Educational Psychology Quiz

Of the following factors, which contributes most to students’ learning and development?

• The curriculum that students follow

• The size of the classes students are in

• The students’ school facilities and extracurricular activities

• The students’ teachers

A person who is highly knowledgeable or skilled in a particular domain, such as physics, anesthesiology, or teaching is best describes as a(n):

• professional.

• expert.

• scholar.

• technician.

Which of the following best describes effective teachers?

• Teachers who are defined as highly effective by federal legislation mandates, such as No Child Left Behind or Race to the Top

• Teachers who are highly knowledgeable in a content area, such as math, science, or American literature

• Teachers who are able to produce more learning in their students than would be expected for the students’ background and ability.

• Teachers who are well organized and possess both professional knowledge and professional skills

An elementary school decides to experiment with two different curriculum approaches to language arts. The first focuses on a whole language approach, and the second focuses on word-attack skills, such as phonics. If the schools’ results are consistent with patterns identified by research, which of the following is the most likely outcome?

• The whole-language approach will result in more student learning than will the approach emphasizing phonics in all the elementary grades.

• The approach emphasizing phonics will result in more student learning than will the approach emphasizing whole language in all the elementary grades.

• The approach emphasizing phonics will result in more student learning in the lower elementary grades, but the approach emphasizing whole language will result in more learning in the upper elementary grades.

• The effectiveness of either approach depends on the knowledge and skills of the teacher implementing the program; one is not necessarily better than the other.

Which of the following best describes expert teaching?

• Expert teaching is essentially instinctive, and it is virtually impossible to acquire the skills needed to be an expert teacher in the absence of a great deal of natural ability.

• Some teachers possess more natural ability than others, but expertise can be acquired through study and practice.

• Expertise in teaching is acquired solely through experience in classrooms, and formal study of teaching is largely a waste of time.

• Expert teaching in elementary schools can be developed with study and practice, but expert teaching in middle and secondary schools depends primarily on teachers’ knowledge of content.

Which of the following best describes the differences between effective and ineffective teachers in elementary schools?

• Students who had highly effective teachers in 1st and 2nd grades scored higher than students who had ineffective teachers in the same grades, but the differences largely disappeared by the time the students reached 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.

• Students who had highly effective teachers in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades scored as much as 50 percentile points higher on standardized math tests than students who had ineffective teachers in the same grades.

• Students taught by highly effective teachers learn to be better readers than students taught by ineffective teachers, but differences in other content areas are minimal.

• The differences between effective and ineffective teachers are slight, because student achievement largely depends on the socioeconomic status of parents.

The body of information and skills that is unique to an area of study, such as law, medicine, or teaching is best described as:

• professional knowledge.

• expert knowledge.

• background knowledge.

• formal knowledge.

Of the following, which description is most characteristic of beginning teachers?

• They are realistic, sometimes even pessimistic, about the extent to which they’ll be able to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

• They believe that they will be more effective than teachers now in the field.

• They are unsure of their commitment to teaching.

• They go into teaching for material rewards.

Research indicates that effective teaching requires four kinds of professional knowledge. They include:

• knowledge of content, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of learners and learning, and knowledge of human relations.

• knowledge of content, pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and knowledge of learners and learning.

• pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of learners and learning, and knowledge of human relations.

• knowledge of teaching skills, knowledge of learning styles, knowledge of student learning, and knowledge of content.

Teacher abilities such as questioning and the ability to organize a classroom so it functions smoothly would best be described as:

• knowledge of content.

• pedagogical content knowledge.

• general pedagogical knowledge.

• knowledge of learners and learning.