TYPES OF QUESTIONS BASED ON BLOOM'S TAXONOMY

[Younis Hamed Hamid Al-Rahbi]

 

As teachers we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge" category 80% to 90% of the time. These questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. Try to utilize higher order level of questions. These questions require much more "brain power" and a more extensive and elaborate answer. Below are the six question categories as defined by Bloom.

KNOWLEDGE

remembering

memorizing

recognizing

recalling identification

recalling information

who, what, when, where, how ...?

describe

COMPREHENSION

interpreting

translating from one medium to another

describing in one's own words

organization and selection of facts and ideas

retell...

APPLICATION

problem solving

applying information to produce some result

use of facts, rules and principles

how is ... an example of ...?

how is ... related to ...?

why is ... significant?

ANALYSIS

subdividing something to show how it is put together

finding the underlying structure of a communication

identifying motives

separation of a whole into component parts

what are the parts or features of ...?

classify ... according to ...

outline/diagram ...

how does ... compare/contrast with ...?

what evidence can you list for ...?

SYNTHESIS

creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or may be a physical object

combination of ideas to form a new whole

what would you predict/infer from ...?

what ideas can you add to ...?

how would you create/design a new ...?

what might happen if you combined ...?

what solutions would you suggest for ...?

EVALUATION

making value decisions about issues

resolving controversies or differences of opinion

development of opinions, judgements or decisions

do you agree that ...?

what do you think about ...?

what is the most important ...?

place the following in order of priority ...

how would you decide about ...?

what criteria would you use to assess ...?