Final Examination

7th Edition, 2011

ISBN-10: 0137001142

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Pearson Prentice Hall

PSY 430

Educational Psychology

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

 

 

Multiple Choice Questions (Enter your answers on the enclosed answer sheet)

1. Which one of the following statements is most accurate regarding psychological theories?

a. Any single theory can be used to explain virtually every aspect of human behavior.

b. Theories are continually modified as new data emerges.

c. Theories have been proven to be true.

d. Theories will eventually be replaced by physiological (brain-based) explanations of behavior.

 

2. Judging from the textbook’s discussion of assessment, we can best think of classroom assessment practices as mechanisms and procedures that:

a. are most likely to be accurate when they take the form of paper-pencil tests.

b. give us hard, indisputable facts that we can use to assign grades.

c. enable us to form tentative hypotheses about what students know and can do.

d. allow us to draw conclusions about how students’ motives and personality traits affect their classroom performance.

 

3. Which one of the following alternatives best illustrates action research?

a. A high school principal conducts a survey to find out what kinds of after-school activities students would most like to have available at their school.

b. A middle school math teacher gives his students quizzes every Friday because he knows that frequent quizzes will encourage students to study regularly.

c. After a first-grade teacher completes a research project for her master’s thesis, she presents her findings at a national teaching conference.

d. A university professor and two of her graduate students conduct systematic observations of kindergartners’ turn-taking behaviors on the playground.

 

4. Which one of the following is the best example of a teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge?

a. understanding why water expands when it freezes

b. knowing what researchers have discovered about the effectiveness of discovery-learning approaches to instruction

c. knowing several effective ways to teach students about negative numbers

d. making a reasonable guess as to why a particular student misbehaves just before lunch time every day

 

5. The textbook offers several suggestions for studying a textbook effectively. Which one of the following is not necessarily recommended?

a. Relate new ideas to things you already know.

b. Draw inferences from the things you read.

c. Take detailed notes on the book’s content.

d. Occasionally stop and check to make sure you understand.

 

6. Which strategy is most likely to be effective in promoting students’ vocabulary development?

a. allowing students to make up their own meanings for words to encourage invention and creativity

b. allowing students to use words incorrectly in the early elementary grades in order to enhance their self-confidence about public speaking

c. teaching students the meanings of words related to topics they are studying

d. encouraging literal interpretations of such common sayings as “Look before you leap”

 

7. Most children in the early elementary grades think that being a “good listener” means:

a. being able to tell somebody else what the speaker has said.

b. asking the speaker a lot of questions.

c. sitting quietly and looking at the speaker.

d. remembering what the speaker says.

 

8. LaWanda understands that a single sentence can sometimes be interpreted in two or more ways. For example, she realizes that the sentence “I know more beautiful women than Miss

America” has two possible interpretations: “I know women who are more beautiful than Miss America is” or “I know more beautiful women than Miss America knows.” LaWanda’s

appreciation for the double meanings of some sentences reflects:

a. metalinguistic awareness.

b. a sensitive period in language development.

c. pragmatics.

d. figurative language.

 

9. Research regarding learning a second language yields which one of the following conclusions?

a. The ability to learn a second language is greatest before age 4.

b. The ability to learn a second language increases with age until adolescence, when it starts to decline.

c. At this point, it appears that there is no single “best” time to learn a second language.

d. The ability to learn a second language increases with age until adulthood, when it starts to decline.

 

10. In North America, which approach appears to be most effective for teaching English speakers a second language?

a. Immerse them in the second language, having them hear and speak it exclusively in all classroom activities.

b. Let them talk with native speakers of the language who should alternate between using English and the other language.

c. Wait until they reach Piaget’s formal operations stage so that they can better grasp the subtleties of the new language.

d. Teach it to them before kindergarten if possible because they quickly lose their ability to learn a second language fluently after that.

 

 

11. Three of the following strategies should be effective in working with English language learners. Which one is unlikely to be effective?

a. Teach reading skills almost exclusively by using books written in English rather than in students’ native language.

b. When teaching academic subject matter, make a very gradual transition from students’ native language to English—perhaps a transition that takes 5 to 7 years to complete.

c. Especially in the early years of English instruction, speak more slowly and clearly than you might otherwise.

d. When students work in small, cooperative groups, encourage them to use their native language if doing so helps them communicate with one another more effectively.

 

12. Which one of the following statements characterizes both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development, as well as psychologists’ beliefs about the nature of language

development?

a. Children are actively involved in their own learning.

b. Development involves both assimilation and accommodation.

c. Children and adults think in basically the same ways.

d. Development involves a series of stages.

 

13. Three of the following statements are accurate about how motivation and moral behavior may be interrelated. Which statement is not accurate?

a. Students are more likely to behave morally if doing so doesn’t cause them much inconvenience.

b. Students are more likely to behave morally if they know they will gain others’ approval by doing so.

c. Children become less generous with age, apparently because they gain greater appreciation for the value of money.

d. Some adolescents incorporate a commitment to helping others into their sense of self.

 

14. Carol Gilligan’s theory of moral development differs from Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory in that t:

a. proposes that boys exhibit more rapid moral development than girls.

b. focuses more on a “human rights” perspective of moral development.

c. focuses more on the development of caring and compassion.

d. proposes that girls exhibit more rapid moral development than boys.

 

15. Which one of the following statements illustrates induction as a strategy for promoting moral development?

a. “You destroyed Martha’s paper, and now she has to stay late to finish rewriting it.”

b. “If you don’t help with clean-up, you don’t get to go out to recess.”

c. “You mustn’t take Ruthie’s paper or I won’t like you any more.”

d. “Your behavior is not allowed in this classroom. As a consequence, you’ll have to stay after school today.”

 

 

16. When asking students to wrestle with a moral dilemma, three of the following strategies might

be effective in promoting students’ moral development. Which one probably will not promote

their moral development?

a. eventually telling students how morally advanced people would respond to the dilemma

b. asking students to consider their reasons for making the moral decisions they do

c. encouraging students to volunteer their individual perspectives on a moral issue

d. encouraging students to consider all sides of a moral issue

 

17. Which one of the following variables is essential for the development of sense of self, social skills and moral reasoning (i.e., for all three)?

a. social interaction

b. postconventional reasoning

c. moral dilemmas

d. withdrawal of love for inappropriate behavior

 

18. Which teacher is doing the most to foster the overall personal and social development of his students?

a. Mr. Bakewell ensures that his students will obey all of his strict rules by imposing severe consequences for failure.

b. Mr. Winters treats well-behaved students with warmth and kindness and ignores unruly students.

c. Mr. Mecham gives his students complete freedom in the classroom so that they will learn to cooperate with one another.

d. Mr. Poller conveys the message that he likes his students and wants them to succeed in the classroom.

 

19. Three of the following depict challenges that children from lower-income homes are likely to face. Which situation is least typical?

a. Thomas’s only meal of the day is the free lunch he gets at school.

b. Theresa is sometimes late for school because her father and mother are fighting about overdue bills and thus are preoccupied when it is time to take her to school.

c. Trina rarely comes to school on Tuesday, because her family likes to take advantage of the free-admission policy that many city museums have on Tuesdays.

d. Timothy’s family moves frequently, requiring him to change schools at least once a year.

 

 

 

20. Compared to their wealthier peers, students from low-income families are less likely to attend and graduate from college. One reason, of course, is that students from low-income families

have fewer financial resources. But another important reason is that many public schools in low-income neighborhoods are of poor quality. Three of the following characteristics are

typical of schools in low-income school districts. Which characteristic is not typical?

a. outdated and poorly maintained equipment

b. lower expectations for students’ achievement

c. little or no discipline for serious behavior problems

d. fewer opportunities to engage in advanced thinking skills

 

21. Although students from middle-SES families have many advantages that students from low-SES families don’t have, in some respects students from low-SES have the upper hand.

Which one of the following has been shown to be more true of students from low-income families than of students from middle-income families?

a. ability to improvise using everyday objects

b. facility in making correct change from a dollar

c. skill in talking respectfully to people from diverse backgrounds

d. knowledge of how to use a map to get around town

 

22. The school principal tells you that Mary, a new student who just joined your classroom this morning, currently lives at a homeless shelter. Which one of the following strategies does the

textbook not recommend for helping Mary succeed in your classroom?

a. Pair Mary with a classmate who can show her around the school building and introduce her to other students.

b. Ask Mary’s parents to meet with you in your classroom after school.

c. Enlist the aid of volunteers to provide tutoring for Mary at the shelter.

d. Find some school supplies, including a clipboard to write on, that Mary can use to do her homework at the shelter.

 

23. Which one of the following students best fits the pattern associated with being at risk?

a. Sal started kindergarten a year later than his peers because his parents wanted to be sure he was ready for school.

b. André isn’t doing very well in any of his classes; he will have to pull up his grades or he won’t be allowed to continue to participate in varsity football.

c. Evan is doing poorly in all of his classes because of repeated absenteeism and failure to turn in assignments.

d. Wesley has recently failed sophomore algebra, and he is frustrated because he now has to go to summer school.

 

 

24. Three of the following strategies are likely to help students at risk stay in school. Which one is not likely to do so?

a. Communicate your expectation that students can do well and that you will help them achieve instructional objectives.

b. Identify students at risk as early as possible in order to provide long-term academic support.

c. Assign activities that have obvious relevance to students’ own lives and needs.

d. Discourage students from participating in extracurricular activities so that they can focus on getting their grades up.

 

25. Nota was born with a severe hearing loss. Now in second grade, she is fluent in American Sign

Language. However, her teachers are concerned that her reading skills are less developed than

those of her classmates and that she has very limited knowledge about the outside world.

Which one of the following explanations for Nota’s difficulties is most likely to be true?

a. In addition to having a hearing loss, Nota probably has a language-related learning

disability.

b. Because she has had less exposure to oral communication than her classmates, Nota’s

development in these areas has been delayed.

c. Nota’s general intelligence was probably affected by the same condition that caused

her hearing loss.

d. Nota is probably depressed about her disability and therefore is less motivated to learn

than her peers.

26. Which one of the following teachers is using a strategy recommended in the textbook for

working with students who have physical and sensory challenges?

a. Ms. Sadatmand builds new supply shelves so that Harvey can access all classroom

materials from his wheelchair.

b. Ms. Solomon always gives Yolanda a reduced workload. Although Yolanda is capable of

doing all the work, she tires easily.

c. Because Jamal is unable to speak, Mr. Christensen allows him to use an augmentative

communication device during language arts. Mr. Christensen discourages use of the

device during lessons in other subject areas because he doesn’t want Jamal to become

overly dependent on technology.

d. Mr. Nishamura keeps an eye on Sarah so that he can anticipate when she needs help.

By offering help before she has to ask, he saves her considerable embarrassment.

