On the use of the essay to elicit higher-order thinking: Susan vs Robert

Perhaps one way of looking at the two views of the essay problem type would be to think of two approaches to learning: Susan creates an original essay answer that is built on her deep understanding, while Robert merely lists or repeats key phrases he copied down in his notes, based on his surface approach to learning.

Both students were given the same essay problem to solve, but one used deep understanding to produce an answer, while the other only used surface understanding.

Resource: http://exchange.ac.uk/learning-and-teaching-theory-guide/deep-and-surface-approaches-learning.html