CHAPTER 11
Chapter 11 True/False Questions
Circle T if the statement is true; circle F if the statement is false.
T F 1. Well-worded explanations are the best way to help children understand math and
science concepts.
T F 2. A relationship that exists when one element is equal to another — when one set has the
same number as another set — is called conservation.
T F 3. In the preschool and early primary years, young males generally move into brain
growth acceleration stages later than do females.
T F 4. Despite errors that children make, conceptualization in the early years is fairly
systematic and non-intuitive.
T F 5. There is skepticism about whether children develop cognitive skills at the time and in
the way that Piaget envisioned.
T F 6. According to research, the use of calculators does not interfere with children’s ability to
develop a conceptual understanding of mathematical operations.
T F 7. One-to-one correspondence ability means that we can count objects accurately, using
one and only one number name for each number counted.
T F 8. Growth and increasing competence in other domains will not necessarily influence the
qualitative development of intellectual capabilities.
T F 9. The human brain contains about 10 million neurons at birth that then connect with other
neurons during cognitive development.
T F 10. Children learn more in the first 3 years of life than they do the rest of their lives.
Chapter 11 Multiple Choice Questions
Circle the best answer.
11. Which of the following is NOT true?
a. Oral language is increased when a child has a chatty mother.
b. The peak learning years for human beings appears to be between 4 and 10 years of age.
c. Pruning destroys synapses, resulting in a less efficient brain.
d. Poor nutrition and maternal drug use may result in problematic fetal brain development.
e. Elevated cortisol can result in diminished brain growth.
12. Which approach is most likely to enhance children’s ability to classify objects?
a. Tell the children to find all of the red ones.
b. Provide the materials that could be classified for the children to use on their own during
free play.
c. Explain in detail what attributes are and how they vary and quiz children about their
comprehension of this instruction.
d. Ask children to sort materials and then tell you why things were put together.
e. None of the above.
13. Which of the following cognitive theorists was considered the “father of the cognitive
movement”?
a. Albert Bandura
b. Robert Syler
c. Jean Piaget
d. Lev Vygotsky
14. What is metacognition?
a. The process of brain growth periodization.
b. Societal rules, conventions, and viewpoints transmitted during the early elementary years.
c. Proficient strategies for monitoring your own thought processes.
d. b and c
e. All of the above
15. Pruning is a process in brain growth periodization. Which of the following is true?
a. It is where the brain develops new and powerful synapses.
b. It takes place most aggressively around the age of 10.
c. It is a process whereby brain function can be examined in a non-intrusive manner.
d. It is the process of myelinization of the corpus callosum.
e. It requires that children be in enriched environments.
16. The best definition of science is:
a. A process of finding out and a system for organizing and reporting discoveries.
b. The study of biology, zoology, and psychology.
c. The study of the life spans of living organisms.
d. All of the above
e. a and c
17. Ordering is the operation of which of the following?
a. Identifying common relations between objects.
b. Pairing on exact or identical attributes.
c. Seriating objects by attributes.
d. Categorizing on the basis of a primary attribute.
e. All of the above
18. Which of the following is true about debriefing with children after a science activity?
a. It helps them realize that science is a collection of well-known facts.
b. It encourages children to think creatively, divergently, and convergently in their problem
solving.
c. It teaches children that science is bound by already documented laws, theories, and
principles.
d. It guards against relying on their using intuitive feelings to solve problems.
e. All of the above
19. Which is not one of the 5 essential functions of inquiry?
a. Helps students “know how we know” in science.
b. Develops dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and habits of mind associated with
science.
c. Develops an understanding of the nature of science.
d. Creates new facts about how to model observation.
e. Assists in the development of understanding of science concepts.
20. The teacher asks the children to group the insect pictures in one pile and to group the spider
pictures in another pile. This is an example of what cognitive operation?
a. Classification
b. One-to-one correspondence
c. Matching
d. Conservation
e. None of the above
21. Matching, patterning, and seriating are examples of which type of cognitive skills?
a. Focusing skills
b. Memory skills
c. Analyzing skills
d. Organizing skills
e. Integrating skills
22. Which of the following bridges children’s informal knowledge with formal concepts?
a. Mathematical knowledge and thinking
b. Opportunities presented for real problem solving
c. Watching, listening, and copying
d. Offering particular time slots in the day for mathematics
e. Arriving at right answers through the use of number values and amounts
f. Learning the concept of one-to-one correspondence
23. In response to the teacher’s request to tell her how many red blocks there are in a set of 40
colored blocks, Sam must use which of the following?
a. One-to-one principle
b. Stable-order principle
c. Cardinal principle
d. Abstraction principle
e. Order-irrelevance principle
24. What is the best strategy to use when a teacher is providing for learning of physical
knowledge?
a. Set up the materials and encourage exploration.
b. Give detailed information by telling children about physical knowledge.
c. Model the skill to be learned.
d. Do a task analysis with the children.
e. Have someone demonstrate an experiment and debrief.
25. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) guidelines say that:
a. Rote memorization will allow broad application of numerical operations to a number of
fields.
b. Rote memorization is obsolete.
c. Rote memorization helps children work through problems by applying the rules
d. Rote memorization must have well developed methodologies for improving children’s
memory strategies.
e. Rote memorization is best implemented with geometric models and measuring
instruments.
Chapter 11 Short Answer Questions
Give short, concise responses to each of the statements.
26. Name the four databases that are important in a child’s developing cognition. Give a
specific example from each one of what a child would have to know in order to differentiate
between a spider and an insect.
27. Discuss the pros and cons of children using computers in the early childhood classroom.
Pros:
Cons:
28. Describe the effects of elevated stress hormones on the young child’s brain.
Chapter 11 Essay Questions
Give complete responses to each of the statements
29. Before children ever enter school, there are a number of factors that either enhance or deter
their abilities to be successful learners. What are these? What ideas do you have about
ways in which deterrents can be stemmed?
30. In what ways can mathematics and science be integrated in the classroom? Provide
examples and discuss why integration of these two subjects is important.
31. Describe classroom practices that enhance or deter children’s abilities to become
independent thinkers and lifelong learners. Be specific.
Chapter 11:
Short Answer: Give short, concise responses to each of the statements.
Essay: Give complete responses to each of the statements