Doctoral written specialty prelim study guide

AREA: Learning and cognition / educational technology

1. Purpose

The learning and cognition and educational technology prelims require students to demonstrate their scholarship and conceptualizing competencies in the field of learning and cognition/educational technology.

2. Description

This is a four-hour essay exam consisting of two parts. Part I of the examination assesses students’ knowledge of (a) psychological theorists and researchers and (b) methods used by educational psychologists. Part II of the examination is aimed at measuring students’ in-depth knowledge of special areas within learning and cognition or educational technology.

3. Eligibility for the written prelim

In order to sit for the written prelim in learning and cognition/educational technology the student must submit a formal request using the EPsy general prelim registration form. The request must be submitted at least four weeks before the written prelim. Students must also have submitted their degree program and the EPsy examining consent form to the director of graduate studies (DGS). Registration for the prelim is done through one’s adviser and the DGS. In addition to the general educational psychology/psychological foundations requirements, students who wish to take the examination are expected to have completed several graduate level courses in learning and cognition/educational technology and to have read widely within the field.

EPsy general prelim registration form [.pdf]

4. Written prelim content

Part I (two hours) requires students to provide short answers to questions focusing on theorists, researchers, concepts and methodology in learning & cognition. This part of the examination is written by the chair of the Learning and Cognition/Educational Technology Prelim Committee. Part II (two hours) requires students to write in detail on topics of their choice within learning & cognition or educational technology. This second part of the examination is written by the student’s adviser. No less than four weeks before the examination is to be written, the student will provide the adviser with three topic areas on which exam questions will be based. The adviser reviews and approves or revises these topics and informs the student of the topics. Feedback regarding the appropriateness of the proposed topics will be provided as quickly as possible, usually within 48 hours. The adviser will provide questions in these topic areas to the prelim secretary at least one week before the exam.

5. Scheduling the written prelim

The examination must be written in one four-hour sitting under conditions of monitoring. Students may not use reference materials. The exam is offered the sixth Saturday of the fall term and the seventh Saturday of the spring term. The exact place and time will be announced.

6. Prelim scoring

The exam will be scored by two raters (one of whom is the student’s adviser). Raters will score questions on a scale of 1-5 with 5 the highest possible score; scores 2.5 and above are passing. The exam will give equal weight to Parts I and II. The averaged scores of Part I and the averaged scores of Part II will be averaged together to compute a total score for each rater. The scores for each rater will then be averaged for an overall final score. If the total scores for both raters are below 2.5, the student fails. If the overall final score is below 2.5 and one rater passes and the other rater fails, a third rater will be asked to rate the exam and this score will determine a pass or a fail. If there are major discrepancies between the original raters on two or more questions, a third rater may be asked to rate the exam.

7. Sample exam and study questions

Attached is a sample exam and sample study questions for the learning and cognition/educational technology prelim. For the most part, students should prepare for the exam by studying course materials. Individual study programs should be negotiated between student and adviser.

Sample exam

The following sample exam has item forms and item components that are similar, but not identical to those used in the written preliminary examination.

Part I (A, B, C, D, and E)

1. Identification of individuals. Provide a brief statement (3-4 lines) concerning the contributions for seven of the following individuals:
   1. J. P. Guilford
   2. Benjamin S. Bloom
   3. B. F. Skinner
   4. Ulric Neisser
   5. Robert Sternberg
   6. Herbert Simon
   7. Max Wertheimer
   8. Jean Piaget
   9. Richard C. Anderson
   10. Herman Ebbinghaus
2. Definition of concepts. Provide a definition (3-4 lines) for four of the following concepts:
   1. Schedule of reinforcement
   2. Comprehension
   3. Crystallized intelligence
   4. Metacognition
   5. Repeated reading
   6. Levels of processing
   7. Situated cognition
   8. Attention
3. Short answer questions. Provide a short description (2-3 paragraphs) for three of the following concepts.
   1. Mnemonics
   2. Fluid intelligence
   3. Declarative and procedural knowledge
   4. Long term memory
4. Provide a short discussion (2 pages – or 350 words typed) on two of the following topics:
   1. Describe three ways in which educational technology can support learning.
   2. Explain the role and/or importance of knowledge in comprehension.
   3. Explain why students have difficulty with mathematics test items such as arithmetic word problems.
   4. Describe three distinct reading problems and how those problems could be corrected.
5. Write an essay (3-4 pages – or 525-700 words typed) on the following topic:
   
   The history of the field of learning and cognition in educational psychology.

