%.These activitiesare still categorized intolower-order thinking skills (LOTS). The activities of solving complex problems in everyday life up to creating something were not planned in teaching and learning. The activities were carried out maximally in two meetingsin each semester. The activities the students always carried out in each meeting were reading/studying textbooks, recording teachers explanations, answering questions, and summarizing lesson materials during the post activities.
Viewing from the aspects of teaching and learning plan, the teachers really plannedthe teaching and learning with different strategies such as directive Instruction, group discussion, cooperative learning, discovery learning, inquiry, question and answer, assignment, and problem-based learning. However, when the teaching and learning activities were examined, the components of the teaching and learning steps did not emphasize the activities which requiredthe students to solve complex problems and to design something to solve the problems. These teaching and learning plan may have facilitated the students' ability to improve test scores, butthey do not make a real contribution to the development of their scientific reasoning and deep understanding [25]. The intended problemsposed by the teacherswhichwould be solved by the students was a number of questions given by the teacherswhich demanded the students to look for answers in groups or independently and then the answers were presented in front of the class. Appropriate teaching strategies and learning environments which facilitate growth in thinking level often leads to reasoning, evaluating, problem-solving, decision making and analyzing situations. Teaching skills order thinking skills are when the students; visualize a problem by diagramming it, separate relevant information from problems, looking for reasons and causes, justifying solutions, revealing assumptions in reasoning, and identifying bias or logical inconsistencies [26,27].

HOTS-Based Tests
Analysis of the test questions formid-term (UTS) and final examination (UAS) atthe schools where the preliminary study was conducted showed that the skills demanded were still low order thinking. The figure showed that the test questions developed by the teacher at Madrasah Aliyah in West Lombok Regence had a small portion of the students' high order thinking skills. On the average, 5.83% of the test items given were HOTS-oriented. Most of the items tested on the students were only lower order thinking skills-oriented. The fact implied that higher-order thinking skills as the orientation of skills in the 21 th century have not yet become a serious concern in teaching and learning biology at Madrasah Aliyah in West Lombok Regency. Unknowingly, biology teaching and learning which areplanned and carried out only emphasizes on lower order thinking skills. This lack of knowledge of HOTs may eventually lead to teachers'inability to assess the students' HOTS [28], thoughthe assessment for learning proved thatit helpsto develop the student's thinking skills [29].

Conclusion
In general, biology teachers at Madrasah Aliyah in West Lombok Regency do not understand the planning and evaluation of HOTS-based teaching and learning, 6.25% of the teaching and learning objectives is HOTS-oriented, 17.19% of the teaching and learning activities is HOTS-oriented, 5.83% of the test questions is HOTS-orientedand all of the teachers consider HOTS very important to be the orientation of biology teaching and learning at Madrasah Aliyah.