This study examined the lesson plans of 67 teacher interns in Kentucky to determine the extent to which their lesson objectives were designed to develop higher order thinking skills in their students. Copies of the first lesson plans submitted by first year teachers in one large Kentucky school system for a 3-year period, 1995-1998, constituted the data for this study. Two researchers individually and independently categorized the data into cognitive levels using Bloom's taxonomy. Data analysis found that 41.3% of the new teachers' lesson objectives were at the knowledge level, the lowest cognitive category. Only 3.2% of the teachers' lesson objectives were found to be at the highest level of Blooms taxonomy, evaluation. Nineteen percent of the objectives were at the comprehension level, the second lowest level of the taxonomy, and application, the third lowest level, accounted for 16.7%. The nest level of the taxonomy, analysis, represented 10.3%. The remaining 9.5% of the objectives were at the synthesis level, which is the second highest level of the taxonomy. Data from the study indicate that the first year teachers in this school district were aiming their teaching primarily at the lowest cognitive levels. The importance of developing through teacher education the skills needed to teach higher order thinking skills is discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 18 references.) (Author/SLD)