Higher-order thinking skills in an introductory mechanics course at a teacher education college in Japan.

Based on the revised Japanese national curriculum standards, called the "Course of Study", which was implemented in 2022, each high school was required to evaluate the abilities to think, judge, and express and an attitude to engage in learning autonomously in addition to the acquisition of fundamental knowledge/skills. However, many high school teachers are at a loss, not knowing how to evaluate the new evaluation perspectives. In this situation, students in teacher training programs themselves need opportunities to learn experientially how to develop and evaluate higher-order thinking skills including the abilities to think, judge, and express in each subject area. This study presents an approach to developing higher-order thinking skills in physics implemented in an introductory mechanics course for first-year students who wish to become high school teachers.