Thinking & Problem-Solving
A student is given four answer choices on a math quiz and must compute which one is correct. They are using this type of thinking.
What is convergent thinking?
After seeing the word “ocean,” you respond faster to “wave.”
What is priming?
Briefly seeing lightning.
What is iconic memory?
Remembering your gym locker combo only when standing at your locker.
What is a context-dependent memory?
This type of test measures how well students learned WWII content after the unit ends.
What is an achievement test?
Maya brainstorms 30 different ways her school could reduce cafeteria waste - even silly ones - before narrowing them down. She is using this type of thinking.
What is divergent thinking?
Repeating a phone number in your head.
What is a phonological loop?
Holding numbers during mental math.
What is working memory?
Witness memory changing after suggesting that the car accident actually happened a different way.
What is the Misinformation Effect?
A student struggles with traditional tests but excels at music, can read emotions easily, and learns best through hands-on tasks. Which theory argues that this student has strengths across several distinct types of intelligence?
What is Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory?
Ben follows a cookie recipe step-by-step to guarantee the cookies come out correctly. He is using this problem-solving strategy.
What is an algorithm?
Visualizing a downtown map to find a route.
What is visuospatial vketchpad?
Knowing the capital of France.
What is semantic memory?
After using the same Google Accounts password all year, a student keeps accidentally typing the old password after it gets changed, even though they know the new one.
What is proactive interference?
A student is 12 years old but performs on an intelligence test like the average 15-year-old.
Using the classic formula (mental age ÷ chronological age) × 100, what would this student’s IQ be?
What is 125?
After assembling IKEA furniture once, Jordan automatically tries that same method on every new item, even when it doesn’t fit. This is an example of this type of thinking obstacle.
What is mental set?
Repeated piano practice strengthening neural pathways.
What is Long-Term Potentiation?
Remembering your 10th birthday.
What is an episodic memory?
Can’t form new memories after a traumatic head injury.
What is anterograde amnesia?
This theory of intelligence includes analytical intelligence (problem-solving and academics), creative intelligence (innovation and imagination), and practical intelligence (street smarts and real-world skills).
What is Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence?
Sam refuses to use a quarter as a screwdriver even though it would work perfectly. He is suffering from this type of thinking error.
What is functional fixedness?
A student remembers the word “confirmation bias” better because they connect it to their own habit of only clicking on social media posts that already match their opinions, rather than just memorizing the definition for a quiz.
What is deep (semantic) processing?
Typing without looking at the keyboard.
What is a procedural memory?
After a serious car accident, she can form new memories just fine, but cannot remember her childhood or even her best friend from before the crash.
What is retrograde amnesia?
A college argues that SAT scores accurately predict which students will earn high first-year GPAs. Which type of validity is the college claiming?
What is predictive validity?