Which of the following is true regarding norm-referenced achievement tests?
a) They provide little information on which to rank students according to their
knowledge of a given subject.
b) They evaluate students on all the content areas they have covered.
d) They cannot be highly curriculum-specific because educational programs vary
between states.
d) They are typically given only in high school, not elementary.
Which of the following statements best reflects the conventional level of moral
reasoning?
a) I do not want to break any traffic laws.
b) I can get away with it, so why not?
c) Sometimes it is right to break the law if it benefits others.
d) What’s in it for me?
Which of the following best describes Piaget’s idea of disequilibrium?
a) You find that what you expect to happen actually does happen
b) You need to respond but cannot think of what to do
c) You know what to do but your response doesn”t not work
d) You feel uncomfortable about doing something but do it anyway
Which of the following statements is true about using a table of specifications?
a) A table of specifications is useful for increasing reliability when scoring essay
questions.
b) Teachers use a table of specifications to distribute test items across different
instructional objectives.
c) A table of specifications helps teachers keep track of student progress.
d) It is unnecessary to construct a table of specifications if the teacher knows the subject
matter well.
One of the educational implications of the sensory register is that:
a) without attention, information received by the senses is quickly lost, and will not be
remembered.
b) learning difficulties occur when we are conscious of all the information stored in our
sensory registers.
c) learning is a slow process because the sensory register holds only a few items.
d) reinforcement is necessary if learners are to retain information.
Which of the following is a motivational factor that enhances students’ creative problem
solving by affecting their feelings?
a) Means-ends analysis
b) Instrumental Enrichment
c) Appropriate climate
d) Incubation
One way to enhance students’ intrinsic interest is to:
a) give them some choice over what they will study.
b) allow the teacher to make all the decisions.
c) provide material rewards over a long period of time.
d) avoid surprises.
A coach is using a shaping technique to help a student work on a
figure skating routine. According to behaviorists, which of the
following strategy can be most effectively applied to assist the
skater?
a) Requiring extra practice time for missed jumps.
b) Immediate reinforcement of approximations of the desired skill.
c) Running the entire routine from beginning to end.
d) Withholding feedback.
Research shows that individuals with intellectual disabilities who are placed in regular
classrooms:
a) learn about the same as they would if placed in special classrooms.
b) perform at the same level as the typical student.
c) learn less than they would if placed in special classrooms.
d) learn more than they would if placed in special classrooms.
A belief about your strengths, weaknesses, abilities, attitudes, and values is known as:
a) self-esteem.
b) self-concept.
c) self-efficacy.
d) ego.
The evaluation of an “explicit transfer” technique in third-grade math classes found
that:
a) only students above the third-grade level can learn the technique.
b) students can be taught explicitly to transfer skills to new circumstances.
c) students can be taught the transfer technique if their IQs are above average.
d) students at this level cannot be taught to transfer learned skills to new circumstances.
This phase of memory capacity can hold up to seven items.
a) Sensory
b) Short-term
c) Long-term
d) Frontal
In conducting learning probes, a drawback of factual questions is that they:
a) require longer wait times than do conceptual questions.
b) are not effective for developing conceptual skills.
c) are unsuitable for use with choral response.
d) have little effect on students’ factual skills.
A student is used to getting the attention of the teacher by making
annoying sounds. One day the teacher decides to ignore the sounds
by showing no reaction. Based on behavioral theory, what would be
the expected outcome, assuming the teacher’s attention was the
reinforcer?
a) The behavior will be immediately extinguished.
b) The behavior will immediately increase in frequency, but then
decrease over time.
c) The behavior will immediately decrease in frequency, but then
increase over time.
d) There will be very little change, since the teacher did not apply an
aversive stimulus.
A teacher has developed a class rule that covers: listening when the teacher or other
students are talking, working on seatwork, continuing to work during any interruptions,
staying in one’s seat and following directions. Which of the following would be the best
wording for this rule?
a) “Stay on task.”
b) “Don’t get off task.”
c) “Never get out of your seat.”
d) “Always listen.”
