Educational Psychology Principles Flashcards
7 cards from real ACT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Educational Psychology Principles flashcards as text
According to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) refers to:
Answer: The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance
The ZPD is the range of tasks a learner cannot yet complete independently but can accomplish with skilled support or collaboration.
Which learning theory emphasizes reinforcement and punishment as the primary drivers of behavior change?
Answer: Behaviorism
Behaviorism, associated with Skinner and Watson, holds that observable behaviors are shaped through reinforcement (increasing behavior) and punishment (decreasing behavior).
A test administrator notices that students in a high-stakes testing environment show extreme anxiety affecting performance. This phenomenon is best described as:
Answer: Test anxiety
Test anxiety is a form of performance anxiety specifically triggered by evaluation situations, causing emotional and cognitive disruption that impairs test performance.
Bloom's Taxonomy categorizes educational objectives into domains. Which domain includes skills like analysis, synthesis, and evaluation?
Answer: Cognitive
The cognitive domain in Bloom's Taxonomy addresses intellectual skills ranging from basic recall to higher-order thinking such as analysis, evaluation, and creation.
Which concept describes a student's belief that their intelligence and abilities can grow through dedication and hard work?
Answer: Growth mindset
Carol Dweck's 'growth mindset' theory holds that students who believe their abilities are developable through effort outperform those who see abilities as fixed.
When a student recalls a list of spelling words by grouping them into related categories, they are using which memory strategy?
Answer: Chunking
Chunking involves organizing individual pieces of information into meaningful groups, reducing cognitive load and improving working memory capacity.
Formative assessment is best described as evaluation that:
Answer: Monitors learning during instruction to guide teaching adjustments
Formative assessment is ongoing, low-stakes evaluation used during the learning process to provide feedback and inform instructional decisions, not to assign final grades.