Simplify your teaching now, using Bloom’s Taxonomy Question Stems

This is a classroom question-stem bank organised by the six revised Bloom levels. A stem is a starting phrase, not a guarantee of cognitive demand. The complete task, the knowledge required and the criteria decide the level.

Use it to plan discussion and written questions. It is not a printable PDF unless you export the page yourself. Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.

Bloom’s Taxonomy questions

Plan questions against the lesson objective. Use closed questions to check recall. Use open questions when you want explanation, comparison or judgement. Move up the levels only when learners have something worth thinking with. For the framework itself, see the introduction.

Remember

Retrieve facts, terms or simple sequences. Worked example in science: “List the parts of a plant cell named in yesterday’s diagram.”

• Can you name …?
• What is …?
• When did …?
• List … in order.
• What do you remember about …?
• How would you define …, using the glossary meaning?
• Where in the text does it say …?

Understand

Construct meaning: explain, summarise, give an example. Worked example in history: “Explain in your own words why the 1913 Land Act mattered to black South African farmers.”

• How would you summarise …?
• What is the main idea of …?
• Can you explain … in your own words?
• Give an example of …
• What does … mean in this context?
• How is … different from …, at the level of meaning rather than judgement?

Apply

Use a method in a new but similar situation. Worked example in maths: “Use the percentage method we practised to calculate the discount on this price.”

• How would you use … to …?
• What would you need to do to apply … here?
• Can you show how … works with this new example?
• Using the rule, solve …
• Where else could you apply …?

Analyse

Break material into parts and relate them. Worked example in English: “Which details in the extract support the narrator’s claim, and which details undermine it?”

• How does … relate to …?
• What are the parts of …?
• Which evidence supports …?
• What pattern do you notice in …?
• How would you distinguish … from …?
• What is the function of … in the whole?

Evaluate

Judge against stated criteria. Worked example in geography: “Using the three criteria on the board, which flood-management option is stronger for this town, and why?”

• Which option is stronger, according to …?
• How would you justify …?
• What are the strengths and limits of …?
• Is … valid, given …?
• How well does … meet the criteria?
• What would you recommend, and on what grounds?

Stems such as “What is the best one?” belong here only if criteria are named. They do not belong under Remember.

Create

Put elements together into an original product or plan. Worked example in technology: “Design a poster that teaches one safety rule to Grade 4, using only the facts we checked.”

• How would you design …?
• What would you compose to …?
• Can you propose an alternative that still meets …?
• How would you combine … to produce …?
• What plan would you construct for …?

Using AI with these stems

A chatbot can draft extra stems. You still have to check classification, reading level and subject accuracy. A verb is not proof of the level.

Example: if you ask for Remember questions on plant cells and the model returns “Which option is stronger, and why?”, that is Evaluate, not Remember. Keep this stem bank beside the output and reject the mismatch.

For a method that generates assessment items and then checks them, see Designing Assessments with AI. Related: practical guide and digital tasks.

Sources

1. Anderson, L. W. and Krathwohl, D. R. (eds.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing.
2. Bloom, B. S. (ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain.