1) For which of the following students would behaviorist approaches to instruction be
least helpful?
a.Ann has a learning disability.
b.Bobby is very anxious about his academic work.
c.Carl would rather socialize with his friends than do his homework.
d.Dana has always been one of the top students in her class.
2) Two boys are fighting on school grounds. Fighting is against school rules, and the
boys know this. Even so, a teacher who sees them lets them continue to fight rather than
punishing them for doing so. From the perspective of social cognitive theory, these boys
will be:
a.Less likely to fight in the future
b.More likely to fight in the future
c.Likely to feel guilty when they stop fighting
d.Likely to imitate more appropriate social behaviors on future occasions
3) Three of the following math teachers are using techniques that should help their
students remember information. Which one is using a relatively ineffective technique?
a.Mr. Allen uses wooden blocks to help students understand how the volume of a cube
is calculated.
b.Ms. Batchelder asks students to think of real-life problems requiring the use of
multiplication.
c.At the end of a lesson on different kinds of polygons, Mr. Constanza summarizes the
key ideas he has presented.
d.Ms. Davenport asks her students to memorize definitions of eight geometric figures.
4) Imagine that you learn a formula for calculating the volume of a cylinder. You
practice using the formula by working on problems such as this one: How much water
could you hold in a glass that is 10 cm. in diameter and 15 cm. tall? Later, on a quiz,
you are given the following four problems that can be solved using the same formula.
Which one of them most obviously requires far (rather than near) transfer?
a.A frozen food company wants to know how much frozen orange juice it can put in a
can that is 7 cm. in diameter and 12 cm. long.
b.A dairy farmer wants to know how much milk he can store in a metal drum that is 1
meter in diameter and 3 meters in height.
c.A manufacturer of office supplies wants to know how many thumbtacks it can put in a
round plastic container that is four inches across and one inch high. It estimates that one
cubic inch can hold about 10 tacks.
d.A maple syrup distributor in Vermont wants to know how much syrup it can put in a
bottle that is 20 cm. tall and 6 cm. in diameter.
5) Nine-year-old Aleesa wants her father to play a video game with her, but Dad tells
her, Sorry, honey, I dont have time. There are dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and the
living room has to be dusted and vacuumed. I need to clean the house before Grandma
and Grandpa come tonight. Aleesa thinks for a moment and then says, How about if I
wash the dishes and do the dusting? That way, youll have some time to play with me.
Aleesas approach to solving her problemconvincing Dad to play a video gamemost
clearly reflects:
a.brainstorming
b.use of an analogy
c.functional fixedness
d.meansends analysis
6) Peter and Paul are both listening to the same lecture. Peter is trying to learn the
information being presented so that he can remember it later on. Paul is listening
closely but not necessarily trying to remember it. From a levels-of-processing
perspective, we would predict that:
a.Peter is engaging in incidental learning, so will probably remember more.
b.Paul is likely to process the information at a deeper level, so will probably remember
more.
c.Both boys will remember the same amount if they process the information in the same
way.
d.Both boys will remember the same amount if they are equally alert.
7) Which one of the following best illustrates how sociocognitive conflict might
promote cognitive development?
a.Two children work together on a crossword puzzle that includes the weeks new
spelling words.
b.A teenage boy worries that his friends might think hes a nerd if he refuses a can of
beer at a party.
c.The students in a cooperative learning group debate different ways of solving a
difficult math problem.
d.Two students help each other prepare for a quiz by giving each other practice test
questions.
8) Which one of the following teaching strategies best illustrates the concept press for
understanding?
a.Mr. Andersen asks students to explain and justify their approach to solving complex
problems.
b.Ms. Blumenfeld uses a concrete model of the solar system to explain why we have
summer and winter.
c.Mr. Carowsky has students take truefalse quizzes on a certain topic until they earn a
score of 90% or higher.
d.Ms. dePalma gives an abstract lecture on the concepts of momentum and inertia and
then follows it up with several examples of how these concepts can be seen in students
everyday lives.
9) After a severe head injury, Mary has exceptional difficulty setting goals and in other
ways planning her actions. Without knowing anything else about Marys injury, you
might reasonably conclude that it affected her:
a.forebrain
b.midbrain
c.hindbrain
d.reticular formation
10) Lori has learned that when she wants to say something in class, she must raise her
hand before doing so. At home, however, she speaks without ever raising her hand
ahead of time. We can say that the classroom has become a(n) ____ for Loris
hand-raising behavior.
a.generalized stimulus
b.antecedent stimulus
c.positive stimulus
d.negative reinforcer
11) Which one of the following instances of learning can be explained more easily by
social cognitive theory than by instrumental conditioning?
a.Playing the role of a German soldier in the school play, Andy says his lines using a
German accent similar to one hes heard in the movies a few times.
b.Brad discovers that to get his teachers approval, he must turn in his writing
assignments without a single error in grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
c.Craig finds that he gets one special girls attention when he shows off on the
playground.
d.Darren has stopped trying in school, because he seems to get low grades no matter
what he does.
12) Eileen is reluctant to go out for the school soccer team. We want to enhance her
self-confidence about becoming a successful soccer player. If we consider the textbooks
recommendations for communicating optimistic attributions, the best thing we can say
to Eileen is:
a.Some people are just naturally good soccer players, and Ive seen signs that youre
probably one of them.
b.You have some natural athletic ability, and learning and practicing new techniques
will make you even better.
c.Skill in soccer is totally a function of how hard you work at the game.
d.The game of soccer is largely a matter of luck. Some days are good ones and some
days are bad. You just never know how things will go.
13) Ms. Delahanty has several students who are chronic misbehavers. She meets
individually with each student, and together the teacher and student agree to a plan for
improving the students behavior and a suitable reinforcement for appropriate behavior
change. Ms. Delahanty is using:
a.a contingency contract
b.Kellers personalized system of instruction
c.a token economy
d.a group contingency