The knowledge questions are those that explore memory and / or ability to remember the individual. They answer specific questions about historical events, geography, dates or characters of interest.
An example of a knowledge question is what is the capital of Mexico? These types of questions explore the cognitive part of the brain. More specifically, they urge you to remember specific data or precepts in their original form, without altering the information.
Knowledge questions allude to historical events, technical terminologies, classifications or categories in a particular area, including research schemes and methods.
This specialty is derived from the Taxonomy of Educational Goals, also known as Bloom's taxonomy, established by the American psychologist Benjamin Bloom, in the mid-20th century.
This process is generated from the base to the highest echelons: the simplest notions are acquired at the lower levels and later, all the knowledge acquired is put into practice at the higher levels.
This classification delimits the levels of complexity within the standard learning process, through three essential dimensions: the psychomotor dimension, the affective dimension and the cognitive dimension.
In turn, the cognitive dimension is divided into six domains: knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
How to answer knowledge questions
To answer the knowledge questions, it is required to put into practice certain cognitive skills such as: observation; good memory; ability to remember dates, places, characters; handling of universal concepts, methodologies and technicalities.
The main obstacle to answering the knowledge questions is the exclusive use of memory, leaving aside the understanding and deductive capacity of the individual.
Therefore, if you do not have a good memory, there is a possibility that some notions will be quickly forgotten, giving rise to the knowledge gap.
Knowledge questions must be stated by using the following verbs: indicate, quote, define, list, explain, determine, expose, identify, mention, describe, point out.
In addition, they usually allude to questions such as: What? When? Who? and where?
Each knowledge question must be answered as it was learned, without incurring in any type of modification of the information.
Knowledge questions examples
Some examples of knowledge questions are:
- List three risk factors for breast cancer.
- What is the currency of the Czech Republic?
- Who was the liberator of Venezuela?
- In which country did the Battle of Waterloo take place?
- With which countries does Mexico border?
- Who was the inventor of television?
- When was the act of Independence of Peru signed?
- Where are the Mauritius Islands?
- Who was José Martí?
- List the planets that make up the Solar System.
- Who is the author of the Theory of Relativity?
- How many years did the Hundred Years War last?
- Mention the phases of the water cycle.
- What is the smallest country in the world?
- Who is the athlete with the most medals in the history of the Olympics?
References
- Chiang, M., and Díaz, C. (2011). Generalities of evaluation and elaboration of multiple-choice questions. University of Concepción. Santiago de Chile, Chile. Recovered from: docencia.udec.cl
- Sadker, M., and Sadker, D. (2012). Techniques for the elaboration of questions. Recovered from: circle.adventist.org
- Bloom's Taxonomy (2016). Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Recovered from: sites.itesm.mx
- Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking Skills (1996). Autonomous Mexico State University. Recovered from: web.uaemex.mx
- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2017). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org