PSY 430 – EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

PRE-TEST EXAM
1. Which one of the following is the BEST example of elaboration?
a. Rosie repeats the spelling of each word several times the night before her spelling test. (contradicts misconception on pg. 4)
b. Melissa makes up stories to help her remember the various species she studies in biology. (pg. 25; Ch. 6)
c. Logan copies a friend’s answers to last night’s homework assignment.
d. Sharon automatically knows how to study effectively for an upcoming history test.
One especially effective strategy is elaboration: using prior knowledge to expand or embellish on a new idea in some way, perhaps by drawing inferences from certain historical facts, identifying new examples of a
scientific concept, or thinking of situations in which a mathematical procedure might be helpful

2. With the help of three teacher aides, a kindergarten teacher gives her students a standardized school readiness test on the first day of class.
Given what we know about such tests, what is the BEST thing to do with the test results?
a. meet with the parents of low-scoring children to ask them to consider placing their children in preschool or Head Start for the year.
b. suggest to the principal that low-scoring children be placed in a more intensive “pre-kindergarten” class; these children would then
attend kindergarten the following year.
c. suggest to the principal that high-scoring children be placed in a first-grade class instead.
d. use the results to form tentative hypotheses about where it would be best to begin instructio n.
(Ch. 14; pg. 520) For example, any mandated standardized tests of students’ general achievement levels in particular content domains must—for better or for worse—influence the topics and skills on which we focus in our teaching.
(Ch. 15; 579) Use test results for instructional planning, not for deciding whether students are ready to begin formal schooling
(Ch. 15; pg. 584) Never use a single test score to make important decisions
(Ch. 14; pg. 478) School readiness tests can often give us an idea of where to begin instruction with particular children. But as a general rule, we should not use them to identify children who should postpone formal schooling

3. Olivia understands why 3/5 and 9/15 are equivalent fractions. Based on this information, from Piaget’s perspective Olivia is probably in the
__________ stage of development.
a. concrete operations (emerges at about 6 or 7 y.o.)
b. preoperational (emerges at about 2 y.o.)
c. sensorimotor (begins at birth)
d. formal operations (Ch. 2; pg. 51) (formal operations stage: emerges at about 11 or 12 y.o.)
Many capabilities essential for advanced reasoning in science and mathematics appear…Proportional reasoning: Conceptual understanding of fractions, percentages, decimals, and ratios

4. An item analysis of an assessment instrument involves ______.

a. looking at the information covered in class, making sure that everything is covered by the questions and tasks presented
b. rereading the instrument before giving it to make sure all items are clearly stated
c. looking at students’ response patterns to detect possibly poor items (Ch. 14; pg. 554) (inferred)
d. scrutinizing item content to determine if any cultural bias is present

5. When asked to develop and test their own hypotheses, high-school students with a confirmation bias will ______.
a. propose a hypothesis that they already believe to be false
b. propose a hypothesis that they already believe to be true (Ch. 8; pg. 298)
c. have difficulty controlling the variables they select
d. continually ask themselves whether they are being objective
Confirmation bias: tendency to seek information that confirms rather than discredits current beliefs
Middle school and high school students are better able to separate and control variables than elementary school children, but even they occasionally have trouble doing so. Furthermore, in their hypothesis testing, they
tend to focus on and test hypotheses they think are correct and to ignore evidence that contradicts their hypotheses or for some other reason strikes them as implausible

6. In Ms. Chapman’s math class, students who take a classroom assessment receive scores of either “Mastered” or “Not mastered” in four different
areas: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. What type of scores is Ms. Chapman using?
a. raw scores
b. stanine scores
c. norm-referenced scores
d. criterion-referenced scores (Ch. 15; pg. 562; 568) (applicable because test content is not measuring complex skills; instead, measures specific instructional goals/standards have been achieved)

7. Poor nutrition is a problem for many children who live in poverty. Which one of the following situations is likely to be associated with poor
nutrition?
a. Hilda has problems with mathematics but is otherwise a bright and attentive student.
b. Even though Yvonne tries hard in school and pays attention most of the time, she has difficulty learning anything abstract.
c. Jill appears to have trouble remembering things and does not seem motivated to achieve in school. (Ch. 4; pg. 140)
d. Lonnie learns things easily but does not work very hard in class. He is often too busy fooling around with friends to pay attention in
class.
…can lead to impairments in children’s attention, memory, and learning ability…And inadequate health care means that some conditions that interfere with school attendance and performance… higher-than-average rates
of depression and other emotional problems

8. Of the following, the MOST effective strategy for promoting advanced thinking skills in students who have advanced cognitive development is to
______.
a. teach techniques for minimizing the load on working memory when solving complicated problems
b. model general thinking skills that will transfer across content areas
c. encourage and respond positively when students ask unusual or unanticipated questions (Ch. 7; pg. 264)
d. provide opportunities for these students to collaborate with students with diverse abilities and interests
Accept and encourage divergent thinking, including unanticipated yet appropriate responses… Encourage critical analysis of ideas, opinions, and evidence.

