https://doi.org/10.1177/0022057419843523 Journal of Education 2019, Vol. 199(1) 45–56 © 2019 Trustees of Boston University Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0022057419843523 journals.sagepub.com/home/jex Original Research Report Introduction This article presents the major findings of a longitudinal study that was conducted in 2014 to 2015, based on the con- clusions of a previous pilot research (2013-2014), on the examination, assessment, and enhancement of photograph- based assignments aimed at improving the use of higher- order thinking and language skills among second- and fifth-grade students. Higher-Order Thinking, Higher-Order Thinking Skills, and Strategies Higher-order thinking occurs when new information or information that resides in the working memory (WM) is being used to enhance, reorganize, and connect with previ- ously existing knowledge through metacognition, transfer- ence, and finding answers and solutions to problems and complicated situations (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Brookhart, 2010). Higher-order thinking skills include syn- thesizing, analyzing, reasoning, comprehending, applica- tion, and evaluation (Bloom, 1956). The strategies for higher-order thinking are “focused cognitive activities” (Yoad et al., 2009, p. 9), which include among others—making comparisons, analysis and synthe- sis, making assumptions, raising questions, reasoning, ana- lyzing perspectives/exploring viewpoints, and abstraction (Barahal, 2008; Zohar & Dori, 2009). The origin of the term can be seen in the early ideas of Dewey (1933) regarding the importance of reflection and thinking (1933), in Bloom’s (1956) later theories and the actualized version of Anderson & Krathwohl (2001)—the taxonomy that provides a defini- tion from lower-order thinking (knowledge and memory) to higher-order (synthesis evaluation and creation), in refer- ence to the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget (Piaget, 1974; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). Using higher-order thinking strategies can help students develop language skills by encouraging them to monitor their own answers (Block & Israel, 2004), which enhances and encourages them to take ownership of new knowledge. Language and higher-order thinking skills are intertwined. Advance writing skills, for example, include components of higher-order thinking such as critical thinking, evalua- tion, and research (Lyon & Weiser, 2013). Higher-order thinking skills help extend students’ vocabulary and sen- tence-level skills including knowledge of grammatical structure, understanding of descriptions, and the ability to describe (Alves & Haas, 2012). The latter include skills of understanding propositions and comprehension monitor- ing, which also uses WM enabling extracting information, generalization, abstraction, and interpretation based on the 843523JEX XX X 10.1177/0022057419843523Journal of EducationGil-Glazer et al. research-article 2019 1 Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel 2 University of Haifa, Israel Corresponding Author: Ya’ara Gil-Glazer, Department of Education, Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee 1220800, Israel. Email: ygilglaz@gmail.com PhotoLingo—Development and Improvement of Higher-Order Thinking and Language Skills Through Photographs Ya’ara Gil-Glazer 1 , Ofra Walter 1 , and Billie Eilam 2 Abstract This article presents the major findings of a longitudinal study on the use of photograph-based assignments to improve higher-order thinking and language skills among second- and fifth-grade students using an intervention framework and a convergent mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) approach. The method promoted oriented study skills for students with an accent in the combination of higher-order thinking strategies, reading skills, and photo-elicitation. Participants in the second grade attained a level close to participants in the fifth grade. Students with different levels of language skills in the intervention group progressed significantly compared with the control group. Keywords higher-order thinking, language skills, photo-elicitation, visual literacy, photographs