Graded assessment questions
and Bloom’s Taxonomy
Qatar February 2009

First a film
From youtube
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Neil Marshall

During the activity you were asked several questions
about the African Cup Final match between Egypt
and Cameroon.
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The questions were divided into the following of three
different types:
1. Some asked you to recall facts about this match
2. Some asked you to demonstrate understanding of this match
3. Some asked you to apply your knowledge about this match
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Activity 2
Identify which questions are:
Knowledge
1.
Understanding
2.
Application
3.
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Neil Marshall & Chris Coull

Bloom’s Taxonomy
These three types of question are closely related to the first
three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, which outlines six
categories of thinking skills.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
Neil Marshall & John Clark

Traditional education tends to emphasize the skills in
memory and recall.
There are six levels in the taxonomy.
For the moment we are looking at the first three.
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First Level: Knowledge
Exhibit memory of previously-learned materials by recalling
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facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.
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Questions like: What is...?
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Second Level: Understanding
Demonstrative understanding of facts and ideas.
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organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving
descriptions, and stating main ideas
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Questions like: How would you compare and contrast...?
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Third Level: Application
Using new knowledge. Solve problems by applying
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acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules to new
situations in a different way
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Questions like: Can you organize to show ?
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Curriculum Standards
The curriculum standards expect students to work at
the third level (application) or even at the higher
three levels.
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Notice that the first three are sequential. Students must remember facts
before they can understand, and they must understand before they can
apply their knowledge.
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Assessments in School
The targets are:
 At least 40% of marks are for understanding
 At least 20% of marks are for application
In the long run these percentages should increase as students become
used to the style of questions.
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