1) Which one of the following is least likely to be a good predictor of how well a person
will remember a piece of information a year or two after learning it?
a.The speed with which the person learned it in the first place
b.The extent to which the person related it to other information in his or her long-term
memory
c.The extent to which the person tried to apply the information to new situations
d.The frequency with which the person subsequently reviewed the information
2) Which one of the following alternatives best describes schoolwide positive
behavioral support?
a.Using only reinforcementnever punishmentto improve students classroom behavior
b.Creating conditions that enable students to meet their needs through appropriate
rather than inappropriate behaviors
c.Teaching all students to monitor their own classroom behavior using a checklist taped
to the tops of their desks
d.Meeting regularly with students in one-on-one discussions of chronic behavior
problems, with the goal of bringing about more productive behavior
3) Julia sees a set of twelve circles arranged like this:
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
Using Gestalt principles, we can predict that Julia will perceive them as:
a.2 groups of 6 circles each.
b.6 groups of 2 circles each.
c.3 groups of 4 circles each.
d.4 groups of 3 circles each.
4) Marc loves playing ping pong. When he plays with a friend, he concentrates intently
on the game and tries very hard to win. He experiments with different shots
(occasionally losing a game in the process) and eventually perfects a few shots that are
extremely difficult for an opponent to return. With this information in mind, which one
of the following is most likely to be true about Marc?
a.He has a high need for affiliation.
b.He has a high need for approval.
c.He has a high need for achievement.
d.He has a high motive to avoid failure.
5) Choose the teacher below who is most likely to promote a sense of
self-determination in his or her students.
a.Ms. Andre provides several possible organizational schemes that students can use, if
they wish, to organize their oral presentations.
b.Mr. Brooks reminds his students that the deadline for their research paper is a week
from Friday.
c.Mr. Chambers praises his students for continuing to work quietly when he was called
away from the classroom.
d.Ms. Dacono reminds her students, You should know your multiplication tables by
now.
6) Which one of the following is the best example of negative transfer?
a.Nell sees the symbol for five-squared (52) in her math book and reads it as fifty-two.
b.Fred knows he can get Bs in his classes without having to study at all.
c.Jos cant remember when the American Civil War started, so he recalls all he can about
American history and concludes that the war must have taken place in the 1860s.
d.Edie wants to tie a string securely to her pencil so that she can hang it from her
notebook, but she has forgotten how to tie a square knot.
7) Three of the following examples illustrate the use of scaffolding in promoting
students problem-solving abilities. Which example does not illustrate scaffolding?
a.Ms. Amayo presents an example of a computer program that alphabetizes a list of
names. She then has students do something similarwrite a program that puts items in
numerical order.
b.When students struggle with arithmetic word problems, Ms. Blake gives them subtle
hints about how to proceed.
c.Mr. Charlesworth gives easy, straight-forward problems at first, then gradually
progresses to more difficult ones.
d.Mr. Darlington makes sure that all students know physics concepts well before he
asks them to solve problems.
8) Which one of the following is an accurate statement concerning how analogies affect
learning?
a.Students may occasionally draw inaccurate parallels between the new idea and the
analogy.
b.Analogies are effective only when they are somewhat abstract.
c.Analogies presented in graphic rather than verbal form tend to be counterproductive.
d.Analogies must remain within the same discipline; for example, a physics analogy
should be used when teaching physics.
9) Which one of the following is the best example of controlled processing?
a.An infant going to sleep
b.A toddler learning how to walk
c.A child walking down the street
d.An adult running down the street
10) Dr. Bauer asks 9-year-old Anne to divide a pitcher of lemonade equally between
two glasses, one each for her and her friend Kate. The two glasses are different shapes,
with Annes being tall and thin and Kates being short and wide. After Anne pours the
lemonade, Dr. Bauer says to her, Look, the lemonade in your glass is higher than the
lemonade in Kates glass. Did you give yourself more than you gave Kate? No, Anne
replies, my glass is skinnier. Dr. Bauer continues to ask Anne questions to determine
how well she understands that height compensates for width in this situation. Dr. Bauers
strategy can best be described as illustrating:
a.Equilibration
b.Class inclusion
c.The clinical method
d.Reciprocal teaching
11) Which one of the following scenarios best reflects the basic idea of social
constructivism?
a.Two students discuss possible interpretations of the proverb We only know the worth
of water when the well is dry.
b.A teacher assigns a laboratory activity using cumbersome equipment that students can
only use successfully by working in pairs.
c.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.
d.When a student borrows a classmates marker without asking and then leaves the cap
off overnight (rendering it dry and useless the following morning), her teacher reminds
her of one of the class rules: Students must respect one anothers property.
