A Scoping Review on Implementation of I-Think Maps and Its Effects on Higher Order Thinking Skills in Malaysian Schools

• Published in: Asian Journal of University Education
• Main Author: Binti Hamzah L.M.; Binti Wan Yusoff W.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UiTM Press 2021
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85111401051&doi=10.24191%2fAJUE.V17I2.13386&partnerID=40&md5=dd26e643d4507a7fafc6dada81d4c6dd

Malaysian schools have been implementing i-Think program as a means to develop higher order thinking skills among primary and secondary school students since 2013. Thus, there is a need to assess the implementation of the i-Think program since it was made compulsory almost seven years ago. This paper reports a scoping review of research activities conducted on the implementation of the i-Think program in Malaysian schools to synthesize studies on the implementation of the i-Think program in the classrooms; teachers’ and students’ acceptance of the program; examine its impact on HOTS and students’ achievement; and to identify and disseminate the gaps in the works of literature. Forty articles were reviewed and the results indicated that the data on how i-Think programs were implemented in classrooms were so small that no definite conclusions could be made. Results on both students’ and teachers’ levels of knowledge on i-Think maps were mixed. Majority of studies showed that i-Think maps significantly enhanced students’ achievement. However, no study measured the impact of i-Think on HOTS despite researchers’ claim that i-Think maps had stimulated students’ HOTS. Thus, future studies should focus on showing correlation between i-Think and HOTS by using a validated measurement scale to assess students’ HOTS, development of valid and reliable measurement scale to gather a large pool of data to illustrate more comprehensively the status of i-Think implementation in schools throughout Malaysia, support systems provided to teachers at school and district level, and identifying barriers that hinders teachers from implementing i-Think program. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.