Principles of Learning and Teaching: Early Childhood

Which of the following professional strategies is most likely to result in improved student motivation and academic performance? A) Each teacher employs the classroom management techniques with which he or she feels most comfortable B) Teachers collaborate to formulate, select, and monitor classroom management techniques and other classroom procedures based on successful experiences C) A subset of teachers determines the rules to be given to the other teachers who then impose the rules on their classes D) Teachers elect a colleague to represent them in working with the administration to determine a set of five best practices to be used at each teacher's discretion

B is the best answer; An organized, focused, collaborative effort to share ideas, determine actions, and monitor results is most likely to meet with success. A keeps the teachers isolated and engaged in habits that are not effective way for teachers to share ideas. Similarly, having one representative work out a narrow set of ideas with administrators who are not directly engaged in teaching the students may create a barrier to developing ideas and sharing effective practices; additionally, if there is no expectation for an identified practice to be tried widely, there will be no way to see whether it works.

Which of the following most likely to be a feature of an accelerated program rather than a component of an enrichment activity? A) Taking summer programs B) Receiving credit by exam C) Doing simulations and playing games D) Completing independent projects

Credit by exam B allows students to compress or skip material they may not need to cover. The other options allow students opportunities to probe deeper and independently into curriculum and are more typical of enrichment activities.

Which of the following would NOT typically be included in the portfolio a teacher keeps on each child in a class? A) Weekly classroom lesson plans and curriculum goals B) Dated work samples accompanied by teacher commentary C) Anecdotal records and records of systematic observations D) Checklists, rating scales, screening inventories

The best answer is A. Choices B, C, and D are types of items that may be found in a portfolio kept to assess student progress. Weekly lesson plans and curriculum goals are items that do not need to be in such a portfolio.

Classroom management research findings suggest the one of the most effective ways to maximize amount of time elementary school children spend on academic activities is for the teacher to do which of the following? A) Plan for, teach, and enforce routines for transition times and classroom housekeeping tasks B) Assign homework three times a week i the major subjects C) Assign individual reading on new topics before discussing the topic in class D) Introduce new material in a lecture followed immediately by a questioning session on the material

The best answer is A. Too much time is often spent on supervising students in relation to personal needs and everyday housekeeping tasks, and interruptions for this purpose are a major source of discontinuity in academic activities. Teachers can minimize these problems by preparing the classroom and students to handle routine activities on their own.

According to Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, which of the following best describes application as a level of understanding? A) The ability to translate information into one's own words to show understanding B) The ability to use information or relate learning to new real-life situations C) The ability to break down information into parts to see how the parts relate to the whole D) The ability to recognize and recall information

The best answer is B. In Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956), application is referred to as the ability to use information or relate learning to new real-life situations. A refers to comprehension, C to analysis, and D to knowledge

Which of the following is an example of a classroom activity that uses dramatic play to facilitate language development? A) Students use finger puppets while the teacher reads aloud from a picture storybook B) Students shop for and purchase grocery items in a mock store C) Students pass around and examine a variety of seashells during a science lesson D) Students work together to construct a life-size outline of a mammoth on the playground

The best answer is B. Pretending to shop for and purchase grocery items is dramatic play that encourages the development of language skills through speaking , list writing and reading environmental print. In A students are demonstrating their comprehension of the storybook using the finger puppets. The activity described in C does not engage the students in dramatic play and does not necessarily provide an opportunity for language development. D describes a cooperative learning activity.

Which of the following mandates that no person in the United States shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in any educational program of activity receiving federal assistance? A) Mills v. Board of Education, 1972 B) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) C) Title IX of the the Education Amendments of 1972 D) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The best answer is C, which is a synopsis of the Title IX legislation. Mills v. Board of education, A, set the precedent that educational services are based on children's needs, not a school's financial capabilities. B, IDEA is a federal law that governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention special education, ad related services to children with disabilities. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, D, protects people from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance.