27. On average, how do children who are gifted compare to their peers in social and emotional

development?

a. They tend to be above-average in social development and most are emotionally well

adjusted.

b. They tend to be less mature than their peers and more prone to emotional problems.

c. They tend to be about the same as their peers in emotional adjustment and social

development.

d. They tend to be loners, preferring such solitary activities as reading or computer games.

Final Examination

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PSY 430 Educational Psychology

28. The textbook recommends three of the following strategies for adapting instruction for

students who are gifted. Which one does it not recommend?

a. Form study groups of students with similar interests and abilities.

b. Find outside resources through which students can pursue their interests.

c. Ask students to be patient while their classmates master instructional objectives.

d. Modify class assignments so that they encourage complex thinking processes.

29. Students from diverse cultural backgrounds won’t necessarily show their exceptional gifts and

talents on traditional intelligence tests. Three of the following characteristics may be

indicative of giftedness in such students. Which characteristic is least likely to indicate

giftedness?

a. seeing connections between two very different topics

b. learning quickly

c. insisting on perfection at all times

d. solving problems in unique and creative ways

30. Three of the following teachers are using strategies that are recommended for teaching

students with special needs. Which one is using a strategy that is not recommended?

a. At the beginning of each year, Ms. Toor identifies one set of class rules for nondisabled

students and another, more lenient set of rules for students who have disabilities.

b. Mr. DeWolfe stays in close touch with Katie’s parents so that they can be consistent in

their expectations for her at school and at home.

c. Mr. Hartell makes sure that at least once a month his students with special needs get

a chance to make some choices about what goals they will work toward and what topics

they will study.

d. Ms. Gagnon begins each year by working hard to get to know the strengths,

weaknesses and interests of each of her students. This helps her to adapt her

instruction to the unique needs of each student.

31. Ms. Iwata has a long-term goal for her science students: to consider what they have learned

about science as they deal with issues and problems in their daily lives. What teaching

strategy will best help her students retrieve relevant scientific principles when they need them

the most?

a. Maximize the use of abstract ideas and minimize the use of concrete materials.

b. Make sure that students study those principles in a no-anxiety situation.

c. Maximize the use of concrete materials and minimize the use of abstract ideas.

d. Associate those principles with as many real-life situations as possible.

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Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

32. Which one of the following examples best illustrates situated cognition in action?

a. It doesn’t occur to Jennie that she can use algebra to help her solve a problem in her

physics class.

b. Eleanor enjoys physical education class because she always feels more energized

afterwards.

c. Lucinda doesn’t enjoy her history class because her teacher expects students to

memorize a lot of names, dates, and places.

d. When Rachel learns the concept of momentum, she immediately recalls a variety of

phenomena that the concept can explain.

33. Three of the following strategies should help students remember classroom subject matter

over the long run. Considering guidelines presented in the textbook, which one will not help

them?

a. engaging in meaningful learning by relating the material to a situation in which they

are likely to use it

b. elaborating by drawing inferences from the things they study

c. preventing interference by learning each piece of information at a different time

d. reviewing the material periodically over the course of several days or weeks

34. Nora was thinking about something else the day her teacher explained the difference between

the words “between” and “among,” so she has trouble using these two prepositions correctly.

Nora’s difficulty “remembering” the difference between the two words can probably best be

explained as:

a. decay in long-term memory over time.

b. failure to retrieve from long-term memory.

c. reconstruction error during retrieval.

d. failure to store in long-term memory.

35. Jenny is taking a quiz that asks for the chemical symbols of 20 elements. She remembers

19 of them but cannot remember the symbol for mercury. As she walks home from school,

she suddenly remembers that the symbol for mercury is Hg. Jenny’s memory problem during

the quiz can best be explained in terms of:

a. interference.

b. reconstruction error.

c. too limited long-term memory search.

d. decay.

Final Examination

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PSY 430 Educational Psychology

36. Three of the following statements accurately describe the kinds of diversity in cognitive

processes that researchers have identified. Which statement is not accurate?

a. On average, girls can more easily maintain their attention in class than boys.

b. Students’ differing background experiences will affect their ability to meaningfully

learn a particular idea or topic.

c. Children in some cultures view wait time after a question as a sign of respect for the

person asking the question.

d. Children in developing countries (e.g., in Africa and Central America) are more

accustomed to list-learning tasks than children in North American schools.

37. Three of the following teachers are following recommended practices for teaching concepts.

Which one is not?

a. Mr. Adams teaches the concept “fruit” by showing examples of many different fruits

and many different nonfruits.

b. Mr. Carlson teaches the concept “vertebrate” by giving a definition of the concept.

c. After a lesson on the concept “carbohydrate,” Mr. Danielson asks students to give their

own examples of the concept.

d. Mr. Benito teaches the concept “reptile” by limiting class discussion to dinosaurs—

animals that students find especially interesting.

38. Wendy sees a picture of a beach and then later tries to draw the picture from memory. She

draws shells on the beach even though the beach in the picture had no shells. Using

cognitive psychologists’ concept of schema, how could we explain Wendy’s error?

a. Wendy has a schema for shells but does not have one for beaches.

b. Wendy’s schema of how a typical beach looks includes shells.

c. Wendy has a schema for beaches but does not have one for shells.

d. Wendy’s schemas of beaches and shells are interfering with each other.

