Today, emerging areas of healthcare practice, changing healthcare policy, and the increasing level of patient complexity require occupational therapists who can skillfully identify, assess, and design consumer-specific programming. To meet the demands of 21st century medicine, it is the responsibility of educators and fieldwork supervisors to foster higher order reasoning as an explicit part of curriculum to prepare occupational therapy students for transition from the classroom to clinical practice. Higher order reasoning is the process used by practitioners to analyze, evaluate, perform, and reflect on client care. Strategies for fostering higher order thought include problem-based learning, experiential learning, and the integration of learning taxonomies. Though some challenges may exist, through the integration of higher order thought into curriculum, educators foster the development of students into clinicians who can meet society’s need for maximizing well-being using science-driven, and evidence-based research.