9. Three of the following strategies are likely to promote moral development. Which one, although possibly appropriate in certain situations, is NOT
likely to promote students’ moral development?
a. giving students reasons why some behaviors are unacceptable (TRUE) (Ch. 3; pg. 104)
b. having students discuss moral issues related to classroom subject matter (TRUE) (Ch. 3; pg. 108)
c. making sure that students know who is “boss” in the classroom
d. modeling morally appropriate behavior (TRUE) (Ch. 3; pg. 107)
(a.) When students misbehave, give reasons that such behaviors are unacceptable
(b.) disequilibrium…classroom discussions of controversial topics and moral issues can promote increased perspective taking and a gradual transition to more advanced reasoning
(d.) Ideally, society’s prosocial messages must be consistently conveyed through other people’s behaviors
10. Why are standard scores often preferred to percentile scores?
a. because they are a more accurate reflection of differences among students (Ch. 15; pg. 569)
b. because they always have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 (FALSE: mean = average of a set of scores)
c. because they give us a better idea of what students do and do not know (FALSE: applicable to non-norm-referenced scores)
d. because they are usually easier for parents to understand (FALSE)
Percentile scores: They distort actual differences among students; they overestimate differences near the mean and underestimate differences at the extremes
Standard scores: Unfortunately, not all standard scores use the same scale: Scores used for various tests have different means and standard deviations; not easily understood by people who don’t have some basic
knowledge of statistics; More accurate in characterizing students’ ability differences than grade-equivalent scores, age-equivalent scores, or percentile ranks

11. Which one of the following conclusions can be derived from research findings regarding Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
a. Middle school and secondary school students typically have an easier time thinking logically in the social sciences than they do in the
physical and life sciences.
b. Students will think more logically about a topic when they have acquired relevant knowledge and experiences related to the
topic. (Ch. 2; pg. 49-50)
c. Many students continue to show signs of preoperational thinking until well into the high school years.
d. Students have an easier time understanding fractions and proportions later on if such concepts are first introduced at the same time
that division is introduced (e.g., in third grade).
Children continually learn new things through two complementary processes: assimilation and accommodation… Children interpret each new event within the context of their existing knowledge (assimilation) but at the
same time may modify their knowledge as a result of the new event (accommodation). Accommodation rarely happens without assimilation: Children can benefit from, or accommodate to, new experiences only when they
can relate those experiences to their current knowledge and beliefs

12. Which teacher below seems to be using differentiated instruction in his/her classroom?
a. Mr. Miller carefully constructs worksheets that provide additional information for his history of America class.
b. Ms. Annan reviews students’ work daily to determine if her students are falling behind in their work.
c. Ms. Moore prepares different worksheets for students based on how they are currently doing in her class. (Ch. 5; pg. 184)
(inferred)
d. Mr. Einstein provides very detailed and constructive feedback on students’ writing assignments.
Differentiated instruction—instruction that is tailored to align with each student’s current knowledge, skills, and needs; Ideally, instruction is individually tailored for all students

13. As the textbook points out, assessment in the classroom can take a variety of forms. Three of the following are examples of assessment in the
classroom. Which one definitely does not, in and of itself, illustrate assessment?
a. A teacher decides to use a new approach to teach science this year. (Ch. 14; pg. 518-520) (FALSE)
b. A teacher observes that Lani rarely interacts with her classmates during recess.
c. A teacher sees her students growing increasingly restless during a lengthy lecture.
d. A teacher asks students to write an essay describing the pros and cons of a free enterprise system.
Assessment: is a process of observing a sample of a student’s behavior and drawing inferences about the student’s knowledge and abilities.
(1) observation of behavior
(2) sample of behavior
(3) drawing inferences from observed behaviors to make judgements about students’ overall achievements and abilities; critical to select behaviors that can provide reasonably accurate estimates of what students know and can do

14. Which one of the following is the BEST illustration of the “evaluate” level in the recent revision of Bloom’s taxonomy?
a. Angela discovers fallacies in her teacher’s argument regarding the value of an agricultural economy in Africa. (Ch. 12; pg. 439)
b. Connie dissects an earthworm and looks for its digestive system. (#4: Analyze)
c. Using a principle he learned in physics, Edgar develops a new tool to lift a heavy object. (#3: Apply or #6: Create)
d. Georgette puts her textbook’s definition of the word evasive in her own words. (#2: Understand)
Bloom’s taxonomy: Taxonomy of six cognitive processes, varying in complexity, that lessons might be designed to foster
(5.) Evaluate: Making judgments about information using certain criteria or standards

15. Which one of the following behaviors is a kindergartner MOST likely to say is (morally) “bad” or “wrong”?
a. arriving at school after class has started
b. pushing someone off the top of a slide (Ch. 3; pg. 104)
c. stating an obvious untruth (e.g., “grass is red”)
d. giving someone food that doesn’t taste very good
When Jake pushes Otis off the ladder of a playground slide, several classmates are horrified. One child shouts, “That’s wrong!” and three others rush to Otis’s side to make sure he’s not hurt