39. Four boys read this line from a story: “The two men entered the restaurant and ordered

hamburgers.” Which one of the boys is clearly using a script while reading the story?

a. Bob is guessing that the men probably have evil motives.

b. Colin wonders what the men look like.

c. Alex assumes that the men probably looked at a menu before ordering.

d. Devon thinks the men should be more careful about their cholesterol intake.

40. Three of the following strategies should help promote conceptual change. Which one probably

will not?

a. Have students learn definitions of important concepts to automaticity.

b. Identify students’ misconceptions about a topic and address them during instruction.

c. Pique students’ interest in classroom subject matter.

d. Identify and build on the parts of students’ understandings that are accurate.

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Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

41. Imagine you are a biology teacher who is teaching students about the nature of evolution. You

discover that some of your students refuse to believe that modern human beings evolved from

more primitive life forms, explaining that their religious beliefs tell them that God created

people. If you follow the textbook’s suggestion regarding such a situation, you would be most

likely to:

a. present more compelling evidence for evolution than you would otherwise.

b. ask students to write an essay in which they give their reasons for not believing that

evolution occurred.

c. help students understand evolution theory, even though they may not agree with this

theory.

d. Omit the topic of evolution from the class curriculum, replacing it with a more in-depth

look at the nature of DNA.

42. Three of the following statements are true with regard to students with special needs. Which

statement is false?

a. Students with advanced cognitive development typically have the same amount of

knowledge that their classmates have but are able to retrieve it more quickly.

b. Students with general delays in cognitive and social functioning have a difficult time

making sense of a message when the message is ambiguous or incomplete.

c. Students with social or behavioral problems often misinterpret social situations and

therefore respond inappropriately to them.

d. Students with general delays in cognitive development tend to have a more limited

knowledge base than their classmates.

43. Three of the following are accurate statements about epistemic beliefs. Which statement is

not accurate?

a. Students who believe that learning is a slow, gradual process are more likely to persist

in their efforts to understand classroom material.

b. Students who view learning as an active, constructive process are more likely to

undergo conceptual change when it is warranted.

c. Young children are apt to believe that conflicting points of view on a topic may be

equally valid; as they get older, they become increasingly convinced that one

perspective is almost invariably more valid than others.

d. As students move through the high school years, some of them increasingly begin to

realize that mastering academic subject matter involves understanding concepts and

their interrelationships rather than memorizing discrete facts.

44. Imagine you are a high school principal who wants students to develop effective study

strategies before they graduate. With research about effective study skills programs in mind,

which one of the following approaches would be the best one to take?

a. Purchase textbooks that are about two years below students’ present reading levels.

b. Have a one-semester study skills course that all students take in twelfth grade.

c. Have teachers incorporate study skills training into the specific academic courses they

teach.

d. Have a one-semester study skills course that all students take in ninth grade.

Final Examination

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PSY 430 Educational Psychology

45. Which of the following statements is false?

a. Because they learn so quickly, children who are gifted rarely use effective study

strategies.

b. Students with learning disabilities often benefit from explicit instruction about effective

learning strategies.

c. Some students with social or behavioral problems have few effective strategies to help

them learn academic subject matter.

d. Students who show significant delays in general cognitive development also show

delays in metacognitive development.

46. Which one of the following is the best example of critical thinking as the textbook defines the

term?

a. Muriel asks her teacher, “Why do we have to start school so early in the morning? I

have trouble thinking clearly before ten o’clock in the morning.”

b. Rachel mumbles to herself as she reads her history book, “Why does the year 1929

sound so familiar? Oh, yes, now I know. That’s the year the stock market crashed.”

c. Justin says to his friend Victor, “I think I can guess why you’re feeling sad today.”

d. Lorenzo complains to his teacher, “When the textbook author talks about the

importance of recycling, he doesn’t explain how the advantages outweigh the

disadvantages.”

47. Three of the following teaching strategies should promote critical thinking. Which strategy,

although beneficial in other ways, will not necessarily promote critical thinking skills?

a. Portray the sciences and social sciences as disciplines that will evolve as new evidence

comes in.

b. Ask students to read a persuasive essay and look for possible flaws in the author’s line

of reasoning.

c. Have students debate a controversial issue by taking a perspective in direct opposition

to what they actually believe.

d. Have students relate new information to things they already know about the world.

48. Three of the following are accurate statements about how higher-level cognitive processes

might be different among students with diverse backgrounds and abilities. Which statement is

false?

a. Students with mental retardation tend to have trouble transferring what they learn in

school to new situations.

b. Students who have been brought up in a culture that encourages respect for elders are

less likely to engage in critical thinking.

c. Students who have consistently lived in a single culture tend to be more creative than

students who have had regular exposure to two or more cultures.

d. On average, students with learning disabilities have more difficulty with academic

problem-solving tasks than their nondisabled peers.

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Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

49. Three of the following statements are consistent with the textbook’s recommendations

regarding the effective use of reinforcement. Which statement is not consistent with the

textbook’s recommendations?

a. Monitor students’ progress when using reinforcement to improve behavior.

b. Describe desired behaviors concretely.

c. Use the same reinforcer for everyone.

d. Be explicit about what behaviors lead to what consequences.

50. Leonard rarely says nice things to anyone else. Using behaviorist terminology, we can say that:

a. Leonard has little tolerance for such behavior.

b. Leonard will benefit only from intrinsic reinforcement for such behavior.

c. Leonard’s baseline for this behavior is very low.

d. Leonard’s social skills are generalizing to a different situation.

