Deck 9: Complex Cognitive Processes

Question 1

You remember that, when you lost your wallet last semester, campus security found it for you. You lost your cellphone this morning and decided to call campus security. The method used to solve this problem is called a(n)

A) heuristic search.
B) means-ends analysis.
C) pattern matching.
D) schema-driven problem-solving process.

Answer 1

schema-driven problem-solving process.

Question 2

One of the conditions for using good learning strategies is that students must

A) be able to work independently
B) understand that ability is more important than effort
C) value and care about learning
D) have speed of learning

Answer 2

value and care about learning

Question 3

Use of the READS method would probably have questionable benefits for

A) children in early elementary school.
B) encouraging a distributed practice schedule.
C) high school students.
D) improving recall of information from the text.

Answer 3

children in early elementary school.

Question 4

Current beliefs about problem-solving techniques suggest that domain-specific strategies are

A) more useful than general problem-solving strategies.
B) likely to be used increasingly as experience with a particular subject increases.
C) highly transferable to other domains.
D) unlikely to be used in well-defined subject areas such as mathematics.

Question 5

A new student just arrived at Jackson Elementary. The principal led the student to Mrs. Kimble's class and motioned for the student to take a seat. When Mrs. Kimble spoke to the student, he didn't answer. He was wearing sneakers, and he carried a backpack. He had dark hair and wore glasses. If Mrs. Kimble is a problem solver, what information about this student will receive her attention

A) The student's backpack
B) The student's eyeglasses
C) The student didn't answer her
D) The principal led the student

Question 6

Which statement concerning the superior capabilities of experts is FALSE?

A) Experts deal with problems at a deeper level.
B) Experts perceive large, meaningful patterns in given information.
C) Experts spend a small amount of time to analyze a given problem.
D) Experts perform tasks quickly and with few errors.

Question 7

A procedure that is guaranteed to accomplish a particular goal when correctly implemented is called a(n)

A) algorithm.
B) heuristic.
C) theorem.
D) working-backward strategy.

Question 8

What does the term "cognitively engage" mean?

A) Focus attention on relevant aspects of the material to be learned.
B) Invest effort in learning the material at hand.
C) Organize and reorganize the material to be learned.
D) Regulate and monitor understanding of the material to be learned.

Question 9

Metacognition is best defined as

A) knowledge about our own thinking processes.
B) the mechanism that primarily guides all problem-solving.
C) "self-talk" that guides thinking.
D) a heuristic used to promote retention in long term memory.

Question 10

The main difficulty that occurs when students are too quick to decide what a problem asks is that they may

A) activate an inappropriate schema.
B) become too reflective.
C) experience overgeneralization.
D) rely on heuristics instead of algorithms to solve it.

Question 11

Ken is reading his notes from science class. He wants to organize information the teacher presented about erosion-the causes, the effects, and relationships between weather conditions and erosion. He needs an effective learning strategy. Which of the following tools seems most likely to help Ken meet his goal?

A) Venn diagram
B) Concept map
C) Flash cards
D) Cornell notes

Question 12

Carrie is preparing her school lunch and sees leftovers in the refrigerator. She doesn't remember when her mom cooked the meal, so it may not have been very recently. She's running late and needs to make a quick decision. She says to herself, "When in doubt, throw it out" and chooses something else. What problem-solving method is she using?

A) Functional fixedness
B) Algorithm
C) Heuristic
D) Means-end analysis

Question 13

What is the "CAPS" strategy best used for?

A) It is a strategy to support inquiry.
B) It is a strategy to support direct teaching.
C) It is a strategy used to support brainstorming.
D) It is a strategy that can be used in reading literature.

Question 14

Production deficiencies are best described by

A) how students learn strategies but do not apply them when they could or should.
B) how students can complete work but cannot express themselves verbally.
C) how students have incomplete learning of problem-solving strategies.
D) how students cannot construct effective concept maps even with the use of tools.

Question 15

Morris is studying for a vocabulary test. He knows that he needs to stay focused rather than multitasking. He knows he will take longer and spend more time revisiting the words if he texts friends and checks email. What kind of metacognitive knowledge does Morris demonstrate about himself as a learner?

A) Self-regulatory knowledge
B) Declarative knowledge
C) Self-evaluating knowledge
D) Motivational knowledge

Question 16

One reason why strategies such as READS are effective is because they require students to study in sections instead of learning all the information at once. This would be most similar to which heuristic?

A) means-end analysis
B) working-backward strategy
C) analogical thinking
D) forward search

Question 17

Means-ends analysis in problem solving involves

A) beginning at the goal and moving backwards to the unsolved initial problem.
B) dividing a problem into subgoals and solving these.
C) limiting the search for solutions having something in common with the problem.
D) using analogical reasoning and heuristics.

Question 18

What is a common problem with students using underlining or highlighting that teachers should be aware of?

A) Students are over-selective and do not highlight or underline enough.
B) Underlining and highlighting are used more than other strategies.
C) Students are under-selective and highlight or underline too much.
D) Underlining and highlighting are only used when studying from textbooks.

Question 19

Which one of the following concepts is consistent with the notion of a heuristic?

A) Analogical thinking
B) Domain specific
C) Exhaustive
D) Guaranteed solution

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a type of knowledge involved in metacognition?

A) declarative knowledge
B) evaluative knowledge
C) procedural knowledge
D) self-regulatory knowledge

Question 21

Hernando looked at the problem and exclaimed: "Aha! This is just like when Ahab was obsessed with the great white whale, Moby Dick!" This comment is the result of

A) analogical thinking.
B) deductive logic.
C) overlearning.
D) the generate-test method.

Question 22

Greg ponders over a math problem. He looks, frowns, and several minutes pass as he continues to study and shuffle his papers. All at once, he smiles, returns to the original question and writes down the correct answer. The suddenness of Greg's solution best exemplifies

A) functional fixedness.
B) insight.
C) problem representation.
D) transfer.

Question 23

Expert teachers don't have to think as hard as beginning teachers due to an ability to

A) access short-term memory.
B) memorize many details.
C) recognize patterns in problems.
D) use logical reasoning.

Question 24

In order to encourage student creativity, teachers are advised to

A) enhance each student's reliance on authorities for response accuracy.
B) promote convergent thinking and problem-solving skills.
C) reinforce unusual solutions, even if the product is not perfect.
D) work on increasing the speed with which students can identify solutions to problems.

Question 25

What heuristic is Felita most likely applying when she assumes her husband will be late to pick her up since he has been late the last three evenings?

A) Belief perseverance
B) Confirmation bias
C) Availability heuristic
D) Representation heuristic

Question 26

Which of the following geography questions asks students to think critically?

A) Based on your knowledge of the geography and culture of Greenland, explain why you would or would not place it in the North American continent?
B) What are the names and locations of the continents?
C) Based on information from your text, what events took place that likely brought about the formation of the continents we have today?
D) Compare the continents. Which one has the most countries, and which one has the largest land mass?

Question 27

The students in Mr. Walker's class are engaged in a creative activity designed to help them become effective problem solvers. Mr. Walker held up a large rubber band and told students to list as many ways to use the rubber band as possible. He is giving them 90 seconds to create their lists. How is this activity most likely intended to increase students' problem-solving effectiveness?

A) Help students learn to apply response set in problem solving
B) Help students learn to practice functional fixedness in problem solving
C) Help students learn to develop problem solving algorithms
D) Help students avoid approaches that hinder problem solving

Question 28

Which type of problem fixation does Keri manifest when she refuses to take a different route home from work, even though it will add 25 minutes to her daily commute from work?

A) functional fixedness
B) response set
C) ill-defined problem
D) obsessive problem solving

Question 29

Studies of expertise have discovered that chess masters are superior to nonexpert players in

A) conscious analytical thought.
B) general knowledge.
C) random chess pattern recognition.
D) recognition of meaningful chess patterns.

Question 30

Michael was asked to devise as many uses for a brick as he could. After taking the assignment home to work on further, he came up with over 30 ideas, many of which were not proposed by any other student. All of Michael's ideas dealt with using a brick to break things. In what aspect of creativity proposed by Torrence is Michael lacking?

