1) If you were to criticize Vygotskys theory of cognitive development in a way that
contemporary theorists sometimes do, which one of the following would you be most
likely to say?
a.It ignores the effects that formal education has on cognitive development.
b.It disregards the important roles that peers play in childrens development.
c.Its a bit vague in its explanations of how development occurs.
d.It places heavy emphasis on drill and practice as factors promoting development.
2) Which one of the following scenarios best reflects the basic idea of individual
constructivism?
a.A student tries to make sense of a poorly written and confusing magazine article.
b.A teacher assigns a laboratory activity using cumbersome equipment that students can
only use successfully by working in pairs.
c.A student practices playing the F major scale on his violin until he can play it
perfectly.
d.Four students in a study group divide the days reading assignment into four sections.
Each student reads a section and then teaches the material to the other group members.
3) Only one of the following students is definitely engaging in critical thinking. Which
one?
a.Louise has a puzzled look as she reads her textbook. I dont understand what the
author is trying to say, she thinks.
b.Sam reads over his responses to the essay questions on an astronomy test. I think Ive
done my best, he tells himself. Im pretty sure I answered the first two questions
correctly, but Im not so sure how well I did on the last question.
c.As Morgan watches her lab partner experiment with a pendulum, she says, You just
changed the length of the string at the same time you added more weight. That wont tell
us anything.
d.Raul jumps at the chance to learn how to use desktop publishing software. Im
particularly interested in learning how to integrate text and graphics, he tell his teacher.
4) Which one of the following examples best illustrates Piagets concept of object
permanence?
a.Two-year-old Jasmine looks for a favorite toy her father has just hidden in a box.
b.Six-year-old Lucas thinks that his recently deceased grandfather is still alive.
c.Ten-year-old Margaret glues the pieces of a vase she has just broken, claiming that
shell make it look good as new.
d.Fifteen-year-old Kenneth finally understands his geometry teachers statement that two
parallel lines might go on forever without ever touching.
5) The primary advantage of using an algorithm (rather than a heuristic) is that it:
a.Always yields a correct solution if executed correctly
b.Is widely applicable to many different content domains
c.Can be easily used by the typical 6-year-old child
d.Never takes more than five minutes to complete
6) Marys parents want her to study advanced mathematics as a way of helping her
remember her lines in theater productions. Considering research on transfer, are Marys
parents correct? Will studying advanced mathematics help Mary learn her lines more
readily?
a.Probably
b.Only if Mary studies mathematics for an extended period of time
c.Only if Mary studies abstract concepts
d.Probably not
7) Mr. Broderick is trying to teach his daughter Erin the concept trout. For Erin to learn
to recognize trout as quickly as possible, which one of the following things should Mr.
Broderick do?
a.Show her different kinds of trout (e.g., rainbow, brook) at different times.
b.Show her one kind of trout (e.g., rainbow) and one kind of non-trout (e.g., sunfish)
both at the same time.
c.Show her different kinds of trout (e.g., rainbow, brook) and different kinds of
non-trout (e.g., sunfish, salmon) all at the same time.
d.Show her different kinds of trout (e.g., rainbow, brook) first, then show her different
kinds of non-trout (e.g., sunfish, salmon) on a later occasion.
8) Which one of the following teacher statements is most consistent with an entity view
of intelligence?
a.Youre one of the brightest students Ive ever taught.
b.If you keep practicing something, youll get better at it.
c.The more you know about a topic, the more quickly and easily you can learn new
things about it.
d.If at first you dont succeed, try, try again.
9) Using behavioral objectives to describe classroom goals sometimes results in a
lengthy list of seemingly trivial behaviors. In such situations, which one of the
following is, according to the textbook, an acceptable alternative?
a.Constructing a small list of abstract objectives, giving examples of behaviors that
reflect each one.
b.Foregoing instructional objectives when a teacher wants to focus on higher-level
skills.
c.Constructing a mixture of behavioral and nonbehavioral objectives.
d.Emphasizing higher-level rather than lower-level skills.