51. Mr. Johnson wants a hyperactive boy to be able to sit quietly for at least 15 minutes at a time.

To do this, he begins praising the boy for sitting still for one minute, then for two minutes,

and then only for four minutes, and so on. Mr. Johnson’s strategy reflects which one of the

following concepts?

a. discrimination learning

b. intermittent reinforcement

c. shaping

d. generalization

52. Vanessa frequently complains of getting terrible headaches and therefore ends up at the

nurse’s office several times a week. Two different physicians have been unable to find a cause

for Vanessa’s headaches and Vanessa’s parents report that their daughter rarely has headaches

at home. Vanessa is falling further and further behind in her schoolwork, so Vanessa’s teacher

and parents meet with the nurse and school psychologist to brainstorm possible solutions to

Vanessa’s problem. The school psychologist suggests that the teacher keep track of the

occasions when Vanessa complains about a headache. Two weeks later, the teacher reports

that all of Vanessa’s complaints occur just before a test or difficult assignment. Suddenly the

teacher and parents begin to suspect that perhaps Vanessa complains of headaches as a way

of getting out of difficult schoolwork. Here we see the initial steps in a process known as:

a. behavioral momentum.

b. a setting event.

c. functional analysis.

d. the use of incompatible behaviors.

Final Examination

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PSY 430 Educational Psychology

53. From a behaviorist perspective, we are likely to see diversity in our students with respect to

three of the following. Which one is not a major source of diversity in students?

a. whether the environment is important for learning

b. how effective various secondary reinforcers are

c. how students respond to various stimuli

d. which kinds of behaviors have been reinforced in the past

54. Which one of the following has been shown to be a potential drawback of using behaviorist

techniques in the classroom?

a. They are often ineffective with students who have special educational needs, such as

students with social or behavioral problems.

b. Improvements last only as long as the behaviorist intervention continues.

c. They may be useless when students have little motivation to change their behavior.

d. Extrinsic reinforcement may undermine any intrinsic motivation a student has for

acting in appropriate ways.

55. Imagine you are a teacher at a junior high school. Below are four behaviors you might exhibit

in your classroom. Considering the textbook’s discussion of modeling, choose the behavior

your students are least likely to imitate.

a. You show them how much you enjoy reading professional education journals.

b. You show them how to fill out their class schedule form for next year.

c. You show them how to estimate the price of an outfit they might want to buy.

d. You show them how to make a tasty fruit drink for a hot day.

56. These four teachers claim to be practicing principles from social cognitive theory. Based on

the following information, which one is not actually doing so?

a. Ms. Donovan shows her new second-grade class how to spell her name by writing it in

large letters on the chalkboard.

b. Mr. Anderson makes sure students are paying attention when he shows them how to do

long division problems.

c. Mr. Carlson tells his class he smokes cigarettes but admits that he wishes he’d never

started.

d. Ms. Benson has students read biographies of people who have worked unselfishly for

others (e.g., Albert Schweitzer, Clara Barton, Mahatma Gandhi).

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Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

57. Three of the following alternatives depict situations in which a teacher is facilitating the

retention component of modeling. Which one does not depict such a situation?

a. As he demonstrates how to throw a baseball correctly, Mr. Duffy says, “Now repeat

these words as you throw the ball: back, up, thrust, release.”

b. As he writes a capital J on the board, Mr. Anson tells his kindergartners, “To write a

capital J, you make a fishhook with a line across the top.”

c. Mr. Caruso says, “There are several critical steps involved in throwing a pot on the

potter’s wheel. Repeat these steps to yourself as you work so you don’t forget them.”

d. Mr. Byers suggests, “Let’s play some background music while I show you how to use

the dipstick to measure your oil level.”

58. Which one of the following alternatives illustrates a difference in effortful control?

a. Donald spends most weekends playing sports and in other ways being physically active,

whereas Jasper is more likely to be found reading a good book.

b. Lucia is often cheerful and outgoing, whereas Julie is more likely to be quiet and

reserved.

c. Meghan is good at keeping her impulses in check, whereas Jessie is apt to lash out at

the slightest provocation.

d. Robert is always kind and considerate of others, whereas William typically thinks only

of his own needs.

59. Three of the following statements are accurate about students with special needs. Which

statement is not necessarily accurate?

a. Students with general delays in cognitive and social functioning are unable to develop

self-regulatory skills even with extensive training.

b. Students with social or behavioral problems may have friends who model inappropriate

social behavior.

c. Students with specific cognitive difficulties often have low self-efficacy for academic

tasks.

d. Students with advanced cognitive development (e.g., students who are gifted)

sometimes have little experience in dealing with failure.

60. If we consider the concept of reciprocal causation, we must conclude that the quality of

students’ classroom experiences is influenced:

a. primarily by what teachers do in the classroom.

b. both by classroom events and by what students themselves do.

c. largely by things that have happened to students in the past.

d. primarily by how students think about classroom material.

Final Examination

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PSY 430 Educational Psychology

61. Which one of the following illustrates situational interest rather than personal interest?

a. Dave loves to snorkel and hopes to major in marine biology when he goes to college.

b. Blaine can’t think of anything he’d rather do than play video games with his friends.

c. Chuck spends every Saturday and Sunday working on the 1951 Chevy in his garage.

d. Adam finds the Guinness Book of World Records on a library shelf and is intrigued by

the strange people it describes.

