CPS Student Learning & Development 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student's IQ score falls within the average range, yet her academic achievement scores are significantly below grade level. A psycho-educational specialist should FIRST consider:
- Intellectual disability
- Specific learning disability (Correct answer)
- Emotional disturbance
- English language learner status
Correct answer: Specific learning disability
A significant discrepancy between average cognitive ability and below-grade academic achievement is a hallmark feature considered when evaluating for a specific learning disability.
Question 2: Which Piagetian concept BEST explains why a 5-year-old insists that a tall, thin glass has more water than a short, wide glass containing the same amount?
- Object permanence
- Egocentrism
- Lack of conservation (Correct answer)
- Centration only partially
Correct answer: Lack of conservation
Conservation is the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance; its absence in preoperational children leads to judgments based on perceptual features.
Question 3: According to Bloom's revised taxonomy, which student task represents the HIGHEST level of cognitive demand?
- Recalling the steps of the scientific method
- Summarizing a chapter in one's own words
- Applying a formula to solve a novel equation
- Designing an experiment to test an original hypothesis (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Designing an experiment to test an original hypothesis
Creating—designing, constructing, or producing original work—sits at the apex of Bloom's revised taxonomy, above remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, and evaluating.
Question 4: A specialist recommends spaced practice over massed practice for a student learning new vocabulary. The primary rationale for this recommendation is that spaced practice:
- Reduces overall study time
- Exploits the spacing effect to enhance long-term retention (Correct answer)
- Prevents all forms of interference
- Is mandated by IDEA for students with IEPs
Correct answer: Exploits the spacing effect to enhance long-term retention
The spacing effect—a robust cognitive science finding—demonstrates that distributing practice sessions over time yields superior long-term retention compared to massed practice.
Question 5: Which of the following is an example of a metacognitive strategy a student might use during reading?
- Reading the passage aloud to the teacher
- Self-questioning to monitor comprehension after each paragraph (Correct answer)
- Copying definitions from the glossary
- Highlighting every sentence in the text
Correct answer: Self-questioning to monitor comprehension after each paragraph
Self-questioning is a metacognitive strategy because it involves thinking about one's own comprehension processes and adjusting reading behavior accordingly.
Question 6: A teacher reports that a student frequently daydreams, loses materials, and turns in incomplete work, but shows no hyperactivity. These behaviors MOST align with which ADHD presentation?
- Combined presentation
- Hyperactive-impulsive presentation
- Predominantly inattentive presentation (Correct answer)
- Conduct disorder with ADHD features
Correct answer: Predominantly inattentive presentation
The predominantly inattentive presentation of ADHD is characterized by inattention symptoms without significant hyperactivity or impulsivity.
Question 7: During a classroom observation, a specialist notices a student uses rehearsal (repeating information aloud) to remember a phone number. This strategy targets which memory system?
- Long-term semantic memory
- Procedural memory
- Working memory / short-term memory (Correct answer)
- Implicit memory
Correct answer: Working memory / short-term memory
Verbal rehearsal is a maintenance strategy for keeping information active in working memory before it is lost or encoded into long-term storage.
CPS Student Learning & Development 3
A student's IQ score falls within the average range, yet her academic achievement scores are significantly below grade level.
A psycho-educational specialist should FIRST consider: