Creating Meaningful Exam Questions
with the help of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Tuesday, March 4, 2014 · 12 - 1:30 PM
Generating exam questions that really test what we hope students have learned can be
challenging. And how can we create questions that not only assess student
learning but also promote that learning? One very helpful tool is Bloom’s
taxonomy. This hierarchical list of cognitive demands describes learning tasks as
ranging from knowledge acquisition through comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. This gives us a framework to work from as
we design exam questions. In this session we will analyze some of our exam
questions and, as needed, suggest ways to reframe them to pose the kind of
cognitive challenge we want students to address. And we will generate some principles
to use as we design new questions. Participants are asked to bring some sample
exam questions to work on. Lunch will be provided.