English 12 A- Unit 1 Exam

Which options best describe how the idea of virtual reality is developed in "Virtual Reality Gets Real"? Select all that apply.

The author quotes many experts in the field, including scientists and engineers, and connects their knowledge to information about virtual reality. The author explains the concept of virtual reality by providing examples of how big companies like Sony and Google are furthering research into it.

Which would be the best format to use to request a raise in pay?

a formal letter

What textual evidence from "This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class" supports the idea that virtual simulations can lead to greater productivity? Select all that apply.

What we found was that flight simulators had been proven over and over again to be far more effective when used in combination with real, in-flight training to train the pilots. And what they found was that when you combined the virtual laboratories with teacher-led coaching and mentoring, then we saw a total 101 percent increase in the learning effectiveness, which effectively doubles the science teacher's impact with the same amount of time spent.

Which option states the best key detail to include in a summary of "Virtual Reality Gets Real"?

Advancements in virtual reality are happening rapidly, and innovations are expected to continue in the future.

Which sentences from "Virtual Reality Gets Real" provide the best textual evidence to support the central idea of the "Engaging All Your Senses" section? Select all that apply.

Closely related is the ability to taste what you see. Researchers in Singapore are developing electrodes that, when placed on your tongue, mimic basic tastes, such as sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Laidlaw is less optimistic—he thinks that creating lifelike haptics will take 100 years—but he agrees that a virtual world may one day be a nearly perfect simulacrum of the real one.

Which passage correctly identifies a key idea of "This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class"?

In order for us to really empower and inspire the next generation of scientists, we really need teachers to drive the adoption of new technologies in the classroom.

Which sentence is written in a formal style and uses an objective tone?

Increasing the availability of books to children can help improve their reading skills.

Read the excerpt from "This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class." So we started looking around for new, innovative teaching methods, but what we found was quite disappointing. We saw that books were being turned into e-books, blackboards were being turned into YouTube videos and lecture hall monologues were being turned into MOOCs—massive online open courses. And if you think about it, all we're really doing here is taking the same content and the same format, and bringing it out to more students—which is great, don't get me wrong, that is really great—but the teaching method is still more or less the same, no real innovation there. How does the information in the excerpt build on the idea that students learning science in universities are bored, disengaged, and confused about what they are learning?

It explains how intended innovations in classroom instruction are not really improvements, giving students no new reasons to become more engaged.

Read the opening paragraph of "Virtual Reality Gets Real." In 1965, Ivan Sutherland, a computer-graphics pioneer, addressed an international meeting of techies on the subject of virtual reality. The ultimate virtual-reality display, he told the audience, would be "a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming, such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked." What uncertainty about virtual reality is suggested by this paragraph?

It is unknown how people might react psychologically to a simulated reality that would appear to be real and scary.

What textual evidence from "This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class" supports the inference that virtual simulation can prompt young students to realize their potential?

Now, imagine if we could bring Ivy League, million-dollar virtual laboratories out to all these students just like Jack, all over the world, and give them the latest, greatest, most fancy machines you can imagine that would quite literally make any scientist in here jump up and down out of pure excitement. And then imagine how that would empower and inspire a whole new generation of young and bright scientists, ready to innovate and change the world.

Which excerpt from "Virtual Reality Gets Real" provides the best evidence for the claim that virtual reality faces pitfalls?

Of course, there could be unintended consequences. Already people are developing vision problems and vitamin‑D deficiencies—not to mention obesity and diabetes—because they spend too much time in front of screens.

Brandon wrote this sentence in an essay. Everyone in the stadium rose to their feet. In peer review, Cara changed their to his or her, but Brandon disagreed. Why are both Brandon and Cara correct?

Our language is changing, and many style guides now permit either their or his or her to follow everyone.

Which options best analyze how the speaker in "This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class" develops the idea that virtual labs can support success in science education? Select all that apply.

The speaker looks at the science needs of the future and then shows ways to engage students in present science classrooms so they become more interested in science. The speaker explains the results of a study showing that when students used virtual laboratories, they learned much more.

Read the excerpt from "Virtual Reality Gets Real." Virtual reality has already proved useful in treating phobias and PTSD. ... Bailenson and others think it could also be used to build empathy. What if you could step inside a documentary, rather than just watching it on a screen—almost literally walking in someone else's shoes? Which context clue from the excerpt best indicates the meaning of the word empathy as it is used in the excerpt?

walking in someone else's shoes

What is a correct definition of the word misconception?

an incorrect conclusion

Read the paragraph from "This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class." So we started looking around for new, innovative teaching methods, but what we found was quite disappointing. We saw that books were being turned into e-books, blackboards were being turned into YouTube videos and lecture hall monologues were being turned into MOOCs—massive online open courses. And if you think about it, all we're really doing here is taking the same content and the same format, and bringing it out to more students—which is great, don't get me wrong, that is really great—but the teaching method is still more or less the same, no real innovation there. In this paragraph, which idea is implied but not directly stated?

There is an inherent lack of originality in the way that content is taught to students.

Read the excerpt from "Virtual Reality Gets Real." During a recent demonstration of Google Cardboard—a DIY headset that's made of cardboard and uses a smartphone for the display—I found myself by turns atop a rocky peak, in a barn next to a snorting horse, and on a gondola making my way up a mountain. The gondola ride gave me vertigo. We react like that, experts say, because our brains are easily fooled when what we see on a display tracks our head movements. "We have a reptilian instinct that responds as if it's real: Don't step off that cliff; this battle is scary," Jeremy Bailenson, the founding director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, told me. "The brain hasn't evolved to tell you it's not real." What kinds of evidence are used in this excerpt, and how does this evidence support the excerpt's point? Select all that apply.

The author's personal experience is used to show that the experience of virtual reality can be authentic and enjoyable. A quotation from a field-specific scientific expert is used to support why the human brain perceives virtual reality like actual reality.

Read the sentence. "Virtual Reality Gets Real" shows that many ideas about how virtual reality can affect human biology are still only theories. What textual evidence supports this statement?

Virtual reality could then become akin to the Singularity, a concept described by Ray Kurzweil, a futurist and Google engineer, among others: a way for our minds to separate from our bodies and, uploaded into a digital realm, live on even as our physical selves grow old and die.

Read the sentence. The audacity of that person, to stand up in the middle of a movie and walk around talking on a cell phone, incensed the other audience members. What does the word audacity mean as it is used in this sentence?

arrogant disregard

Read the sentence. Some crabs cleverly disguise themselves by attaching pieces of sea plants and animals to their backs. Which word most precisely matches the meaning of disguise as it is used in the sentence?

camouflage