You are teaching a tenth-grade class of average ability students. Your lesson involves
abstract ideas. Which of the following would be the most accurate supposition you
could make about your class as you plan activities?
a) Most of your students have not progressed beyond the concrete operational stage.
b) Although many students may have reached the formal operational stage of
development, you can”t be sure those who have will be able to apply it to your lesson.
c) All of the students should have mastered hypothetical reasoning at this stage and
should be able to handle the abstract concepts of the lesson.
d) All of your students are ready to apply formal thought to the different aspects of your
lesson.
Constructivist theories of learning are based on the idea that learners:
a) individually discover and transform complex information.
b) participate in bottom-up instruction.
c) are compliant recipients of knowledge.
d) should be placed in constructive ability groups.
Continuous theories of development assume that development occurs:
a) In a start and stop progression as individuals interact with the environment
b) Through indirect learning and skill acquisition
c) As parents’ genetic predisposition is passed on to offspring
d) In a smooth progression as skills develop and the environment provides experiences
A teacher’s goal is for students to solve real-life problems. What does the text author
say about the use of multiple-choice items to measure this goal?
a) Multiple-choice items are appropriate because they involve selected response, not
constructed response.
b) Multiple-choice questions are appropriate as long as they are well written.
c) Multiple-choice questions are inappropriate because they do not provide specific
feedback.
d) Multiple-choice questions are inappropriate because they are not similar enough to
real-life problems.
To help a student with a mild speech disorder, a teacher should:
a) avoid finishing the student’s sentences when he or she is having difficulty
pronouncing words.
b) accentuate the way a word that is often mispronounced by the student should sound.
c) call on the student less frequently than others, to avoid embarrassment.
d) ask the student to write instead of speak.
Which of the following statements best characterizes scaffolding?
a) The teacher’s role is consistent throughout a set of lessons.
b) As a set of lessons progresses, students are given more and more structure.
c) The teacher gradually assigns the students more responsibility for their learning.
d) The teacher initially gives the students major responsibility for their learning, and
then reduces it over time.
The abilities that make up formal operational thought include:
a) Metacognition, hypothetical weighing of negatives, and conceptual workings.
b) Thinking abstractly, testing hypotheses, and forming concepts.
c) Brainstorming, collaborating, and building.
d) General articulation, critical thinking, and creative conceptualization.
Research indicates that the greatest time variable affecting student learning is the:
a) allocated time.
b) amount of time students actually spend learning.
c) number of school days districts add, above and beyond state requirements.
d) length of the school day.
Keeping students interested in various activities is an example of which procedure from
the principles of least intervention?
a) Prevention
b) Praise of correct behavior
c) Repeated reminders
d) Consequences
Erik Erikson, in stage two of his theory of psychosocial development, asserts that
parents who are overly restrictive and harsh give their children:
a) a sense of powerlessness and incompetence, that can lead to shame and doubt in
one’s
abilities.
b) sound guidance as they move into adulthood.
c) a new sense of self- or ego-identity that leads to confusion about the role played by
each parent.
d) a sense of power that can provide the child with independence.
During the preoperational stage, children have the ability to do which of the following?
a) Learn about their world through physical manipulation.
b) Think about things and can use symbols to mentally represent objects.
c) Develop a grasp of object permanence.
d) Grasp the idea of conservation, for example that amount remains the same regardless
of container size.
Which of the following is an example of retroactive facilitation?
a) A student starts playing racquetball and finds that her tennis skills decline.
b) A student finds that his old typing skills give him a real advantage in learning to use
a word processor.
c) A student is able to remember the name of each teacher she had from kindergarten
through high school.
d) After taking a music theory course, a student finds that his piano playing improves.
“The Democrats were wrong on this issue, weren”t they?” is an example of which
pitfall of questioning strategies?
a) Leading questions
b) Same level questioning
c) Misdirection questioning
d) Failure to use a random questioning pattern
According to research, which of the following sexual educational programs has been
generally found to be more effective?
a) Abstinence only
b) Abstinence with birth control
c) Birth control only
d) Informal
A measure of the match between the information on a test and the information taught in
a lesson is referred to as:
a) reliability.
b) convergent evidence of validity.
c) content evidence of validity.
d) predictive evidence of validity.
