Human Development: A Life-span View 7th Sample Test for Ch. 11

In Vygotsky's theory, three of the following would be considered lower mental functions. Which one would be considered a higher mental function?

Adding 3 and 3 to get 6

Three of the following are examples of communities of practice. Which of the following is not?

Adult males waiting for a light to change at a street corner

Eight-year-old Julie lives in a rural area where many people are farmers or in some other way make their living through agriculture. After a lengthy summer drought, it begins to rain heavily one day in late July. "Thank goodness!" Julie hears her father exclaim. "Our prayers have finally been answered!" Julie makes a mental note of the cause-effect relationship her father has implied—in particular, that prayer can lead to rain. This situation illustrates Vygotsky's belief that:

Adults pass along to children the ways in which their culture interprets events.

Which one of the following issues reflects a fundamental difference between Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories of cognitive development?

How much children require adult guidance to make cognitive gains

Which of the following most closely defines Uri Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory?

Humans develop by participating in separate, but interacting systems.

Which one of the following examples best illustrates the concept of distributed cognition?

Jacquie, Linda, and DeWayne discuss various ways they might solve a physics problem.

Kiley is having trouble learning the steps involved in using a microscope correctly. If we consider Vygotsky's description of how children can help themselves through difficult tasks, we should suggest that Kiley:

Talk herself through the steps

Three of the following are consistent with the textbook's recommendations for using peer tutoring. Which one is inconsistent with the textbook's recommendations?

Tutors function most effectively when left to teach in ways that they develop on their own.

Which one of the following teachers is using reciprocal teaching?

Working with a small group, Mr. Bromley gives each student a chance to ask questions of other group members regarding a section of text they are reading.

Three of the following are typical elements of effective cooperative learning sessions. Which one is not typical of such sessions?

Groups consist of several students of similar ability.

Students in a fourth-grade reading group are reading a passage about snakes. Their teacher asks, "Who can think of a good title that summarizes what this passage is about?" After hearing several good suggestions, the teacher says, "The author says that snakes are helpful to farmers. What evidence does she give to support her statement?" If we consider Vygotsky's concept of internalization, we might predict that such a discussion will:

Help students develop effective reading comprehension strategies (e.g., summarizing, looking for supporting statements).

According to the Uri Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, which of the following is an example of a child's microsystem?

The relationship between the child and his or her parents

In Vygotsky's view, opportunities to engage in pretend play (e.g., playing "house" or "doctor") have which one of the following effects?

They allow children to practice adult behaviors.

Three of the following are strategies that good readers use to enhance their comprehension. Which one is not?

They read through material relatively quickly.

Which one of the following statements best describes Vygotsky's concept of internalization?

Through their social interactions with other people, children acquire ways of mentally approaching and thinking about challenging tasks.

Three of the following are benefits of peer interaction in the classroom. Which one is not a typical benefit of peer interaction?

Peer-group discussions promote more rapid learning of classroom subject matter.

If you were to criticize Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development in a way that contemporary theorists sometimes do, which one of the following would you be most likely to say?

"It's a bit vague in its explanations of how development occurs."

Ms. Killian and her fourth graders have been growing sunflowers under various conditions—they have grown sunflowers in different kinds of soil, with different amounts of water, and in varying degrees of sunlight. Below are four statements that Ms. Killian makes related to the sunflowers. Which one is most consistent with the idea of a cognitive apprenticeship?

"This sunflower is taller than that sunflower over there. Let's consider what the growing conditions for the two flowers have been and try to figure out what might have led to the difference we see."

Which one of the following common expressions best reflects the idea of distributed cognition?

"Two heads are better than one."

A community of learners can best be described as:

A classroom in which a cooperative spirit of helping one another learn prevails.

According to the textbook, technology based collaborative learning programs are helpful to learners because the provide which of the following?

A community of learners

Which one of the following statements best describes intersubjectivity?

A mutual understanding between two people that each one knows what the other one is seeing, thinking, or feeling

After explaining what sines and cosines are, a high school math teacher shows students how they might use these concepts in constructing a large building. Which one of the following principles does this scenario best illustrate?

