CPT Instructional Strategies & Techniques 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A tutor wants to activate a student's prior knowledge before introducing new material. Which technique is most appropriate?
- Summative assessment
- KWL chart (Know, Want to know, Learned) (Correct answer)
- Exit ticket
- Cloze procedure
Correct answer: KWL chart (Know, Want to know, Learned)
A KWL chart elicits what students already know and want to learn, connecting new content to existing schema before instruction begins.
Question 2: Which instructional approach is characterized by presenting information directly, modeling examples, and guiding practice before independent work?
- Problem-based learning
- Explicit instruction (Correct answer)
- Discovery learning
- Flipped instruction
Correct answer: Explicit instruction
Explicit instruction follows a structured I Do–We Do–You Do sequence, ensuring clarity and reducing cognitive load during initial skill acquisition.
Question 3: A student struggles with reading comprehension. The tutor teaches the student to pause at paragraph breaks and summarize the main idea. This is an example of:
- Phonemic awareness instruction
- Metacognitive strategy instruction (Correct answer)
- Fluency building
- Vocabulary scaffolding
Correct answer: Metacognitive strategy instruction
Teaching students to monitor and regulate their own comprehension through self-summarization is a metacognitive strategy that improves reading outcomes.
Question 4: When a tutor uses analogies to connect a new concept to something the student already understands, this leverages which learning principle?
- Interleaving
- Elaborative interrogation
- Analogical reasoning (Correct answer)
- Spaced retrieval
Correct answer: Analogical reasoning
Analogical reasoning helps students map the structure of a familiar concept onto a new one, facilitating schema formation and deeper understanding.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes the 'I Do, We Do, You Do' gradual release model?
- Student explores independently, then discusses with peers, then receives teacher feedback
- Tutor models, then guides shared practice, then student works independently (Correct answer)
- Student attempts the task, tutor corrects, then student retries alone
- Tutor assigns homework, reviews it next session, then tests the student
Correct answer: Tutor models, then guides shared practice, then student works independently
The gradual release model systematically transfers responsibility from tutor to student through modeling, collaborative practice, and independent application.
Question 6: A tutor alternates between algebra, geometry, and statistics problems within a single session rather than drilling one topic at a time. This is known as:
- Massed practice
- Interleaved practice (Correct answer)
- Distributed review
- Cumulative revision
Correct answer: Interleaved practice
Interleaved practice mixes different problem types or topics, which slows initial acquisition but substantially improves long-term retention and discrimination.
Question 7: Which technique involves having a student read aloud while the tutor silently follows along and provides immediate corrective feedback on errors?
- Choral reading
- Repeated reading (Correct answer)
- Oral cloze
- Neurological Impress Method
Correct answer: Repeated reading
Repeated reading involves the student reading the same passage multiple times to build fluency, with the tutor providing feedback during each pass.
CPT Instructional Strategies & Techniques 3
A tutor wants to activate a student's prior knowledge before introducing new material.
Which technique is most appropriate?