The structural bias in traditional classrooms works against lower SES and
minority-group students because:
a) there’s a mismatch between the cooperative orientation of these students, and the
competitive orientation of the school.
b) these students are more disposed toward competitive activities.
c) lower-income students are not receiving enough support from their teachers.
d) lower-income learners are less intelligent.
A high success rate on independent practice work can be accomplished in two ways.
First, assignments should be clear and self-explanatory covering content appropriate for
the students. Second:
a) assignments should be at least 30 minutes long, to allow students to get involved.
b) students should rarely be given independent practice worksheets until the teacher has
determined, through learning probes, that they can handle the material.
c) students should be given independent practice worksheets so that the teacher can
determine whether or not they have mastered the material.
d) to minimize student anxiety, teachers should avoid such actions as walking around
the room or evaluating students’ work.
Much has been said about violence in the media and its effect on
children and adolescents. According to Bandura’s social learning
theory, can humans learn to be violent by watching violence? Explain.
Identify two factors that could in.uence modeling of violent behavior;
use an example to illustrate the effect of each factor.
Give three examples of how a buddy system involving a student with disabilities and a
student without disabilities might work.
What is learned helplessness? What are its causes? How can teachers alleviate it?
Based on the text’s discussion of direct instruction, develop a set of 3″5 guidelines for
teachers, on presenting new material. For each guideline, explain how it will help
students learn, and give an example of how a teacher would implement it.
Why are reliability and validity important issues in standardized testing? Considering
the issues of reliability and validity, criticize three of the following claims:
“My test has a very large number of items; it must have strong evidence of content
validity.”
“This is a highly reliable test, so it is unquestionably valuable for measuring our
students’ achievement.”
“This student cannot be considered for the gifted programhis IQ is not above 135.”
“The scores on these art assessments are identical every yearthe test must be valid.”
“We screen all of our chefs using an elaborate test of their knowledge of recipes. This
test is valid, even though many chefs who score high on it make awful food, and those
who score low on it sometimes make the best dishes.”
Explain what this statement means: When applying consequences, certainty is more
important than severity.
Make a list of rules (for students) you will include in your classroom and explain why
you believe they are necessary. How does your set of rules reflect the principles for
setting rules described in the textbook?
For two of your rules write a less effective version of the rule, and explain why you
consider it less effective.
Lee Thurston, a fifth-grade teacher at Washington Elementary School, has had seven
very successful years of teaching. His students love him and parents of students who are
in the fourth-grade classes request that their children be placed with him during their
fifth-grade experience. Last year Lee was voted “Teacher of the Year” by the faculty in
the district.
In the spring of the year, Lee is told that, because he is such a good teacher, he will be
getting David Spears as a student in next year’s class. David, during his fourth-grade
year, had been identified as having a behavior disorder after confronting another student
with a knife.
Lee had some concerns about David, but decided he was willing to try to help. He
would come up with some ideas for working with David as he attended graduate school
over the summer.
A week before school started, Lee met with Ellen Lansing, Washington School’s
principal. “It’s been a busy summer,” remarked Ellen. “I’m afraid some of your students’
parents have requested to have another teacher since you will have David Spears in
your class. They are worried that you won’t be able to control him or that at some point
you won’t be available to help if things get out of hand.”
“With inclusion, situations are going to come up like this more and more,” replied Lee.
“What do you think we should do?”
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to full inclusion, mainstreaming, and other
options related to student placement. What would you do to solve Lee’s problem?
A teacher is a firm believer in teaching for transfer. If the teacher is to teach a lesson on
grammar for fifth graders, what activities might be included?
Define the terms disabilityand handicap, and explain the difference. Are they
synonymous?
Describe the four main teaching implications drawn from the developmental ideas of
Piaget.
Dr. Lapovich, superintendent of a mid-size school district, walked into the faculty
meeting on the first day of school with some apprehension. The state legislature had
recently voted to make all public schools standards-baseda system in which all students
must demonstrate competence in a variety of ways to graduate from high school.
