GED Student Motivation & Engagement 3

Question 1

A teacher praises a student by saying 'You must have worked really hard on this' rather than 'You're so smart.' This reflects research suggesting that:

Accepted Answer

Praising effort promotes a growth mindset and sustained motivation

Answer

Dweck's research shows that praising effort (rather than ability) promotes a growth mindset — students are more likely to persist, take on challenges, and view setbacks as opportunities to learn.

Question 2

Which engagement strategy involves students teaching or explaining content to their peers?

Accepted Answer

Peer teaching (reciprocal teaching)

Answer

Peer teaching or reciprocal teaching has students explain, summarize, and teach content to each other — research shows that explaining content deepens the teacher's understanding while also benefiting the learner.

Question 3

Project-based learning (PBL) primarily motivates students because it:

Accepted Answer

Connects learning to authentic, real-world problems and student interests

Answer

PBL engages students by anchoring learning in authentic problems, real-world contexts, and student voice — creating purpose and relevance that sustain motivation through complex, extended tasks.

Question 4

When a student avoids a challenging task to protect their self-image from potential failure, this behavior is consistent with:

Accepted Answer

Self-handicapping linked to a fixed mindset

Answer

Self-handicapping involves creating obstacles or excuses in advance to protect one's ego — if you fail, you can blame the obstacle rather than your ability, preserving a fixed-mindset view of intelligence.

Question 5

A teacher gives students a choice between three different ways to demonstrate understanding of a unit. According to SDT, this primarily supports which psychological need?

Accepted Answer

Autonomy

Answer

Offering choices directly supports the need for autonomy — students experience a sense of self-determination and control over their learning, which is a core driver of intrinsic motivation.

GED Practice Test

GED Practice Test

GED Student Motivation & Engagement 3