Three of the four teachers below are likely to facilitate her students' ability to solve problems in the classroom. Which teacher is least likely to do so?
a. Ms. Axelrod wants her students to have an in-depth understanding of classroom subject matter.
b. Ms. Blakely explains to her students that algorithms are almost always better than heuristics for solving problems.
c. Ms. Corning often assigns a series of word problems that differ in terms of the specific mathematical operations (e.g., addition, subtraction) needed for problem solution.
d. After her students read a chapter about the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, Ms. Darwin asks them to identify potential problems that the attack created for the United States government.
Ques. 2Nine-year-old Aleesa wants her father to play a video game with her, but Dad tells her, Sorry, honey, I don't have time. There are dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and the living room has to be dusted and vacuumed. I need to clean the house before Grandma and Grandpa come tonight. Aleesa thinks for a moment and then says, How about if I wash the dishes and do the dusting? That way, you'll have some time to play with me. Aleesa's approach to solving her problemconvincing Dad to play a video gamemost clearly reflects:
a. brainstorming
b. use of an analogy
c. functional fixedness
d. meansends analysis
Ques. 3Which one of the following is the best example of someone using a heuristic (rather than an algorithm) in problem solving?
a. Susan wants to know how long it will take her to drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles. She knows that the distance is 400 miles, and she figures she will average 50 miles an hour with stops, so she predicts the trip will take 8 hours.
b. Vinnie has a round hot tub that is six feet in diameter; he wants to build a top to cover it. He remembers the formula for calculating the area of a circle and works out how many feet of lumber he needs.
c. John wants to buy a computer. He compares prices at different computer stores and buys whichever model is least expensive.
d. Marion can't think of a plot for the short story she needs to write. She breaks her task into smaller pieces: First she'll decide who the main character will be, then she'll think of a conflict for that character to experience, and finally she'll identify a reasonable resolution of that conflict.
Ques. 4The primary advantage of using an algorithm (rather than a heuristic) is that it:
a. Always yields a correct solution if executed correctly
b. Is widely applicable to many different content domains
c. Can be easily used by the typical 6-year-old child
d. Never takes more than five minutes to complete
Ques. 5Sarah needs to solve this word problem:
A sweater in a store is originally priced at 40, but the price tag is marked One-half off. The sweater is placed on a rack marked Five dollars off the sale price. How much does the sweater cost now?
Sarah knows how to find one-half of a number; she also knows how to subtract one number from another. She uses both of these operations to arrive at the correct answer of 15 . Which one of the following best describes Sarah's approach to problem solving?
a. Drawing an analogy
b. Availability
c. Working backward
d. Combining algorithms
Ques. 6Mr. Rangel asks his students to write an essay describing how they would deal with the problem of the diminishing areas in which gorillas can successfully live in the wild. Three of the following factors should influence his students' ability to describe possible solutions to the problem. Which factor will not influence students' ability to do welleither for the better or for the worseon the essay?
a. Students' anxiety about how well they do on the essay
b. How much students know about the countries in which gorillas reside
c. How carefully students internally monitor their ways of thinking about the problem
d. The number of specific algorithms students have learned for solving problems in other disciplines (e.g., physics, mathematics)
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