10) Which one of the following best illustrates cognitive modeling?
a.A science teacher thinks aloud, How can I determine what makes this pendulum
swing fast or slowly? Hmm, Ill change the amount of weight on the bottom, but I need
to keep the length the same so Ill know that any change in speed isnt due to length.
b.A dance teacher carefully describes every movement that students should make when
doing a country line dance to the Boot Scootin Boogie.
c.A Spanish teacher has students practice rolling their Rs by asking them to repeat this
tongue twister over and over: Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril. Rpido corren
los carros del ferrocarril.
d.After showing his students how to use a jigsaw correctly and safely, an industrial arts
teacher has them practice using the saw by constructing pig-shaped cutting boards they
can bring home as gifts for Mothers Day.
11) Which one of the following most accurately describes a production?
a.Organizing a set of interrelated propositions
b.Remembering information differently than it was stored
c.Knowing how to respond to different environmental conditions
d.Knowing the component parts of an object or event
12) Three of the following are possible reasons that many students dont use effective
learning and study strategies. Which one is not a reason that theorists have offered?
a.Some learning tasks (e.g., those that involve learning isolated facts) do not lend
themselves easily to such effective strategies as meaningful learning or elaboration.
b.When students believe that knowledge is an uncertain rather than fixed and certain
entity, they become easily discouraged about their ability to learn successfully.
c.Some students are more interested in completing classroom tasks as quickly as
possible than they are interested in mastering the subject matter.
d.Students have beliefs about the nature of knowledge and/or learning that lead them to
misunderstand what they need to do in order to learn successfully.
13) A revision of Blooms taxonomy published in 2001 (described in the textbook) can
help teachers consider not only the various types of cognitive processes that should be
encouraged but also the:
a.Environmental contexts in which each process is most suitable
b.Types of knowledge to which those processes might be applied
c.Specific instructional methods most effective in fostering each process
d.Forms that those processes might take in literacy, mathematics, science, and social
studies
14) Each of the women below is engaging in two activities simultaneously. Considering
contemporary views of attention, identify the woman who should have the greatest
difficulty doing both things at once.
a.Amelia is thinking about what to cook for dinner while she combs her hair.
b.Brenda is watching the evening news on television while she studies for an exam.
c.As Camille walks down the street, she calls a friend on her cell phone to express
anger about his inconsiderate behavior earlier in the day.
d.As she jogs around the track at the health club, Donna is trying to decide where to go
on her vacation next month.
15) Three of the following are potential disadvantages of a cooperative learning
activity. Which one has not been identified as a disadvantage?
a.Students generally have lower self-efficacy when they study with peers rather than
alone.
b.Students may learn incorrect information from other group members.
c.Students do not always have the necessary skills to teach one another effectively.
d.Students may be more interested in completing the task quickly than in helping one
another learn.
16) Ramon forms his concept of house after seeing numerous houses in his small,
middle-class town in Illinois. He is then shown pictures of an igloo in northern Canada,
a mansion in Illinois, a single-story house in Mississippi, and a high-rise apartment
building in New York City. Based on a prototype theory of concepts, which one is he
most likely to identify as being a house?
a.The igloo
b.The mansion
c.The single-story house
d.The high-rise apartment building
17) Which one of the following best describes how neurons transmit messages to one
another?
a.By stimulating the growth of surrounding glial cells
b.By attaching themselves to the same terminal buttons
c.By fusing the axon of one with a dendrite of the other
d.By sending chemical substances across a tiny gap between them
18) Three of the following are true statements about intrinsic and/or extrinsic
motivation in instructional settings. Which one is false?
a.Reminding students of how important good grades are will promote extrinsic
motivation more than intrinsic motivation.
b.Compared to students who are extrinsically motivated, students who are intrinsically
motivated are more likely to learn classroom material in meaningful and effective ways.
c.Extrinsically motivated students may sometimes exert only the minimal effort needed
to complete classroom assignments.
d.Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are mutually exclusive: Students who have one are
highly unlikely to have the other.