A) Flexibility
B) Fluency
C) Incubation
D) Originality

Question 31

Creativity is thought to be associated directly with what type of thinking?

A) Convergent thinking
B) Deductive reasoning
C) Divergent thinking
D) Intuitive thinking

Question 32

Before pulling off the bank job, Bugsy had his gang recite the steps of the operation. "Do we hafta, Bugsy?" complained Willy. "We must have been over them steps fifty times already." Bugsy is aware of the benefits of

A) general transfer.
B) making learning meaningful.
C) modelling.
D) overlearning.

Question 33

Which one of the following people illustrates the best example of creative behaviour?

A) Billy uses an established method to solve an algebraic equation on a test.
B) Shamini uses an encyclopedia to find the significance of the date July 4, 1776.
C) Jack pours a solution of acid into a breaker of water in the chemistry lab.
D) Sheryl generates a list of solutions for the recycling problem.

Question 34

Learning Latin to improve basic intelligence would possibly be inefficient due to

A) general rather than specific transfer taking place.
B) specific rather than general transfer taking place.
C) the impracticality of disciplining mental processes.
D) the irrelevance of the subject.

Question 35

Which strategy is NOT useful when one is trying to solve a problem?

A) analogical thinking
B) functional fixedness
C) verbalizing
D) working-backward

Question 36

Sohail gets good grades in his language class but uses incorrect grammar and punctuation in his written work in other classes. This situation suggests a problem with

A) assimilation.
B) encoding.
C) integration.
D) transfer

Question 37

Overlearning is the process of practicing a skill

A) for too long, such that retroactive inhibition develops.
B) for too long, such that proactive inhibition develops.
C) past the point of mastery.
D) similar to one previously learned, so that positive transfer is realized.

Question 38

Which one of the following students BEST illustrates the state of functional fixedness?

A) Nathaniel, a student who is using a ruler for drawing lines, fails to realize that he can use its metal edge as a scraper to remove paint from his desk.
B) Kathy, a student who is trying to solve a math problem, explores many different strategies until she finds a reasonable answer.
C) Rebecca, a third-grade teacher, sees the second-grade achievement scores for her new class and begins to form expectancies about individuals' abilities.
D) Wendell, who is used to making "d" look like "b," continues to make the same error.

Question 39

Which one of the following transfer stages is NOT one of Gary Phye's stages in developing strategic transfer of learning?

A) Acquisition phase
B) Overlearning phase
C) Retention phase
D) Transfer phase

Question 40

Ray learned about divergent rays in physics class when he was studying the effects of lenses. Later, in his psychology class, he immediately understood the concept of "divergent thinking." What learning experience did Ray have?

A) A response set
B) Functional fixedness
C) General transfer
D) Negative transfer

Question 41

Practicing a skill beyond the point of mastery ensures the enhancement of general transfer of problem-solving skills.

Question 42

Researchers have found that for fourth and fifth graders, general problem-solving strategies are better than specific strategies.

Question 43

The tendency to respond in the most familiar or rigid way is a response set.

Question 44

A heuristic is a step-by-step prescription for achieving a goal that usually is domain-specific.

Question 45

The working backward strategy is sometimes an effective heuristic for solving certain mathematical problems.

Question 46

Means-ends analysis, analogical thinking, functional fixedness, and verbalization are all examples of heuristics.

Question 47

Experts excel relative to novices in applying domain-specific knowledge.

Question 48

When students do not have existing schemas that suggest an immediate solution to the problem, they must take a schema-driven route to solve the problem.

Question 49

The strategy to guide reading and inquiry that asks "What do I already know? What do I want to know? What have I learned?" is known by what acronym? _________.

Question 50

An algorithm is a general strategy that might lead to the right answer to a problem.

Question 51

Having a rich store of knowledge about a topic is necessary, but not sufficient, for creativity.

Question 52

The stage of transfer for strategies in which the teacher should provide new problems that can be solved with the same strategy is the stage of

A) acquisition.
B) overlearning.
C) retention.
D) transfer.

Question 53

In the retention phase of transfer, teachers should provide plenty of practice with feedback in order for students to hone their strategy use.

