Chapter 1, 2, 3 Review

Which one of the following alternatives best describes learner-centered instruction?

• Instruction that is tailored to students' characteristics and behaviors

• Instruction in which students determine the specific topics they will study

• Instruction geared primarily toward students who are highly motivated to learn

• Instruction geared primarily toward students who are not very motivated to learn

In psychology, a theory can best be characterized as:

• A description of the results of a particular research study.

• A statement that describes how a particular variable affects learning or development.

• An integrated set of concepts and principles that explain a phenomenon.

• An objective measure of how a person behaves in a particular situation.

Behaviorists view learning differently than information processing theorists and constructivists do. Which one of the following statements best describes the difference?

• Behaviorism focuses on temporary changes; information processing theory and constructivism focus on long-term changes.

• Behaviorism focuses on long-term changes; information processing theory and constructivism focus on temporary changes.

• Behaviorism focuses on observable behaviors; information processing theory and constructivism focus on mental phenomena.

•  Behaviorism focuses on mental phenomena; information processing theory and constructivism focus on observable behaviors.

Social cognitive theory can best be characterized as being concerned with learning:

• Communication skills.

• Through observations of others

• Socially appropriate behaviors.

• From a sociological rather than psychological perspective.

Which one of the following scenarios best reflects the basic idea of individual constructivism?

• A student receives a sticker from his music teacher when he is able to play the F major scale on his saxophone without any mistakes.

• Four students in a study group divide the day's reading assignment into four sections. Each student reads a section and then teaches the material to the other group members.

• A student tries to make sense of a poorly written and confusing magazine article.

• A student watches his physical education teacher as the teacher shows his class the arm motion for throwing a football.

As his teacher reads a story, Wesley pictures the main characters the way he thinks they must look. By forming visual images based on the verbal descriptions his teacher reads, Wesley is ________ those descriptions.

• retrieving

• encoding

• organizing

• using verbal mediation to learn

Considering how psychologists characterize attention, identify the pair of activities that most people would have the most trouble doing at the exact same time.

• Thinking about what to cook for dinner while combing one's hair

• Carrying on a conversation about the meaning of life while walking down the street

• Watching a YouTube video while studying for an exam

• Mentally planning a weekend camping trip while jogging

Successful retrieval of information from long-term memory depends on three of the following factors. On which one does retrieval not depend?

• The duration of a learner's working memory

• The part of long-term memory being searched

• How the information was stored in the first place

• The presence of relevant retrieval cues

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:

• The effects of misconceptions.

• Reconstruction error.

• Decay.

• Failure to retrieve.

Each of the teachers below has students with misconceptions about the material they are studying. Three of the teachers are using strategies that should help their students correct these misconceptions. Which teacher is not using an effective strategy for changing misconceptions?

• Ms. Andersen gives corrective feedback when students make statements that reflect misconceptions.

• Mr. Bissette presents a situation that students cannot adequately explain using their current beliefs about the topic.

• Ms. Caro reminds her students that she will be testing them on the material they are studying.

• Mr. Darren shows students how the true explanation of something is different from, and more plausible than, their existing beliefs.