62. Four students in Ms. Bennett’s social studies class have to give an oral report on a country of

their choosing. Which one of the students appears to have a mastery goal?

a. Francis wants to give a good presentation on the United Arab Emirates because he

needs to improve his overall class grade.

b. As Holly gives her report on Mongolia, she is very nervous. She is afraid she might

make a fool of herself in front of her classmates.

c. John does his report on Spain because that is where his family is from. He has enjoyed

talking to his grandfather about what it is like to live in Spain.

d. When Eldon gives his report on Hungary, he stands up straight and speaks clearly

because he wants to impress his teacher and fellow students with his knowledge and

ability.

63. The textbook recommends that teachers encourage students to set and work toward proximal

goals. Which one of the following illustrates a proximal goal?

a. learning the symbols for all the elements in a chemistry class

b. becoming a reporter for a major news channel such as CNN

c. shooting for admission to a local community college rather than a prestigious and

highly selective private college

d. maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout the high school years

64. Which one of the following alternatives best describes differences between students with a

mastery orientation and students with learned helplessness?

a. Students with a mastery orientation attribute their successes to external, uncontrollable

factors. Students with an attitude of learned helplessness attribute failures to internal,

controllable factors.

b. Students with a mastery orientation expect that they will have to work extremely hard to

master new tasks. Students with learned helplessness usually overestimate their

abilities.

c. Students with a mastery orientation set easily attainable goals and become frustrated

when they don’t attain those goals effortlessly. Students with learned helplessness set

goals that are almost impossible to attain.

d. Students with a mastery orientation set high goals and seek challenges. Students with

learned helplessness underestimate their ability and set low goals.

17

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

65. Three of the following statements accurately describe cultural and ethnic group differences in

motivation. Which statement is false?

a. Some Hispanic students set mastery goals for themselves and others rather than for

themselves alone.

b. Some African American students have a sense of learned helplessness about their

ability to achieve school success, perhaps because of prior experiences with racial

discrimination.

c. On average, Asian students are less concerned about getting good grades than students

from other ethnic groups.

d. Compared to their classmates raised in mainstream Western culture, students from

Asian cultures are more likely to attribute school success to hard work.

66. Three of the following strategies should facilitate students’ transition to middle school or

junior high. Which one is not likely to do so?

a. Schedule one-on-one meetings with each student to find out what his or her interests,

needs, and concerns might be.

b. Remind students that learning to compete with peers will be important for success in

the adult world.

c. Provide a rough outline that students can use when they take notes in class.

d. Divide a school of 500 students into four or five smaller groups in which students have

the same teachers, some of the same classes, and numerous opportunities to get to

know one another.

67. Three of the history teachers below are engaging in recommended practices for classroom

lectures. Which one is not?

a. Mr. Annenberg explains to his students how the American Revolution was in some ways

similar to the fights children have with one another.

b. During a unit on World War I, Mr. Cortez often uses maps to show how certain battles

were fought at especially strategic locations.

c. Ms. Bartholomew begins her discussion of the American Civil War by drawing some

parallels between it and something the class has already studied—the American

Revolution.

d. Ms. DeLuca talks in a relaxed conversational style, describing different battles of World

War II as they come to mind.

68. Three of the following are typical components of mastery learning. Which one is not

necessarily a component of mastery learning?

a. Students have many opportunities to manipulate concrete objects.

b. Students demonstrate mastery of each unit before proceeding further.

c. Students have many additional, remedial activities they need to achieve mastery.

d. Topics are arranged in a logical sequence.

Final Examination

18

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

69. Three of the following are potential disadvantages of cooperative learning. Which one has not

been identified as a disadvantage?

a. Students may be more interested in completing the task quickly than in helping one

another learn.

b. Students do not always have the necessary skills to teach one another effectively.

c. Students may learn incorrect information from other group members.

d. Students from ethnic minority groups rarely benefit from cooperative learning activities.

70. Which one of the following best illustrates how teachers can effectively structure a peer

tutoring session?

a. Give the students being tutored an upper limit on the number of questions they can ask

their tutors.

b. Remind tutors that they should ask at least 10 questions during a tutoring session.

c. Give students examples of the kinds of questions they should ask one another.

d. Tell tutors how long they should spend on each topic they are tutoring.

71. As a teacher, you want your students to learn basic concepts in chemistry well enough that

they can build on the concepts when studying more advanced topics. Of the following

choices, the best instructional approach to use for this purpose is:

a. lecture.

b. direct instruction.

c. a homework assignment.

d. discovery learning.

72. Imagine that, as a teacher, you want your students to acquire better self-regulation skills.

Which one of the following instructional strategies would best help you accomplish this goal?

a. direct instruction

b. mastery learning

c. cooperative learning

d. lower-level teacher questions

73. Which one of the following issues is usually most important to consider when a student

behaves in an unacceptable fashion in the classroom?

a. how much the behavior disrupts learning

b. what the misbehaving student’s mood is

c. why the student has decided to behave that way

d. whether the student has been a chronic behavior problem

19

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

74. In which one of the following situations would it be best to ignore a student’s behavior?

a. Mary asks a classmate to clarify an assignment and then returns to her work.

b. Fritz and Irene are throwing paper airplanes across the room at each other.

c. Harriet gets up to sharpen her pencil at least once every ten minutes.

d. Jim keeps pulling Jackie’s hair while she is trying to work at her desk.

