Exams Of Middle School And Their Adoption Of Higher-order Thinking Skills
Auteurs : Benbessai Lynda .
Résumé
This study evaluates middle school exit examinations in Algeria (2015-2025) for History, Geography, Islamic Education, and Civic Education using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Analysis of 254 questions across 40 examinations reveals a concerning imbalance: 60% of questions target lower cognitive levels (remembering and understanding), while higher-order thinking skills receive only 12.4%. Analysis and creation questions are almost entirely absent (0.4% and 0% respectively). Islamic Education shows the highest focus on memorization (41%), while Geography demonstrates better balance with 44% understanding-level questions. The findings contradict Algeria's competency-based educational reforms and ministerial directives emphasizing comprehensive learner development. The study calls for urgent reform, including teacher training, development of diverse question banks, and establishing clear standards to ensure balanced distribution across all cognitive levels, thereby fostering critical and creative thinking essential for 21st-century challenges.
Mots clés
Bloom's Revised Taxonomy ; creative thinking ; evaluation ; exams of Middle School ; thinking Skills
