Figure 7.

Framework for further research showing how biologists conceptualize questions intended to assess HOCS. The four thematic categories uncovered have been clustered to model how they may be related to each other. Two hypotheses emerge from this model: 1) Biologists intuitively look for ways to measure difficulty when evaluating potential HOCS questions, and time required and student experience are two of the ways they attempt to measure it. 2) Biologists’ assumptions about the role of questions in student learning influence the types of HOCS questions they write and even their comfort with HOCS questioning.