1) A principle of learning can best be characterized as:
a.A description of the results of a particular research study
b.A statement that describes how a particular factor affects learning
c.The measurement of how much learning has occurred in a particular situation
d.An explanation of the underlying processes through which learning occurs
2) Three of the following are likely to enhance the effectiveness of a community of
learners. Which one is least likely to be helpful?
a.Students all try to master the same topic.
b.Students focus on significant real-world problems.
c.Students are taught how to present a persuasive argument.
d.Students all have unique talents they can contribute to the overall class effort.
3) Which one of the following statements is consistent with the textbooks
recommendations for promoting retrieval?
a.Teach students how to create and use their own retrieval cues.
b.Prevent interference by presenting closely related pieces of information at different
times.
c.Spend approximately two-thirds of each class day reviewing things that students
already know.
d.At the secondary school level, always use essay tests rather than multiple-choice tests.
4) Which one of the following is the best example of confirmation bias?
a.Paula drops a stone and a paperclip from a second-story window. She sees that they
reach the ground at the same time. I know heavy objects fall faster, she says, so I must
have released the paperclip earlier than the stone.
b.Janet wonders why the moon appears bigger at the horizon than high in the sky.
Maybe its closer to us when its on the horizon, she thinks.
c.Rodney has heard that chocolate can be poisonous to dogs and in large amounts can
even be fatal. He searches the Internet for a possible explanation for this puzzling fact.
d.Elliott loves watching challenging television game shows. He tries to answer
questions along with the contestants, and he keeps score to see whether he might have
won cash and prizes if he had actually been on the show.
5) Generally speaking, adults learn and remember more easily than children do. The
reverse is true, however, when the children:
a.Initially know more about the topic being studied than the adults do
b.Are given certain memory-enhancing fruits and vegetables (e.g., broccoli)
c.Engage in daily exercises designed to expand working memory capacity
d.Are instructed to close their eyes and listen very closely
6) A mother takes her daughter to the grocery store and slips a can of tuna into her
purse, yet tells her daughter that she herself should never shoplift. Judging from what
research tells us about practicing versus preaching, is the daughter likely to shoplift on a
later occasion?
a.No.
b.Yes.
c.Yes, but only if she is suffering financial hardship.
d.Yes, but only at a grocery store.
7) Other things being equal, which one of the following students is most likely to
engage in critical thinking about scientific topics?
a.Al is a trivia whiz who loves to memorize obscure scientific facts.
b.Brita realizes that scientists theories change as new evidence comes in.
c.Chris is confident that she can understand something if she puts her mind to it.
d.Devin often asks questions when he doesnt understand a section of the textbook.
8) Which one of the following students is displaying intrinsic motivation?
a.Annette loves to play the viola and so practices for at least an hour each day.
b.Bob works hard in his classes because his parents have promised to buy him a car if
he gets at least a 3.5 grade-point-average this year.
c.Cassie does her math homework faithfully every night because she likes her teacher
and wants to please him.
d.Dennis takes physics because he wants to become an engineer and make a lot of
money.
9) A physics teacher asks her students to draw a picture to illustrate the forces at work
when someone throws a ball into the air. This strategy should do two things to help
students remember the forces involved. In particular, it should encourage students to
engage in both:
a.implicit and explicit understanding
b.rote learning and automaticity
c.enactment and visual imagery
d.verbalization and facilitative expectations
10) Which one of the following teaching practices is most consistent with Maslows
hierarchy of needs?
a.Occasionally remind students that they can get good grades only if they study on a
regular basis.
b.Let students release pent-up energy before asking them to watch an educational video.
c.Tell students they must finish an assignment before they go to lunch.
d.Reinforce students consistently for appropriate classroom behavior.
11) Given what psychologists believe to be true about how information is typically
stored in the brain, how is the concept dog probably represented in your brain?
a.As a single neuron located in the prefrontal cortex
b.As a network of neurons spread across multiple brain regions
c.As a cluster of interconnected neurons located in the left parietal lobe
d.As a cluster of interconnected neurons located in one of the occipital lobes
12) Which one of the following statements reflects a concern about the separation and
control of variables?
a.How do you think I should make amends with Martha? If I tell her Im sorry, she
might think Im lying.
b.Im catching more tadpoles today, but I dont know if its because Im using a larger
container to catch them or because Im working in a different part of the frog pond.
c.I have two tests to study for tonightscience and Spanish. Ill study one subject before
dinner and the other one after dinner so I dont get them confused.
d.Im trying to learn how to do a lay-up shot. Can you show me all the things I should
do, going one step at a time?
13) Which one of the following is an example of vicarious reinforcement?
a.Alice notices that her friend Ellen gets extra attention from the teacher when she acts
helpless. Alice begins to act helpless as well.
b.Bill knows that he will get a higher grade if he turns in a research paper that is typed
rather than handwritten, but he turns in a handwritten paper anyway.
c.Connie sees her friend Maria scolded for chewing gum in class. She quickly takes her
own gum out of her mouth.
d.David sees how Justin gets good grades when he works hard on his mathematics
homework, but David doesnt want to work that hard.
14) Rosamie does her homework primarily to gain her teachers approval. She has little
internal desire to do her homework, although she does feel slight twinges of guilt when
she fails to get an assignment done on time. If we consider the sequence that Deci and
Ryan have described for the development of internalized motivation, Rosamie appears
to be showing:
a.external regulation
b.introjection
c.identification
d.integration
15) Which one of the following situations is the best example of the cocktail party
phenomenon as psychologists use the term?
a.When Ann walks into a room full of strangers, she immediately notices someone who
looks familiar.
b.Bernie has difficulty paying attention to anything when too many people talk to him
at once.
c.Carolyns attention is captured immediately when someone calls her name.
d.Darren can hear what his friend is telling him even though the television is on and two
other people in the room are talking.
16) In comparison with his original law of effect, Thorndikes revised law of effect:
a.De-emphasized the role of punishment
b.Stressed the importance of practice
c.Stressed the importance of drive in learning
d.De-emphasized the importance of practice
17) According to Thorndikes theory of identical elements, in which one of the following
situations are we most likely to find positive transfer?
a.Alice learns how to plant corn and then learns how to prune a hedge.
b.Brianne learns how to add 2-digit numbers and then learns how to add 3-digit
numbers.
c.Cathy learns early British history and then learns early Japanese history.
d.Devlin learns how to play softball and then learns how to play poker.
18) You know how to use long division to solve a math problem; you also know that 28
divided by 4 equals 7. The difference between these two pieces of knowledge can best
be characterized as a difference between:
a.procedural vs. declarative knowledge
b.semantic vs. episodic memory
c.conceptual vs. conditional knowledge
d.explicit vs. implicit memory
19) An eighth grader named Marianne consistently refuses to do difficult classroom
assignments because shes afraid of failing at them. Which one of the basic needs
described in the textbook is Marianne most clearly trying to address?
a.Her need for relatedness
b.Her need for self-determination
c.Her need for arousal
d.Her need for competence