American educational psychologist widely known for his “Taxonomy”, a classification and ordering of the six levels of intellectual behavior (thinking) important to learning. Bloom’s Taxonomy was revised in the 1990’s to reflect relevance to 21st Century Thinking.

The revised Taxonomy uses verbs rather than nouns to categorize each level, and it identifies ‘create’ as the highest level of thinking.  The following is one visual interpretation of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy: HOT Schools recognizes that learning does not always occur in this ‘ladder’ approach and that not every level of thinking is required for every task a student needs to be able to do.

However, HOT Schools believes that the successful 21st Century learner and citizen will have had regular opportunities designed through creative instructional practice, requiring students to skillfully explore and investigate their world, learn new things and identify and solve problems through all of the elements of higher order thinking described below. 

At Worthington Hooker School in New Haven, first- and third-grade students honed higher order thinking skills while learning about African-American art and culture. Music, art, and physical education teachers collaborated with classroom teachers to engage students in inquiry and investigation in the work of Romare Bearden, Jean Michel Basquiat, Maya Angelou, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, and Julius Lester. Students analyzed, evaluated, and applied what they learned in their research. First graders then showcased their own artwork based on the paintings of Basquiat and Angelou’s writing while third graders built sculptures, which they presented to “Canal Street Blues” on opening night for parents, grandparents, siblings, and district administrators.

American philosopher John Dewey is one of the most influential educational thinkers of the 20th century. Much of Dewey's work influenced the democratic practice component of HOT Schools. In his books School and Society and Democracy and Education, Dewey wrote about habits of democratic practice, beyond governance, that contribute to one's ability to participate responsibly in society.

Dewey cited democracy as “associated living" through community, belonging, common interests, and shared purpose. He taught that schools, as extensions of and aligned with civil society, should be designed to prepare students to operate as members of a democratic community and be successful in the real world. This is evidenced in HOT schools by a school-wide culture of participation and responsibility by all members of the school community. It is an element that sets Connecticut HOT Schools apart from other arts-focused educational initiatives and programs.

While working with a theater artist in a social studies class, fourth- and fifth-grade Student Senate representatives at Colchester Intermediate School (now Jack Jackter Intermediate School) decided it would be effective to address recurrent bullying issues (at recess and on busses) through the theater techniques they were learning. The Student Senate advisor guided students through the process. Students worked with the school psychologist, social worker, and theater artist to research strategies and develop solutions to the bullying issues. Students shared their solutions with the school community at Town Meeting. The student-driven concept for addressing bullying issues in this manner is a legacy that will be left from one student body to another.

Professor of Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut and Director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, Joseph Renzulli contributes to The HOT APPROACH to whole-school change through his “Schoolwide Enrichment” and “Enrichment Triad” models for school improvement. The Enrichment Triad emphasizes that students should emulate professional investigators.

Students become producers of knowledge rather than consumers, actively formulating a problem, designing research, and selecting appropriate audiences for their final product. Renzulli believes that children are able to function and perform at a high level if learning is connected to real life and if students are intellectually challenged. Enrichment experiences should be available to all students, regardless of abilities, learning styles, and backgrounds.

During an 18-day Teacher Artist Collaboration (TAC), fifth-grade students at Enfield Street Elementary School learned science concepts in a unit dramatizing life in ancient Egypt. Using shadow puppetry, students studied reflection and refraction of light. They made and tested hypotheses and recorded their observations. Shadow puppetry helped make these abstract concepts concrete. Students also learned scriptwriting techniques while developing life-size portrait murals depicting themselves as Egyptian characters. Through the creative process, they synthesized ideas; became producers, researchers, and designers; and actively engaged in their learning.

Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education contributes to HOT Schools through his theory of Multiple Intelligences. Through cognitive research in the 1990’s Gardner "documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways."

Gardner identified nine intelligences, suggesting a broader range of potential in students than what is identified by I.Q. testing: Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Musical, Visual/Spatial, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Naturalist and Existential. Gardner's work in Ml theory profoundly impacts The HOT APPROACH to teaching and learning.

The HOT APPROACH to teaching and learning applies Gardner’s theory, “..that we are all able to know and understand the world in different ways to solve problems or to make things, to gain an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves, and that we possess and combine our various levels of strengths in each of these intelligences as learners and problem-solvers.” Schools traditionally teach predominantly to linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, leaving a broad gap between students who possess strengths in these intelligences and those who possess greater strengths in other intelligences. With a strong focus on the arts, HOT Schools professional development and HOT Strategies provide educators with multiple ways to structure and present lessons and units that address each child’s unique way of learning.    

A bodily-kinesthetic fourth grader from Pleasant Valley HOT School, struggling but determined to understand a science concept, independently created a dance to help her understand the interactive functions of red and white blood cells as a body fights infection. Delighted with her success, the student approached her principal for help in selecting the perfect musical score. Presenting her idea to the class helped increase understanding for other kids struggling with the same concept. With encouragement from her teacher and her principal, this fourth-grade child choreographed a dance to illustrate a science concept, which her entire class performed at Town Meeting.