EF L2 T1 Midterm 1 Swan, learning

A boy named Peter had two brothers. Peter was the youngest in his family. He was small and weak.

Peter‘s brothers were mean. They made fun of him. When anything went wrong, they said he did it. And they made him do their work. 

Peter did not like his life. He wanted to find a way to make his life better. 

One day, Peter went into the woods. He was collecting sticks. He thought about his life. He began to cry. 

A little old woman heard him. She asked Peter Why he was crying.  Peter told her about his brothers and his hard life. "The world is a big place. Why don’t you find another place to live?" she asked.  Peter thought, "That is a good idea!" 

One morning, Peter left his home to start a better life. But he loved his childhood home. He sat down on a hill. He looked at his home one last time with a heavy heart.  The old woman walked up behind him. She asked, "What are you going to do now, my boy?"  Peter did not know. 

Multiple Choice

What advice did the old woman give to Peter?

• Fight your brothers

• Forgive your brothers

• Make some distance with your brothers, but come back

• Find another place to live

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT a reason why Peter did not like his life?

• He was poor.

• He was small and weak.

• His brothers made him do their work.

• His brothers made fun of him.

Multiple Choice

Where did Peter meet the old woman?

• In a forest

• Close to his house

• In the city

• At a castle

The old woman knew what Peter was thinking. "I like you, Peter," she said. "I will help you. But remember me when you are rich." Peter promised not to forget her. 

"At sunset," the old woman said, "go to the treehouse go to the tree where the two roads meet. A man will be sleeping under the tree. He will have a beautiful swan. It will be tied to the tree. Untie the swan. Take it with you. But do not wake up the man." Peter started to go.  The old woman said, "Wait. There is more. The swan is very beautiful. People will want its feathers. You must let them try to take one. But the Swan will scream when it is touched." The old woman went on. "It is a magic swan. When it screams, you must say 'Hold on, Swan!' Then anyone touching the swan will be stuck to it." Then she gave Peter a magic stick. The old woman said, take the stick. Touch anyone stuck to this one. Then he or she will not be stuck. 
"You will catch many people with this one. Lead them to the Princess. The Princess has never left. If you can make her laugh, you will be rich."
That night, Peter did as she said. He found the swan and untied it. Peter took the swan down the road.

Multiple Choice

What will people do when they see the swan?

• Try to take the swan's feathers

• Steal the swan

• steal the magic stick

Multiple Choice

How does Peter get the swan?

• He offers to help the old woman.

• He steals it from a sleeping man.

• He finds it in a lake.

• It magically appears.

Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of the magic stick?

• To make the swan scream

• To make someone fall asleep

• To unstick someone who touched the swan

• To make the princess fall in love

How exactly do we learn new information? According to An American psychiatrist named Glasser, we learn 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what is discussed with others, 80% of what is experienced personally, and 95% of what we teach to someone else. Although these percentages would be hard to prove scientifically, many college students agree with the theory in general. Students read hundreds of pages for a class, but once the semester is over, the information from that reading is a distant memory. On the other hand, years later, students are able to recall a special project they worked on or presentation they gave. This shows how our brains work. The more we are required to do with a piece of information, the better we are at remembering it.

Passive methods of learning—reading, hearing, and seeing—do not seem to require much from the students. Students seem to simply receive the new information. Mentally, however, the students are hard at work. They have to figure out the meanings of the words and what information they already know about the subject. These passive learning methods are the building blocks for long-term learning.

Multiple Choice

it is more effective to hear and see than it is to say and do.

• False

• True

Multiple Choice

Passive processes don’t require any mental work.

• False

• True

Active methods take learning a few steps further. These methods—discussing, experiencing, and teaching—build on the passive ones. Once students receive new information and apply it to what they already know, then they can speak about it, or experience it. A chemistry student, for example, may not be able to conduct a successful experiment if she hasn’t done the reading or gone to the lecture. But after doing her homework or reading, she is much better prepared not only to conduct the experiment, but also to explain the entire process to a partner. This goes to show that the passive and active learning methods can build upon each other and make learning more effective.

As such, to learn effectively, we should start by using passive learning methods and move on to using the active ones. For example, a college professor knows he must present new information through a lecture before asking his or her students to give a presentation on it. In the same way, a student expects to read about a topic thoroughly before being asked questions about it. Both professor and student understand this to be the logical process of learning. So, how do we learn? We learn step-by-step, using both passive and active methods.

Multiple Choice

Learning new information is a step-by-step process.

• False

• True

Multiple Choice

We should start learning with active methods then move on to passive ones.

• False

• True