75. In which one of the following situations is cueing an appropriate means of dealing with

misbehavior in the classroom?

a. when the behavior interferes with learning but is not serious in nature

b. when the misbehaving student has a history of defiance and disobedience

c. when you want to set an “example” from which other students can learn

d. when the behavior is already being punished by a natural consequence

76. The textbook recommends that when a teacher talks with a student about a chronic pattern of

misbehavior, he or she should do so in private rather than in front of classmates. Why?

a. because the behavior may be typical for the student’s age-group

b. because students need to know that a teacher will devote as much time to misbehavior

as necessary

c. because calling attention to the behavior in front of classmates may be reinforcing

d. because the teacher’s remarks will be easier for the student to hear clearly

77. Three of the following are examples of self-regulation as a means of addressing classroom

misbehaviors. Which one is not a good example of self-regulation?

a. A student thinks, “I paid better attention in class today. I’m going to reward myself by

watching television when I get home from school.”

b. A student keeps track of the number of times he’s gone to the pencil sharpener in a

single day.

c. A student tries hard to earn the reinforcer his teacher has told him he will get for good

behavior.

d. A student reminds herself in a whisper that she should raise her hand before speaking

in class.

78. Three of the following strategies are recommended when teachers confer with a student’s

parents about a chronic behavior problem. Which one is not recommended?

a. Point out that the parents are somewhat responsible for the misbehavior.

b. Assure the parents that the student also has many desirable characteristics.

c. Try to reach an agreement with the parents regarding an appropriate strategy for dealing

with the misbehavior.

d. Acknowledge that raising children in this day and age can be a challenging task.

Final Examination

20

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

79. Which one of the following is the best example of cognitive behavioral therapy as a means of

helping a student acquire effective social skills?

a. beginning with continual reinforcement of appropriate social behavior and then

switching to intermittent reinforcement once such behavior occurs frequently

b. gradually shaping more prosocial behaviors over a period of several months

c. modeling effective interpersonal behaviors and reinforcing the student for using them

with peers

d. simply asking a student to reflect on how his or her existing behaviors are probably

alienating classmates

80. Which one of the following statements most accurately describes aggression and violence in

U.S. schools?

a. Mild forms of aggression are common at school; violent crime is rare and has declined

in recent years.

b. They have been on the increase over the past decade, especially in urban schools.

c. They have been on the increase over the past decade, especially in rural areas.

d. On average, about 5% of high school students are victims of violent crimes at school

each year; this figure has remained constant since 1980.

81. Three of the following practices are associated with reduced violence in schools. Which one is

not associated with reduced school violence?

a. close working relationships with families and community agencies

b. a challenging and motivating curriculum

c. student involvement in school decision making

d. expectations for behavior that are implied rather than explicitly stated

82. Three of the following students show warning signs of possible violent behavior. Which student

does not?

a. Adam speaks about Adolf Hitler with considerable admiration.

b. Brenda rarely arrives at school before 10:00, despite repeated disciplinary actions by

the assistant principal.

c. After his girlfriend breaks up with him and begins dating Russell, Daniel asserts, “I’ll

make that guy sorry he was ever born!”

d. Cora becomes irate each time a peer unintentionally acts in a way that she perceives as

being hostile or harmful.

83. Of the four RSVP characteristics, informal assessment strategies are strongest with respect to:

a. practicality.

b. reliability.

c. standardization.

d. validity.

21

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

84. As a chemistry teacher, you want your students to be able to remember the symbols for any

chemical element (e.g., O is oxygen, C is carbon, Na is sodium, Au is gold) without having any

hints about what each symbol might be. With this objective in mind, you will want to assess

your students’ knowledge using:

a. multiple-choice questions rather than true-false questions.

b. recognition questions rather than recall questions.

c. true-false questions rather than multiple-choice questions.

d. recall questions rather than recognition questions.

85. For which one of the following topics would matching items be most appropriate?

a. rules for playing softball (in a physical education class)

b. strategies for solving algebraic equations (in a math class)

c. meanings of vocabulary words (in a foreign language class)

d. causes of the French and Indian War (in a history class)

86. Only one of the following is consistent with the textbook’s recommendations for constructing

multiple-choice items. Which one is consistent with its recommendations?

a. When in doubt, use items from the test-item manual that a textbook publisher provides.

b. Put negative words and prefixes (no, not, un-, etc.) in both the stem and the possible

answers to assess students’ logical reasoning ability.

c. Use distractors that reflect common misconceptions about the topic.

d. Make the correct answer more precise than the other alternatives.

87. Which one of the following is an advantage of essay questions over recognition questions?

a. Essays typically have greater predictive validity.

b. Essays allow easier assessment of higher-level skills.

c. Essays allow a broader sampling of the content domain.

d. Essays can be scored with greater reliability.

88. The four teachers below are using a mastery-learning approach in their classrooms. With the

textbook’s discussion of classroom assessment practices in mind, choose the teacher who has

the best policy regarding retakes of assessments.

a. When students don’t demonstrate mastery the first time, Mr. Firenze gives them a

similar, but not identical, assessment instrument the second time.

b. Mr. Ingersol allows his students to retake the same quiz as many times as they need to

in order to pass a unit.

c. Ms. Saldano knows that students will study more thoroughly if they know they have one

chance to be assessed, so she does not allow retakes under any circumstances.

d. Ms. Huang has all students take the same assessment at least twice so that testing

procedures will be fair for everyone.

22

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

89. Why might you decide to conduct an item analysis for one of your classroom tests?

a. to determine the content validity of your test

b. to determine the number of test items that you should include on the test

c. to determine whether to use recall or recognition items on the test

d. to detect invalid test items and items that are too easy or too difficult

90. What role do item discrimination values from an item analysis play in the use of classroom

assessments?

a. They tell us whether items distinguish between high-scoring and low-scoring students.

b. They tell us how many students in the class got each item correct.

c. They tell us whether each item assesses lower-level or higher-level thinking skills.

d. They give students feedback about how well they did on different kinds of test items.