Acquiring the cognitive tools of one's culture enables youngsters to live and work more effectively.

Xavier loves to write poetry. Often he uses techniques that his favorite poets use, but typically he modifies these techniques to better suit his own style. This situation illustrates which one of the following concepts in Vygotsky's theory?

Appropriation

Which one of the following examples best shows one or more students using a procedure known as guided peer questioning (also known as elaborative interrogation) while studying?

As LaWanda and Megan study their history book together, they take turns making up and asking each other questions about why various historical events may have happened the way they did.

Which one of the following is the best example of a mediated learning experience?

As Ms. Robinson takes a group of children hiking, she gathers leaves from maple, oak, and elm trees and points out the ways in which the leaves from the trees are distinctly different.

Which one of the following alternatives is the best example of a socially construction memory?

As they sip their milkshakes at a local diner, two friends recall and talk about various scenes from a scary movie they've just seen at the movie theater.

Which one of the following students is definitely working in his or her zone of proximal development?

Berta is beginning to learn basic woodworking techniques. She has trouble hammering a nail straight into a piece of wood unless her teacher stands beside her, helping her and reminding her of what to do.

In Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development, what important role does inner speech play?

By giving themselves directions about the things to do and in what order, children guide themselves through complex tasks.

Central to Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development is the idea that children increasingly make better sense of their world:

By interacting with more experienced people who mediate their understandings

Which one of the following statements most accurately describes Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development?

Children progress, in part, by working on difficult tasks with the assistance of more competent individuals.

Which one of the following examples best shows one or more students using a procedure known as scripted cooperation while studying?

Danny and Emma are second graders who are working on their reading comprehension. Their teacher gives them a structured activity to do together to uncover the storyline of a new book.

Ms. Villanueva has her students engage in a variety of activities in her middle school geography class. Three of the activities described below are authentic activities. Which one is not an authentic activity?

Describing the difference between latitude and longitude

Which one of the following is the best example of an authentic activity?

Designing a bridge using principles of physics

Which one of the following is the best example of problem-based learning?

Devising a way to move a large, heavy object using principles of physics

From Vygotsky's perspective, why do cultural differences exist in people's cognitive abilities?

Different cultures pass along somewhat different cognitive tools.

Which of the following pairs of concepts reflects the general idea that challenge is important for cognitive development?

Disequilibrium and ZPD

Researchers have found that when we human beings think about performing a particular physical skill (e.g., using scissors, dribbling a basketball), we activate some of the same brain regions that we use when actually executing that skill. Which one of the following concepts best reflects this research finding?

Embodiment

Several parents who are making costumes for an elementary school play ask the young cast members to assist them with such tasks as cutting fabric, pinning pieces together, and sewing simple hems. Using the language of Vygotskian theorists, we can say that the parents are:

Engaging the students in guided participation (also know as legitimate peripheral participation)

If you wanted to take a Vygotskian approach to teaching students a new study strategy, you would be most likely to:

Initially work collaboratively with students in applying the strategy, gradually withdrawing your support as they become more proficient in using it.

Using the guidelines presented in the textbook regarding when classroom discussions are most valuable, choose the topic below that would be most appropriate for a classroom discussion.

Interpreting Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven

From a Vygotskian perspective, scaffolding serves what purpose in instruction?

It supports children as they perform difficult tasks.

Vygotsky proposed that thought and language are:

Largely independent before age two but closely connected thereafter

In three of the following situations, interactions with peers might promote considerable learning. In which situation is an interaction with an adult (rather than with peers) more likely to be beneficial?

Learning how to use a microscope correctly

Three of the following teachers are providing scaffolding to help their students learn. Which one is not necessarily providing scaffolding?

Mr. Donaldson takes his students on an all-day field trip to the art museum.

Three of the teachers below are using strategies consistent with the textbook's recommendations for holding class discussions. Which teacher is using a strategy that is not consistent with the textbook's recommendations?

Mr. Morris has students discuss a topic about which they know almost nothing.

Which one of the following is the best example of dynamic assessment?

