Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Higher Education : An Ontological and Phenomenological Exploration / by Felicity Healey-Benson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Healey-Benson, Felicity.

Series:

Education Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education, Higher.

Teaching.

Critical thinking.

Maturation (Psychology).

Phenomenology.

Higher Education.

Pedagogy.

Critical Thinking.

Personal Development.

Local Subjects:

Higher Education.

Pedagogy.

Critical Thinking.

Personal Development.

Phenomenology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (316 pages)

Edition:

1st ed. 2026.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer Nature Switzerland : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2026.

Summary:

“This book provides an accessible, bold foray into the important topic of Higher-Order Thinking Skills. A must-read for the educator wanting to engage at a more fundamental level with the meaning of learning in higher education.” – Andreas Walmsley, Plymouth Marjon University, UK This book offers an immersive exploration of how Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are nurtured in higher education, drawing on phenomenological research and innovative methodology. It challenges the idea that HOTS can be instilled through strategies alone, instead revealing the lived experiences of educators navigating complexity, emotion and deep pedagogical care. The author introduces two original methodological tools - the Persona Vignette (PV) and Immersive Practitioner Inquiry (IPI) frameworks - which bridge phenomenological research and reflective practice. These contribute to what she terms praktognostic knowledge: a synthesis of pedagogical experience and theoretical insight, emerging through sustained, reflexive engagement. Through richly illustrated educator vignettes and phenomenological themes, the book explores HOTS facilitation as an embodied, relational practice within complex institutional settings. The book also connects HOTS with future-facing capabilities such as risk-taking, adaptability, resilience and metacognitive reflection - skills associated with entrepreneurial learning - and offers a conceptual contribution by linking pedagogical challenges with deeper philosophical roots, including embedded cognition and relational knowing. This book will be of value to those working in educator development, learning innovation and reflective pedagogy, as well as researchers exploring phenomenology, academic identity and critical thinking. Felicity Healey-Benson is a systems-thinking educational consultant (founder of Emergent Thinkers™), phenomenological researcher, and doctoral supervisor. With 25+ years across education, enterprise, and civic innovation, she lectures on innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Gloucestershire, and supervises doctoral research across education, arts, humanities, and business at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK. Formerly Lead Researcher in Entrepreneurial Learning, she co-founded the Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society and hanfod.NL, advancing phenomenological inquiry in education and technology.

Contents:

Chapter 1. Unveiling the Ineffable: Introduction

Part I: Mapping the Terrain: Foundations for HOTS Facilitation

Chapter 2. Thinking Otherwise – HOTS in Context

Chapter 3. Teaching as Attunement: Relational Grounds of HOTS Facilitation

Chapter 4. Research as Encounter: Phenomenologising HOTS Facilitation

Part II: Navigating Educators’ Lifeworlds: Lived Experiences of HOTS Facilitation

Chapter 5. Reflection as Praxis: A Hermeneutics of HOTS Facilitation

Chapter 6. Portraits of Praxis: Persona Vignettes of HOTS Facilitation

Chapter 7. Unearthing the Pillars: Thematic Pathways into HOTS Facilitation

Part III: Emerging Horizons – Rethinking HOTS for Contemporary Contexts

Chapter 8. Thinking Otherwise in a Digital Landscape – HOTS and Technological Mediation

Chapter 9. The Cards of Insight: Tools for Embodied Professional Growth in HOTS Facilitation

Chapter 10. Dwelling in Possibility: Culminating Pathways in a Phenomenology of HOTS.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

3-032-06121-0

9783032061218

OCLC:

1570557912