Ready-to-Use Classroom Evaluation Questions for Primary and Secondary

These questions are ready-to-use.

They are evaluation questions, based on the top level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

You can use the questions as part of verbal questioning or as written questions.

The questions are based around the words ‘Assess, Argue, Justify, Judge, and Critique.’

All of which are synonyms for evaluation.

You can use the questions as they are, adapt them for your learners, or use them as inspiration to develop your own questions.

Assess Evaluation Questions (Top Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy)

How might we assess X?
What assessments of X can you make?
What is the likelihood of X doing/exhibiting behaviour Y?
How might X be improved? Why? What benefits would this bring and for who?
How important is X in the context of Y?
What value might we place on X? How might this change in different circumstances?
What internal changes could alter the value of X?
What external changes might alter the value of X?
When might X have the greatest value for person A?
In what contexts would X prove reliable or valid?
How might we assess the validity or reliability of X?
What criteria could you use to assess X? Why? How might different criteria lead to different assessments?
How might you assess X in reference to Y or Z?
How might person A and person B come to different assessments of X?
Could a set of criteria be developed that resulted in uniform assessments of X no matter who was assessing it? Why?
How might we assess whether X can be classed as belonging to category Y?
What would we need to know to confidently assess X?
What is X? How do you know? What thinking led you to that assessment?
How might we assess the impact of X on Y?
What chances are there for X being successful/failing? How might these chances be enhanced or degraded?
Do the strengths of X outweigh the benefits? Why?
If you could recreate X from scratch, what might you do differently? If nothing, why then has X proved successful?
What aspects of X are the most significant? Why?
How and why might person A and person B think differently about X?
Why might X exist?
What might be the purpose of X?
Consider what you know about the world. How might X, or the way X is used, change in the future? Why?
What circumstances might be most conducive to the success of X?
What qualities does X possess that would enable it to flourish/succeed in situation Y?

Argue Evaluation Questions (Top Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy)

What arguments could you make in favour of X?
What arguments could you make against X?
What arguments might have been put forward to bring X about?
What arguments might have been put forward to prevent X coming into existence?
Who or what might argue in favour of X? Why?
Who or what might argue against X? Why?
Consider the arguments for and against X, how do they compare? Are there things which are common to both? Do they share assumptions? Or do they make different assumptions? In either case, what are the implications for the arguments?
On what assumptions does argument X rely?
What motives might the people proposing argument X have?
How could you rebut the arguments made against X?
How might we test argument X?
How might we falsify argument X?
What arguments about X might person A’s motives lead them to make?
What might you need to know and understand about X to successfully argue for or against it?
How could you support your claims about X?
What evidence, examples or reasons could be used in support of X?
What might be the strengths and weaknesses of argument X? Why might this be so? What might it tell us about the argument more generally?
Why might argument X be convincing?
Why might individuals or groups accept that argument X is valid? What does this tell us about those individuals or groups? What might it tell us about the motivations of those people who propose argument X?
In what circumstances might argument X prove successful? Why?
How might you support what you have just said?
Why might the evidence support the argument?
On what reasoning does argument X rely?
What steps might someone go through to build an argument around X?
What emotions or shared meanings is argument X invoking?
If the premises changed, how would this affect your argument?
What new evidence could disprove argument X?
How could you maintain your position in situation Y?

Justify Evaluation Questions (Top Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy)

