A high school biology begins a unit on photosynthesis by using a picture to illustrate the complex process. A middle school social studies teacher asks students to read a chapter in the text about how a bill becomes law. A student attempts to work her way out of a minor conflict with her two best friends.

Each day teachers ask students to engage sophisticated brain functions that comprise higher order cognition. This is thinking beyond the basic processing and production of information (e.g., yes, no questions; listing information). Dr. Levine (1999) stated: “Higher order cognition is the pathway to complex thinking. It enables students to grapple with intellectually sophisticated challenges, integrate multiple ideas and facts, undertake difficult problems, and find effective and creative solutions to dilemmas whose answers are not immediately obvious.”

This description makes it apparent that higher order cognition is not a single entity but a multi-faceted and complex area of thinking. Higher order cognition is composed of seven interrelated processes: Concept formation, problem solving, rule use, reasoning / logical thinking, critical thinking, creativity / brainstorming, and mental representation. This article will focus on concept formation and problem solving. Excellent sources on the other areas of higher order include Dr. Levine’s books Developmental Variations and Learning Disorders (1999) and A Mind a Time (2002).

Concept Formation
A single concept (e.g., dog, table, democracy, due process, energy) is a grouping of facts, attributes, or steps in a process (Levine, 1999; Smith, 1988; Sternberg & Ben-Zeev, 2001). For example, the following critical attributes group together to define the concept bird: (1) Has feathers, (2) flies, (3) small, (4) eats insects, (5) perches in trees. Every concept possesses critical attributes.

Concept formation is the process of integrating a series of features that group together to form a class of ideas or objects. Developmentally, a younger child might define a bird as any object that flies in the air. The first time this child sees an airplane in flight may point to the sky and say, “Bird!” The observant parent or caregiver might correct the child by saying, “No that’s an airplane. Birds fly but they have feathers. Airplanes fly but they don’t have feathers.”

Possibly the most important role of concepts is cognitive economy (Rosch, 1978). Imagine if there were no concepts we would have to learn and recall the word that represents each individual entity in our world. For example, each type of table, automobile, or tree would need its own name in order for us to learn and communicate about it in any meaningful way. The size of our mental vocabulary would be so large that communication would be nearly, if not outright, impossible (Smith, 1988).

Types of Concepts
Concepts come in at least five forms: Concrete concepts, abstract concepts, verbal concepts, and non-verbal concepts. Concrete concepts can be seen, touched, or heard. In other words they have some direct sensory input. Examples of concrete concepts include furniture, transportation, and dog. In contrast, abstract concepts are thought to have no direct sensory input unless by metaphor or analogy. The concepts of metaphor and analogy can be thought of abstract concepts.

Verbal concepts are often thought of as classes of ideas or objects that are best understood and used using language. Examples include friendship and irony. These examples may also be classified as abstract concepts. Therefore, types of concepts may overlap.

Nonverbal concepts are often thought to be best understood making mental pictures to represent their critical attributes. The process of painting mental pictures to aid learning and production is often referred to as visualization. Examples of nonverbal concepts include perimeter, area, volume, and mass.

A final type of concept is a process concept. Process concepts represent mechanisms such as photosynthesis or an atomic reaction.

An initial step to promote concept formation is to preview the different concepts students will encounter during the school year or school day or a lesson. Present them with the definition of the different types of concepts listed above telling them which type they will see most and least often in class. Then provide them with examples of important concepts of each type taken directly from their textbooks, class syllabi, and/or outlines. Another important step requires helping students to develop a firm sense of the critical attributes that define individual concept making clear that each concept (i.e., separate) may share some critical attributes with other concepts. Writing the critical attributes on one side of a flash card and the concept on the other side may help them to collaborate with others or go off by themselves to learn the attributes. The concept flashcards may also help students automatize the retrieval of the concept from memory.

Concept maps may also prove to be an invaluable aid in concept formation. Concept maps (sometimes referred to as concept webs or semantic maps) are diagrams that illustrate the critical attributes of concepts. For example, the name of a concept could be written in the center of a blank page with a circle around it. The five critical attributes of that concept could each be written in smaller circles around the concept, connected by a line. Students would then have a mental image that concept to carry into any discussion or test. Other strategies for enhancing concept formation include: Providing students with concrete experiences, using metaphors or analogies, or multiple pathways to learn concepts such as videos, audiotapes, hands-on experiences.

Problem Solving
Each day students face a wide range of problems to be solved and not all problems are found in the mathematics textbook. Younger children face word decoding and math calculation problems, early adolescents stare down growing time and materials management problems, and adolescents confront complex social situations and important decisions about what to do after high school. Solving problems such as these will require using the products of other areas of higher order cognition such as concepts, creativity, and critical thinking. But, problem solving represents a process that is separate from other components of higher order cognition.

Problem solving is the systematic use of a stepwise approach to answering complex questions or addressing difficult issues (Levine, 1999). Dr. Levine listed the following as the critical steps in problem solving: (1) Recognizing a problem when you see a problem (2) Stating exactly what the problem is (3) Searching memory to see if a similar problem has been dealt with in the past (4) Searching and using prior knowledge and experience to solve the problem (5) Preview the desired outcome (6) Decide if the problem can be solved (7) Break the process of attaining the desired outcome into a series of steps (8) Conduct research (9) Consider alternative strategies for solving the problem (10) Select the best strategy (11) Talk oneself through the task (12) Pace yourself (13) Monitor progress (14) Manage difficulties (15) Stop when the problem is solved and (16) Reflect on the effectiveness of the problem solving process and store it away in long term memory for later use.

Everyone can be helped by being explicitly taught the steps in the problem solving process. Of course, younger students would not be exposed to all 16 steps but they should be made aware of the steps that are relevant to meeting the problem solving demands of their setting. Older students will benefit from a more comprehensive presentation of stepwisdom represented in the aforementioned list. Some students may also need to be provided with specific strategies to solve problems which pose a great deal of problems for them. Adults and other students may need to model how the strategies are used. The models will need to think aloud as they use the strategy so that the students can experience the decision making that goes along with using any strategy. Then students who were taught the strategy will need to practice its use on low risk tasks (i.e., not graded). The anxiety of using a new strategy on graded activities may cause the students to not use the best strategy. Therefore, allow students to practice stepwisdom on activities that will not be graded and possibly with assistance from adults or peers. Finally, students need to develop their own personal cognitive toolbox full of problem solving strategies that work for them. The development of the cognitive toolbox may begin by asking students to reflect on the effectiveness of the strategies and how they might improve them or adapt them to other problem solving tasks.

Summary
Higher order cognition represents a multi-faceted and complex network of processes that enhance the processing and production of information. Two important components of higher order cognition are concept formation and problem solving. Although presented separate from each other these areas are interrelated and interdependent. Fortunately, the formation of concepts and problem solving may be enhanced by a thoughtful mix of demystification of these functions, direct instruction in strategies that promote concept formation and problem solving, modeling, and use of accommodations such as concept maps.

References
Levine, M. D. (1999). Higher order cognition. Developmental Variations and Learning Disorders (pp 217 – 260). Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service.

Levine, M. D. (2002). Some peeks at a mind’s peaks: Our higher thinking system. A Mind at a Time (pp 188 – 219). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Rosche, E. (1978). Principles of categorization in cognition and categorization. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Smith, E. E. (1988). Concepts and thought. In R. J. Sternberg & E. E. Smith (Eds.), The psychology of human thought (pp 19-49). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Sternberg, R. J., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2001). Concept: Structure and acquisition. Complex Cognition: The Psychology of Human Thought (pp 31 – 57). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.