Mr. Warren observes and records how Erica's logical thinking changes over time as she experiments with a pendulum.

Three of the following are definite examples of scaffolding. Identify the situation in which no scaffolding is described.

Ms. Ayotte likes to challenge her students by giving them group research projects. She puts her students in groups of three or four students each, and she gives each student a topic to research. She sends the groups to the school library to find out as much as they can about their topic, and then has each group give a report to the entire class.

Which one of the following teachers is using the recommended approach to evaluate students' achievement in a cooperative learning situation?

Ms. Donaldson gives students a quiz over the material that groups have studied; students get extra credit if everyone in their group scores high.

Mr. Johansen, a sixth-grade teacher, wants to improve his students' ability to learn effectively from what they read in their textbooks. Considering research results described in your Human Learning text, which technique should Mr. Johansen use?

Reciprocal teaching

Three of the following are examples of scaffolding. Which of the following is not?

Repeatedly stating that the task at hand is difficult

Nine-year-old Ricky has recently learned how to solve long division problems, and he still struggles with especially difficult problems. At his mother's request, he helps his 8-year-old sister Lucy with the simple long division problems she must do for her math homework. From the perspective of Vygotsky's theory, which one of the following is most likely to result?

Ricky's own long division skills will improve because he will internalize the instructions he gives Lucy.

Mary takes care of several toddlers and preschoolers while their parents work during the day. One warm spring day, she has the children in a fenced-in area behind her home. A large dog comes running up to the fence. As the dog approaches, 2-year-old Todd looks at Mary. When he sees that she appears frightened, he immediately starts to cry. What phenomenon is Todd displaying in this situation?

Social referencing

Three of the following are likely to enhance the effectiveness of a community of learners. Which one is least likely to be helpful?

Students all try to master the same topic.

Three of the following are possible reasons why classroom dialogues help students better understand classroom subject matter. Which one is not necessarily a benefit of classroom dialogues?

Students are more likely to form visual images related to their ideas when they describe those ideas to others.

Three of the following are potential disadvantages of a cooperative learning activity. Which one has not been identified as a disadvantage?

Students generally have lower self-efficacy when they study with peers rather than alone.

Which one of the following alternatives is the best example of service learning?

Students in a biology class collect samples of local pond water, evaluate them for bacteria content, and report their findings to the city health department.

Which one of the following best illustrates the use of base groups in cooperative learning?

Students in a history class spend the last five minutes of each class session in small, semester-long groups in which they can compare class notes and help one another with sources of confusion.

Communities of learners often create conceptual artifacts as they study a topic. Which one of the following is the best example of such an artifact?

Students jointly create a diagram that helps them understand the water cycle. They occasionally revise it as they learn more about evaporation and condensation.

Which one of the following best reflects technology-based collaborative learning as the textbook describes it?

Students post their work on a shared database, give one another feedback, and build on one another's ideas.

According to the textbook technology based collaborative learning programs have many benefits. Which of the following is least likely to a benefit?

Students want to talk about that they have learned with their friends and family, which gives them more experience with the topic

Three of the following are potential drawbacks to instructional techniques that depend heavily on student discussion. Which one is least likely to be a drawback?

Students who believe that there is a single "right" perspective on any issue are more likely to participate than students who realize that several perspectives may all have legitimacy.

Which one of the following is the best example of a cognitive tool?

The concept pi (π) in a geometry class

Which one of the following situations best illustrates situated learning?

Twelve-year-old Andrew bakes often at home and can easily figure out how much flour he needs when he cuts in half a cookie recipe that calls for 21/4 cups of flour. Yet Andrew has trouble making similar calculations in his math class.

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

Two students discuss possible interpretations of the proverb "A stitch in time saves nine."

According to the textbook, which is the following is a cognitive benefit of video-games?

Video-games provide "real world" environments and decision opportunities

If you were interested in how a child's culture influences cognitive development, you would be most likely to consider _______ approach to cognitive development.

Vygotsky's

Which one of the following cooperative groups is using the jigsaw technique?

When studying types of mountains (volcanic, dome, fold, and block), each student studies one type and teaches what he or she has learned to other group members.