As she began her address to the faculty, Dr. Lapovich sensed the apprehension in the
room. “We have two years to become a standards-based school,” she told her faculty.
“This means we need to adopt the state Board of Education’s Standards for Graduation
plan.”
A voice from the back of the room said, “I’ve been teaching in this district for 20 years.
We’ve gone through these changes before. The way I teach now suits me fine and my
students think so too.” Dr. Lapovich recognized the speaker. He was Ansel Green, the
10th-grade English teacher at the high school. Dr. Lapovich also noticed that many of
Mr. Green’s colleagues were nodding in agreement with his remarks. This was
something she feared; some teachers were going to argue against the new standards.
A second voice came from the crowd, “I’ve talked with parents and they’re concerned
too. One of my student’s parents complained that her daughter had special learning
needs and that she would most likely have difficulties in passing the standards.”
Dr. Lapovich politely reminded the faculty, “We have to think of the students first. We
have to be able to say that we are doing everything we can to help students learn. If the
first teaching method we try doesn’t work, then we try another, then another; whatever it
takes. Isn’t that why we are hereto help students learn?”
One of the district’s elementary teachers replied, “Don’t you think we’re removing some
of the incentive for doing well by threatening them with possible failure? Might this not
increase cheating if standards are too rigorous? And how will my students feel when
some try hard but aren’t successful? How will we explain to them that effort doesn’t
matter?” Dr. Lapovich sighed as she realized that this would be a very long year of
change.
Consider some of the arguments made for and against standards-based education.
Would cognitive development theorists (e.g., Piaget and Vygotsky), psychosocial
developmental theorists (e.g., Erikson), and moral developmental theorists (e.g.,
Kohlberg) argue for or against this teaching-learning approach?
Every school district offers students with special needs an array of services. Make a list
of these services beginning with the least restrictive, and ending with the most
restrictive. Illustrate each service with a concrete example, specifying a child’s grade
level, disability, placement, and specifics of where and with whom the child spends the
day.
How did Bronfenbrenner view development? Describe Bronfenbrenner’s model and his
main contribution to the field of developmental psychology. What was his critique of
the Piagetian view?
What role do consequences play in strengthening or weakening
behaviors, according to operant conditioning theory? Give an
example that supports your response.
A teacher makes the following statement: I reinforce my students
with praise, but it doesn’t always work.Using Skinner’s definition of
reinforcement, how would you respond to the teacher?
How do management strategies differ between student-centered and traditional
classrooms?
How might students who are motivated by learning goals behave differently from
students who are motivated by performance goals?
Based on Erikson’s work, James Marcia identified four identity statuses from in-depth
interviews with adolescents. The statuses reflect the degree to which adolescents have
made firm commitments to occupational, religious, and political values. Identify each
status and give examples of the characteristics of that status.
Below are four examples of behavior changes that occurred as a
result of some consequence. Read each example; then identify it as
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, presentation
punishment, or removal punishment. Explain your classifications.
Rita is caught cheating on her English exam. The teacher, in a loud
voice, threatens Rita with an F. Rita starts to cry, then fabricates a
story about hardships at home. The teacher stops the threats and lets
Rita finish the exam with no penalty. In the future, Rita uses the same
ploy when caught cheating in her other classes.
Targeted Behavior: Cheating
Raul repeatedly gets into heated arguments with students during his
physical education class basketball game. As a result, the teacher
removes Raul from the game. He spends the rest of the class period
sitting on the bench. During future games, Raul does not argue with
o5cials.
Targeted Behavior: Arguing with O5cials
Stan gets caught passing a note to Marilyn describing his plans for
their date that evening. The teacher sees this, grabs the note, and
reads it to the class. In the future, Stan does not pass notes.
Targeted Behavior: Note Passing
Suzette shouts out to the teacher, “Why do we have to learn this
stuff, anyway? I’ll never use it.” The teacher, who has been assisting
another student, stops to explain why the information is important.
With increasing frequency throughout the term, Suzette shouts out
questions.
Targeted Behavior: Shouting