Correct Answer - Option 4 : higher order thinking as it demands the interpretation of given information, its analysis and use in getting the desired information
The nature of Mathematics includes mathematical ideas that progress from concrete to abstract; grow from particular to general and its knowledge is conceptual as well as procedural. Students are exceptionally blessed with the higher-level thinking abilities of creativity and problem-solving. Such activities require the use of already stored information along with the information concurrently received from the environment.
- Problem-solving includes higher-order thinking skills such as visualization, association, abstraction, comprehension, manipulation, reasoning, analysis, synthesis, generalization.
If a teacher asks "Two complementary angles are in the ratio 2 : 3. Find these angles."
- Here, the children are faced with the problem of drawing the angle. In order to find the solution, the children have used their previous knowledge, a few mental calculations, and reasoning while measuring different angles and measurement, created a few relations like complimentary/supplementary, equated a few formulas, and finally succeeded in finding the solution to the problem i.e. drawing the angle.
- As teachers, we should be aware of the fact that students make use of various processes to arrive at solutions to the problems that they encounter, and such a process is considered to be the key processes in mathematical reasoning. Technically, we name these processes as generalizations, conjectures, counterexamples, hypotheses, and proofs. These are the key processes used to build and validate mathematical knowledge.
Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that the above problem from the NCERT textbook of Class VII refers to higher-order thinking as it demands the interpretation of given information, its analysis, and its use in getting the desired information.
