There are six types of questions to ask your students. Make sure you are familiar with the nature of each and then apply the type of question most suitable for your purposes.

Knowledge (memorization)

Nature: Students recall, remember, or recognize information
Key Words: Name, list, recall, define, tell, match, who, what, when, where

Comprehension (understanding)

Nature: Students, at a fundamental level, translate information into different forms, relate discrete facts, or generalize
Key Words: Extrapolate, interpret, translate, describe, diagram, illustrate, state, explain, summarize, give an example, how many

Application (problem-solving)

Nature: Students apply learned material to a new and concrete situation
Key Words: Solve, predict, apply, use, extend, expand, if.....then, what if.....

Analysis (dissection)

Nature: Students identify the component parts of a whole (e.g., problem or phenomena) and the relationships among the parts
Key Words: Diagram, distinguish, analyze, identify, compare, contrast, why

Synthesis (creation)

Nature: Students combine two or more elements into a new (for them) combination or set of relationships
Key Words: Plan, create, devise, prove, relate, reorganize, combine, pull-together

Evaluation (judgment)

Nature: Students critically assess the quality or judge the value of a piece of work based on internal evidence (e.g., logical consistency) or external criteria (e.g., efficiency)
Key Words: Criticize, evaluate, grade, interpret, judge, justify, rank, rate