Which of the following would be the best indication to a teacher that students are beginning to think critically about science? A) They talk about earthquakes, space probes, and science-related information in the news B) They begin to read more books and articles about science on their own C)They successfully plan and carry out simple experiments to test questions raised in classroom discussion D) They ask the teacher to read stories to them about scientific topics

The best answer is C. Of the choices given C is the only one that suggests that the students may be engaging in critical thinking about science, since they presumably must do so in order to complete such experiment. Choices A, B, and D suggest interest in science topics , but the activites do not require critical thinking.

Which of the following is the best example of divergent thinking? A) The student's ideas are generated at unpredictable intervals B) The students solution are based on established perspectives or frameworks C)The student produces many different solutions to the same problem D) The student shows abilities in several learning domains

The best answer is C; The ability to produce many different solutions is a dimension of divergent thinking.

For developing the language abilities of kindergartners, which of the following would be the most appropriate way to follow up the writing of a group essay? A) Prepare a list of the most difficult words for the children to learn to spell B) Show the children how to revise the sentences to make them longer and more complex structurally C) Have the children print the essay for themselves, then practice writing it, using cursive letters D) Read the essay aloud, in unison with the children, then leave it displayed where they can examine it

The best answer is D. The most appropriate following up is one that motivates children toward continued expression. Displaying the essay serves as a form of publication and allows the children to reread the essay on their own terms. reading in unison provides a nonthreatening way for the children to practice the language skills they have learned.

Which of the following instructional approaches is likely to be the most effective in helping children in a culturally diverse class of 3- and 4- year- olds achieve the goal of developing strong, postive self-concepts? A) Inviting parents to bring to school foods traditionally associated with the holidays observed in the ethnic groups represented in the class B) Requiring that children accept each other equally, change playmates frequently, and show courtesy to all regardless of cultural and ethnic background C) Providing a wide range of multicultural materials, such as books and pictures about children from different countries , including those countries represented by the students' families D) Providing both learning activities and materials that affirm aspects of the different cultures of the children's families such as learning to say "good morning in the language used by children's families

The best answer is D. This instructional approach is likely to be most effective because young children construct their cultural identities primarily in relation to families. In C, simply providing multicultural materials will not accomplish the goals described, nor will providing only the activity described in A. B is unlikely to work for children of this age, because such behaviors cannot be dictated

Which of the following correctly states an aspect of effective reflective practice? A) Peer coaching should be done sparingly because it can interfere with a coach's own reflective potential B)Reflective practice, to remain truly professional, should exclude student input that challenges teaching practices C) The reflection process should be free of links to conceptual frameworks that limit inquiry and problem solving D) Teacher coaches should create an environment of trust and build a context for reflection that is unique to every learning situation

The best answer is D. Trust and practical flexibility are essential to teaching context that enhance reflective practice. Student input B would be useful for improving practice. Conceptual frameworks C can focus and provide discipline for the reflective process. Peer Coaching A is useful in reflective practice.

Based on the stages of early oral language development, kindergarten students typically A) Depend on intonation and gestures to communicate B) Generalize information and begin to remember name of objects C) communicate needs, respond to directional commands, and speak in three- to four- words sentences D) use irregular noun and verb forms and talk with adults in four- to eight- word sentences

The best answer is D; it reflects typical behavior of a student kindergarten student. A reflects behavior of children 18 months to two years of age in stage 2 early oral development. B reflects behavior of children two to three years of age in stage 3 of early oral development. C reflects behavior of children three to four years of age in stage 4 of early oral development.

Which of the following is a type of test score used to show a student's relative position among a group of students in the same grade who are tested at the same time? A) Percent Correct B) Percentile rank C) Raw Scores D) Composite Scores

The best is B; a student's percentile rank indicates the percent of students in a particular group that received lower scores on a test than the student did. It shows the student's relative position, or rank among a group of students in the same grade who were tested at the same time. Thus for example, if a student earned a percentile rank of 72 on a science test, it can be interpreted that he or she scored higher than 72 percent of the student in the group. Percentile ranks range from 1 to 99.