Question 54

Recognizing a problem as a "disguised" version of an old problem for which one has a solution already is called schema-driven problem solving.

Question 55

Researchers have found that exposing individuals to other cultures may increase their creativity.

Question 56

Knowledge about out own thinking processes is _________.

Question 57

As domain-specific knowledge increases, general problem-solving strategies are used more frequently.

Question 58

Analogical thinking is a type of heuristic that limits one's search for solutions to problems that have something in common.

Question 59

Functional fixedness is a strategy for using an object in an unconventional way.

Question 60

Metacognition involves only two kinds of knowledge: declarative knowledge, and procedural knowledge.

Question 61

An exhaustive, step-by-step approach for solving a problem, in which a solution is virtually guaranteed is a(n) ________.

Question 62

Making certain that you have the necessary declarative knowledge to understand new information will help to make you a(n) ________ student.

Question 63

The inability to recognize unconventional uses of familiar objects represents a barrier to problem solving that is referred to as ________.

Question 64

What can teachers do to support and encourage creativity in the classroom?

Question 65

Define the different types of transfer and create new examples of each.

Question 66

Dividing a problem into a number of intermediate goals and then identifying a means of solving each subgoal is called ________.

Question 67

Practicing basic skills such as multiplication tables until they begin to become automated is described as _________.

Question 68

A pre-school teacher challenges her students to think about the many potential uses of a coffee pot beyond the typical use of serving coffee. One student could not move beyond her _____________________ and identify additional uses of the coffee pot beyond serving coffee.

Question 69

Ms. Garza wants her students to use metacognitive skills to guide their reading and inquiry. She is beginning a unit in social studies about the industrial revolution and plans to introduce the lesson with a KWL chart. Describe how she might effectively use a KWL system to encourage students to use metacognitive skills

Question 70

Many conceptions of creativity include the idea of ________ thinking or the ability to generate many different ideas.

Question 71

Describe a problem that a student may encounter (either in or out of school) and show how one could solve that particular problem using each of the two general kinds of procedures outlined in the text. For each procedure, outline one advantage and one disadvantage.

Question 72

A heuristic in which solutions are limited to those that have something in common with the problem one is currently working on is ________ thinking.

Question 73

Case Studies
The eighth-grade class is preparing for its annual "School Scam Skit" in which it parodies amusing school events during the year. Alonzo discovers that, by mistake, the class has sold 500 tickets for an auditorium that has a seating capacity of 200. The auditorium is not available any other night, and the class doesn't have funds available to rent a suitable room elsewhere. Numerous possible solutions may exist, but the class is feeling panicked. Describe how a class committee might attempt to approach the problem using each of the following strategies. [Note: Some strategies might not be effective. Also, you do not need to derive a solution, given that you do not have all the information needed. The main interest is the procedures that you use.]
Response set:

Question 74

The sudden re-conceptualization or reorganization of a problem that clarifies it and suggests a possible solution is ________.

Question 75

Case Studies
The eighth-grade class is preparing for its annual "School Scam Skit" in which it parodies amusing school events during the year. Alonzo discovers that, by mistake, the class has sold 500 tickets for an auditorium that has a seating capacity of 200. The auditorium is not available any other night, and the class doesn't have funds available to rent a suitable room elsewhere. Numerous possible solutions may exist, but the class is feeling panicked. Describe how a class committee might attempt to approach the problem using each of the following strategies. [Note: Some strategies might not be effective. Also, you do not need to derive a solution, given that you do not have all the information needed. The main interest is the procedures that you use.]
Means-ends analysis:

Question 76

A student who breaks down a task into several intermediate goals is using a ___________ approach to solving a problem.

Question 77

An important part of becoming an expert in a field is ________ knowledge.

Question 78

Mr. Tolbert comes to you because he is concerned about his son Jack. He describes Jack as being a risk-taker, easily bored, susceptible to day dreaming, intensely curious, and at times silly. He is concerned Jack may have some learning difficulties. What else might be going on with Jack?

Question 79

Functional fixedness and response set are inappropriate strategies in dealing with new problems and are examples of negative _________.

Question 80

Formulating new answers by going beyond the simple application of previously learned rules to reach a goal is ________.