Approaches to Learning (Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism) — Quiz

Q1. A Class 5 student reads a chapter on water harvesting, links it to the rain-water pit she has seen at her grandmother's house, and questions the author's claim that all villages should follow the same model. She is using the

• A. Surface approach
• B. Strategic approach
• C. Deep approach
• D. Behaviouristic approach

Q2. The MOST important characteristic that distinguishes the Strategic approach from the Surface and Deep approaches, is

• A. Well-planned and carefully organised study methods aimed at the highest possible marks
• B. Memorisation of expected answers without understanding
• C. Active interaction with content to find personal meaning
• D. Repeated stimulus-response conditioning by the teacher

Q3. A 'neutral stimulus' in Pavlov's experiment is defined as one which

• A. Naturally produces the desired response without any training
• B. Is the involuntary response of the organism
• C. Replaces the unconditioned response after conditioning
• D. Is not responsible directly for the desired response in neutral condition — e.g., a tuning fork or bell, if used without association with food

Q4. After Pavlov's dog has been conditioned to salivate to a 500-Hz bell, it also starts salivating when a school bell or a doorbell of similar pitch is sounded. This process is called

• A. Discrimination
• B. Spontaneous recovery
• C. Extinction
• D. Generalisation

Q5. The chief use of classical conditioning for a primary teacher is that it helps to

• A. Break down subject matter into small, sequenced steps with reinforcement after each
• B. Build assimilation and accommodation in the child's schema
• C. Associate positive events with learning, avoid undesired behaviour, and help learners discriminate and generalise properly
• D. Develop the child's Zone of Proximal Development through peer scaffolding

Q6. Which of the following sets are examples of POSITIVE reinforcement?

• A. Praise, smiles, prize, money, a funny television programme
• B. Closing windows to avoid loud noise, avoiding wrong answers
• C. Detention, scolding, low grades
• D. Generalisation, discrimination, extinction

Q7. The basic law underlying Skinner's operant conditioning — that an operant followed by a reinforcing stimulus gets strengthened — comes from

• A. Pavlov's stimulus-substitution principle
• B. Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• C. Vygotsky's ZPD
• D. Thorndike's law of effect

Q8. A Class 2 teacher in a Bihar primary school praises Aarav the MOMENT he correctly reads a difficult Hindi word, rather than waiting until the end of the term to give him a grade. Which Skinnerian principle does this practice illustrate?

• A. Spontaneous recovery
• B. Generalisation of stimuli
• C. Equilibration of schema
• D. Immediacy of reinforcement

Q9. The most important principle of operant conditioning is summed up in one line. That line is

• A. Learning is a function of insight into the total problem field.
• B. Every function in cultural development appears first on the social level.
• C. Behaviour changes according to its immediate consequences — pleasurable consequences strengthen behaviour while unpleasant consequences weaken it.
• D. Cognitive structures change through differentiation, generalisation and restructuration.

Q10. A 4-year-old who calls every four-legged animal 'dog' meets a goat on his uncle's farm. After his uncle explains, the child realises his existing 'dog' schema does not fit, and modifies his thinking to make a separate category for goats. According to Piaget, this modification is called

• A. Accommodation
• B. Assimilation
• C. Generalisation
• D. Reinforcement

Q11. According to Piaget, the realisation that 'an object that has disappeared can reappear' — i.e., object permanence — develops in the

• A. Preoperational stage
• B. Concrete operational stage
• C. Formal operational stage
• D. Sensorimotor stage

Q12. Drawing implications from Piaget's theory, it is recommended that the teacher of a primary class should

• A. Lecture the truths to be learned and then test recall through written tests
• B. Rely entirely on observational learning from peer behaviour
• C. Strictly follow the Skinner-Box pattern of small steps with positive reinforcement after each
• D. Use active methods that require learners to rediscover or reconstruct the truths to be learned, and provide counter-examples to make them reflect on hasty solutions

Q13. Two key concepts emerge from Vygotsky's social-constructivist approach. These two concepts are

• A. Assimilation and accommodation
• B. Surface approach and deep approach
• C. Positive and negative reinforcement
• D. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding

Q14. There is a 1986 quote from Bruner on social learning approaches. Bruner says learning in most settings is

• A. A purely individual mental act inside the learner's head
• B. A mechanical chain of stimulus-response associations
• C. A function of biological maturation, independent of environment
• D. A communal activity, a sharing of culture

Q15. In Maslow's hierarchy, the need that sits at the TOP of the pyramid — characterised by self-discipline — is the

• A. Need for belongingness
• B. Safety need
• C. Self-actualization need
• D. Prestige need