How might you justify X?
Who might seek to justify X?
How might person A justify their opinion/belief/proposal? Why might they try to justify it? What might motivate them to justify X? What factors might influence their decision to justify X? What might influence the way they justify X?
When might you be able to justify X? What changes will make this no longer appropriate?
When, or why, might someone be unable to justify X?
How might you use evidence or reasoning to support your argument?
What justification is there for accepting that X is true?
How might you justify your position in the face of argument X? How might you justify your argument to person A or group B?
What impact might evidence X have on your defence of position Y?
Considering the strengths and weaknesses of the claims, which do you believe to be most justified in the circumstances?
How might you assess the justifications put forward for position X?
How might you justify a change to/maintenance of the status quo?
When could the use of X be justified?
Where might the use of X be justified?
In what circumstances might you try to justify X?
How might you prove that X is either right or reasonable?
Is there any evidence to justify X? Could you manufacture evidence to justify X? How?
What underpins your justification? What underpins person A’s justification?
Can you critique person A’s justification by analysing the logical/deductive/semantic/theoretical grounds on which it is based?
How has person A tried to justify their reasoning/position/actions?
To what, or to who, does person A appeal when justifying their position?
How might an emotional justification of X be different from a rational justification?
How might you justify X without using language/certain words/gesticulations/empirical evidence/logic?
How might religious and scientific/historical and philosophical/social and cultural justifications differ?
What assumptions might underlie the justification of X?
What might be the ethical/political/social/theoretical consequences of justifying X?
How might person A attempt to justify the actions of person B or group C? Why might they do this?
How might person A try to persuade other people that their justification is valid?
How can we test whether your justification of X is true or not?

Judge Evaluation Questions (Top Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy)

What is your opinion of X? Why? What has led you to that view? What assumptions underpin it? How has your opinion been influenced by X/preconceptions/prior knowledge?
Would X or Y be better/more appropriate/more useful in situation Z?
How can we judge X?
How might person A judge X? How and why might this judgement differ from that of person B?
How might context affect someone’s judgement of X?
Who might need/desire/wish to judge X?
What judgements can we make about X?
Based on the criteria, what is your opinion of X? Why?
What criteria can you use to judge X?
What is your opinion of X? On what criteria is your judgement based?
What might make it possible to judge X? Could X be judged differently according to different assumptions/demands/ideas?
What type of judgement might be of most use in situation X? Why?
Following new information Y, has your opinion of X altered? Why?
On what do your opinions about X rest? Are there motives/principles/intuitions/reasons guiding your judgements? If so, why are these important? On analysis, are they important?
What might be the value of X to person A/in situation B?
What are your thoughts about X?
Why might X be better than Y? And vice versa? In your opinion, which is better? Why? Will this always be the case?
Which of these ideas might be better in situation X/for group Y?
How effective is X? How have you come to that judgement? How else might we judge the effectiveness of X? What consequences does this have for our understanding of X?
What is good/bad/useful/tasteless about X? Why?
Having heard all the evidence, what is your opinion of X? How does your opinion link to the evidence? Does the evidence support/negate it?
In your opinion, how might X be improved/altered/remade? What led you to such a judgement? On making your thinking clearer, does your opinion alter? Why?
X or Y? For what reasons? And these reasons – what underpins them?
Is X justified? Why?
How might you come to form an opinion? What concepts or processes might be influential in your thinking?
Where or when might someone’s judgement of X alter?
How would you prioritise the various criteria when making a judgement about X?

Critique Evaluation Questions (Top Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy)

How might you critique X?
Can you offer us a critique of X?
How might someone critically evaluate X?
What criticisms of X are there?
How might someone go about criticising X?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of X?
Thinking critically, what is your final judgement about X?
How might person A critique X? How might this differ from your own critique? How might you explain this difference?
What relationship might there be between a person’s motivation/purpose/aims and their critique of X?
How might someone use their critique of X? How might you use someone else’s critique of X?
What rules do people follow when critiquing something? Do these differ depending on what is being critiqued?
What problems might arise from X? What problems might X entail? How might X be a problem? What might X make difficult?
What faults or difficulties might someone find with X?
How useful might X be? Why?
What use might X be in situation Y? Why?
What limitations does X have?
What are the causes of X’s limitations?
What might be the positives and negatives/pros and cons of X?
Having analysed the positives and negatives of X, what is your opinion of it?
What criticisms of X might person A put forward?
How might someone use Y to critique X?
On what might a critique of X rely?
What do you need to know or understand for your critique of X to be effective?
On what criteria does your critique of X rely? How might these direct your thinking on the issue?
What could you use to critique X?
What might a critique of X entail?
On what grounds might we be able to go ahead with a critique of X?
Why might X prove difficult to critique? What, if anything, might allow us to successfully critique X?
How or why might something prove to be difficult to critique? How or why might person A struggle to critique X?
Why bother to critique X?