12) A learners expectancy about success in the classroom is influenced by three of the
following factors. Which one will probably be least influential?
a.How successful the learner has been in the past
b.How helpful the learner thinks the teachers instruction will be
c.Whether the learner has set short-term or long-term goals
d.How much effort the learner thinks will be necessary to succeed
13) Three of these teachers will probably promote meaningful learning in their students.
Which one is unlikely to do so?
a.Mr. Pulos shows how the area of a triangle (area = 1/2base x height) is half of
something they already knowthe area of a rectangle.
b.Ms. Rubenstein asks her students to define peninsula in their own words.
c.Mr. Warner encourages his third graders to practice their cursive letters at least once
every day.
d.Ms. Elms points out that the German word krank (meaning sick) might be related to
the English word cranky.
14) Mary Adams takes care of several toddlers and preschoolers while their parents
work during the day. One warm spring day, she has the children in a fenced-in area
behind her home. A large dog comes running up to the fence. As the dog approaches,
2-year-old Todd looks at Mary. When he sees that she appears frightened, he
immediately starts to cry. What phenomenon is Todd displaying in this situation?
a.zone of proximal development
b.social referencing
c.accommodation
d.assimilation
15) Researchers have identified several reasons why students may avoid seeking help
when they need it during a learning task. Three of the following are among the reasons
theyve identified. Which one is not such a reason?
a.Students worry that others may belittle their requests for help.
b.Students want to maintain their sense of autonomy and independence.
c.Students are worried that asking for help might make them look foolish or
incompetent.
d.Students have mastery goals, but not performance goals, relative to the subject matter.
16) In which of these situations is information most likely to be stored effectively in
long-term memory?
a.Abby looks up the correct spelling of independence and immediately writes it down.
b.Bob repeats Comment allez vous? after his teacher five times in a row.
c.Corinne realizes that receive follows the I before E except after C rule.
d.David stares at a page in his textbook in an effort to form a photographic image of the
page in his mind.
17) Which one of the following best illustrates secondary control as a factor that can
enhance a persons self of self-determination?
a.Alla says to her best friend, I wish I were as smart as you are in math. I guess I just
dont have good math genes.
b.Frustrated that he doesnt make the high school baseball team, Bob lashes out by
hitting his younger brother.
c.When a classmate makes fun of Christines slight speech impediment, she retaliates by
saying, Well, at least I have a good complexion. Those pimples of yours are really
gross!
d.When Donald gets a low score on an exam, he thinks, I underestimated what it would
take to do well in this class. I guess I need to start studying harder.
18) Which one of the following most clearly illustrates the Gestalt principle of
figure-ground?
a.Aaron is watching the teachers face so intently that he doesnt notice what she is
writing on the chalkboard.
b.Bart has difficulty seeing the difference between the letters b and d because the two
letters are so similar in appearance.
c.Caryn is lost in her thoughts.
d.Darlene has difficulty judging the size of objects more than six meters away from her.
19) Marlita failed her English literature exam. Given what research tells us about the
role of self-protective bias as a factor affecting students attributions, how is Marlita
least likely to explain her failure?
a.She had bad luck.
b.She didnt study enough.
c.The teacher writes bad exams.
d.The room was too noisy during the exam.
20) Good grades are reinforcing to some children but not to others. Someone explaining
this fact from an early operant conditioning perspective would say that good grades are
most likely to be reinforcers to children who:
a.Have never received a grade above C
b.Come from middle-income or upper-income backgrounds
c.Have previously associated those grades with primary reinforcers
d.Have been told that good grades are important for getting a college scholarship