16. Given what we know about changes in self-esteem over the years, which teachers should be especially careful to help students feel good
about themselves and their abilities to succeed?
a. third-grade teachers
b. middle school teachers (Ch. 3; pg. 85)
c. high school teachers who teach advanced courses
d. high school coaches and physical education teachers
Students’ self-concepts and self-esteem often drop as they make the transition from elementary school to middle school or junior high, with the drop being more pronounced for girls

17. Which one of the following BEST describes Piaget’s notion of equilibration?
a. A child assimilates without accommodating.
b. A child accommodates without assimilating.
c. A child doesn’t encounter any new or challenging ideas.
d. A child revises existing schemes to incorporate new information. (Ch. 2; pg. 50)
They can comfortably interpret and respond to new events using existing schemes

18. Meshawn is thinking about the many different ways in which the concept of a lever might be applied to everyday problems. Meshawn is
exhibiting ______.
a. bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
b. situated cognition
c. convergent thinking
d. divergent thinking (Ch. 7; pg. 257)
(a.) bodily–kinesthetic intelligence: Ability to use one’s body skillfully
(b.) situated cognition (situated learning): tendency for some responses and cognitive processes to be associated with and retrieved in some contexts but not others (Ch. 6; pg. 220)
(c.) convergent thinking: (problem-solving) to successfully tackle a problem, we typically pull together two or more pieces of information into an integrated whole that resolves the problem. This combining of information into
a single idea
(d.) divergent thinking: (creativity) often begin with a single idea and take it in a variety of directions, at least one of which leads to something that’s new, original, and culturally appropriate. This process of generating many
different ideas (i.e. considering how something might be used in different contexts)
from a single starting point

19. All of the following strategies are certainly beneficial, but only one is likely to foster resilience in students who live in difficult and challenging
circumstances. Which strategy is known to foster resilience?
a. show students how academic tasks are relevant to their personal lives
b. give students both positive and negative feedback when it is appropriate to do so
c. be an active and visible participant in community programs in students’ neighborhoods
d. take a personal interest in students’ welfare and show them that they can turn to you in times of need (Ch. 4; pg. 141-142)
(+) Be a dependable source of academic and emotional support: For example, resilient students often mention teachers who have taken a personal interest in them and been instrumental in their school success
(+) Build on students’ strengths
(+) Identify and provide missing resources and experiences important for successful learning

20. Mr. Jones, a physical education teacher, notices that some of his students are better basketball players than others. He wonders if having a
basketball net at home fosters the development of basketball skills. He gives his students a short survey that asks them if they have a basketball
net at home. Sure enough, Mr. Jones finds that the better basketball players are more likely to have a net at home. He concludes that having a
basketball net at home facilitates the development of basketball skills. Is his conclusion appropriate?
a. no, because he didn’t conduct an experimental study (Ch. 1; pg. 27)
b. no, because his study wasn’t conducted in a scientific laboratory
c. yes, provided that his students responded truthfully to the survey
d. yes, because he used random assignment
Instead, Mr. Jones conducted a correlational study, which is significantly limited by its inability to explain why such relationships exist, only that they do

21. Which one of the following BEST describes how neurons transmit messages to one another?
a. by stimulating the flow of blood in nearby blood vessels
b. by attaching themselves to the same terminal buttons
c. by fusing the axon of one with a dendrite of another
d. by sending chemical substances across a tiny gap between them (Ch. 1; pg. 45)
Curiously, neurons don’t actually touch one another. Instead, they send chemical messages to their neighbors across tiny spaces known as synapses

22. Which one of the following is the BEST example of summative evaluation?
a. Ms. Vickery gives her social studies students a quiz at the end of a unit to determine how well they have learned the material
in the unit. (Ch. 12; pg. 518)
b. Mr. Waters gives his history students a quiz at midterm to determine whether he needs to spend more time on certain aspects of the
Constitution.
c. Ms. Yarborough gives her German students weekly exams to make sure they are keeping up with the material.
d. Mr. Zeller gives his science students a pretest before beginning a unit on water to determine how much they already know.
Summative assessment (summative evaluation): Assessment conducted after instruction to assess students’ final achievement (pg. 636)

23. An instructional objective that requires students to identify the different parts of speech in a sentence is at which level in the recent revision of
Bloom’s taxonomy?
a. “create”
b. “remember”
c. “analyze” (Ch. 12; pg. 439)
d. “evaluate”
(4.) Analyze: Breaking information into its constituent parts and perhaps also identifying interrelationships among the parts

24. Which one of the following would typically be MOST appropriate for assessing the specific things students have learned in a three-week unit
about rocks and minerals?
a. informal assessment (involves a spontaneous, unplanned observation of something a student says or does)
b. a standardized test (general achievement and ability levels)
c. a norm-referenced assessment instrument (how well each student’s performance compares with the performance of peers)
d. a teacher-developed assessment instrument (Ch. 14; pg. 518-520) (learning and achievement related to specific instructional
objectives)

25. To remember the four states that come together at a single point (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah), Marcia remembers “CANU”
(pronounced like “canoe”). Marcia’s technique illustrates the use of ______.
a. the keyword method
b. visual imagery
c. verbal mediation
d. a superimposed meaningful structure (Ch. 6; pg. 214) (i.e. PEMDAS for math)