91. Three of the following accurately describe how student diversity is likely to affect our ability to

assess students’ learning fairly and validly. Which statement is not accurate?

a. Some students may think that classroom assessment tasks are irrelevant to their lives

outside of school.

b. Boys put forth more effort on assigned tasks than girls do.

c. Students from some cultures are reluctant to perform in public until they have

completely mastered a skill.

d. Students from some cultures prefer to work in groups rather than alone.

92. Three of the following strategies are consistent with the textbook’s recommendations for

accommodating students with special needs during classroom assessments. Which strategy is

not consistent with the textbook’s recommendations?

a. Minimize reliance on reading skills if students have low reading ability.

b. Use informal assessment to either confirm or disconfirm the results of formal

assessments.

c. Reward high-achieving students by announcing how well they’ve done.

d. Break lengthy tasks into shorter pieces if students have limited attention spans.

93. Which one of the following is something you should consider when you decide whether to use

criterion-referenced scores or norm-referenced scores to summarize how well your students

have performed on a classroom assessment?

a. Norm-referenced scores are more useful when you want to assess students’ mastery of

your instructional objectives.

b. Criterion-referenced scores are more useful when you need to compare your students to

one another.

c. Criterion-referenced scores are more useful when you need to compare your students’

performance to the typical performance of students nationwide.

d. Norm-referenced scores may be helpful when you need to assess a complex skill that is

difficult to define in terms of mastery.

23

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

94. Three of the statements below describe problems inherent in assigning final grades as

summaries of students’ achievement in the classroom. Which statement is not accurate about

grading?

a. Students learn less when they know they are being graded.

b. Final grades from different teachers do not always reflect the same level of

achievement.

c. The practice of assigning final course grades tends to focus students’ attention on

performance goals rather than mastery goals.

d. The importance placed on final course grades discourages students from taking risks

that may lower their GPA.

95. The father of one of your students criticizes the fact that you base your grades partly

on students’ paper-pencil test scores. You need to defend your use of such tests as a way of

evaluating students. Three of the following are appropriate ways you might respond to the

father’s concern. Which statement is not accurate?

a. Your tests provide a way of obtaining systematic samples of your students’ performance.

b. Your tests have been shown to have perfect reliability.

c. Using tests is a fairer and more objective way to evaluate students than grading simply

on the basis of your subjective impressions.

d. You have determined that your tests have content validity for the material you cover in

class.

96. When assigning final class grades, Ms. Zaborowski considers how hard students have worked

throughout the semester. For example, she gives an A to low-ability students who have

performed at the highest level she thinks they are capable of. In contrast, she will give only

a B or C to high-ability students who achieve at that same level because she knows they are

not performing up to their potential. From the textbook’s perspective, is Ms. Zaborowski’s

grading policy appropriate?

a. Yes, because it gives lower-ability students a chance to receive higher grades in relation

to their peers and therefore increases their self-esteem.

b. No, because it involves a subjective judgment of effort. It would be appropriate if

she defined effort objectively, such as by the number of hours students spend on their

homework.

c. No, because it penalizes those students who are more knowledgeable to begin with.

d. Yes, but only if she is teaching at the secondary level. The policy is inappropriate at the

elementary level.

24

Final Examination

PSY 430 Educational Psychology

97. Imagine that, as a teacher, you are administering a high-stakes achievement test to your

students. You have three English language learners in your class, none of whom knew English

before immigrating to this country: François (who immigrated 9 months ago and is now getting

individual tutoring in English); Mei-Li (who immigrated 3 years ago and spent the first 2 years

in a bilingual education program); and Maria (who immigrated 7 years ago and is now doing

well in her English-only classes). Given what you’ve learned about the amount of time it

typically takes for children to master English as a second language, which of these students

has/have probably acquired sufficient knowledge of English to earn valid scores on the

high-stakes test?

a. both Mei-Li and Maria

b. all three of them

c. only Maria

d. none of them

98. Three of the following are recommended strategies for accommodating students’ special needs

during educational assessments. Which one is not necessarily recommended?

a. using an assessment instrument different from the one given to nondisabled classmates

b. giving a shorter version of an assessment than that given to nondisabled classmates

c. excusing a student from an assessment

d. reading aloud the questions on a paper-pencil test

99. Only one of the following practices is permissible under the Family Educational Rights and

Privacy Act. Which one?

a. placing graded tests in a basket for students to sort through

b. sharing a student’s school records with parents upon their request

c. asking students to write an essay test defending their choice of political party

d. posting test grades using student’s birth dates rather than their names

100. Only one of the following teachers is behaving in accordance with the textbook’s guidelines as

he or she explains a student’s standardized test results to parents at a parent-teacher

conference. Which one is it?

a. Mr. Spock gives parents a detailed description of the test items and shows how a table

of specifications for the test closely matches his classroom curriculum.

b. Mr. Muldar smiles and confesses, “I’m not sure what these scores mean myself. Let’s look at the booklet I have about the test and see if we can figure them out.”

c. Mr. Kirk helps parents make sense of the percentile ranks and stanines that their child has earned.

d. Ms. Sculley suggests that parents take a basic statistics course at the local community college so that they can better understand their child’s standard scores.