Part II

[Questions in Part II will be based on topics that are submitted to the adviser. Answers for Part II will generally total 12 – 16 pages or 2100 – 2800 words typed.]

Study questions from EPSY courses

EPSY 5101 Intelligence and Creativity
Historical background

Two of the major figures in the field of intelligence were Alfred Binet and Sir Francis Galton. What are the major differences between their conceptions of intelligence? What are the similarities in their conceptions of intelligence?

Charles Spearman and Leon Louis Thurstone had distinctly different conceptions of intelligence and its structure. What are the major differences in their conceptions of intelligence and its structure?

The psychometric approach

A major figure in the field of intelligence was J. P. Guilford. What are the most prominent features of his model of intelligence? What are one major strength and one major weakness to his model?

What are some of the major features of the psychometric approach to the study of intelligence? What are one prominent strength and one major weakness to this approach to the study of intelligence?

The information processing approach

What are some of the major features of the information processing approach to the study of intelligence? What are two major findings resulting from the approach to the study of intelligence?

What role does knowledge play in human intelligence? Is it important and, if so, why is knowledge important in human intelligence? What role does knowledge play in the view of intelligence espoused by Raymond Cattell?

The developmental approach

What is intelligence within the cognitive development theory of Jean Piaget? Within that theory, how does intelligence develop from childhood to adolescence?

What are some of the major distinctions between the intelligence of adults and the intelligence of children, if any? Using Cattell’s conception of intelligence, what are some of the major changes in intelligence which often occur in adulthood?

Who has attempted to study human intelligence from both a human information processing perspective and a developmental perspective? What are some of the major findings of that individual’s inquiry?

Cultural influences

Alexander Luria’s study of intellectual development among Uzbeks provided certain remarkable results which relate to the influences of culture and society on intellectual functioning. What are three of those results?

Judith Kearins’ study of intellectual functioning among Australian Aborigine youth and Euro-Australian youth provided some startling findings regarding cultural influences on intelligence. What is significant about the tasks she chose for the study? What were some of the major results of her study?

Contemporary views of intelligence

One of the most popular conceptions of intelligence is that of Howard Gardner. What are some of its major features? What are the multiple intelligences? What criteria did Gardner use to conceive the multiple intelligences? What are one major strength and one major weakness to the theory of multiple intelligences?

Robert Sternberg has offered the triarchic theory of intelligence. What are some of its major features? What are one major strength and one major weakness to the triarchic theory of intelligence?

Educational applications

The IQ test has played a major role in education. Would you use an IQ test to assess human intelligence in educational settings? If not, how would you measure human intelligence? Whose framework of human intelligence would you employ in your assessment of human intelligence? Why does your method of assessing human intelligence in an educational setting emanate from the framework of human intelligence which you employed in this context? Why did you choose the method of assessing human intelligence which you did choose?

In what ways can educational practice affect human intelligence? What view of human intelligence has the greatest applicability to education? Please provide justification for your answer.

EPSY 5112 Knowing, Learning & Thinking
Psychology as a discipline

If behaviorism had never existed, and, in its place, cognitive psychology had existed for the last 100 years, would we be better off? Explain and defend your answer.

Mr. I-don’t-believe-it-until-I-see-it thinks that the world would have been better off if it had never had psychology. He believes that psychology has created more evil than good. What harmful or silly things have been created in the name of psychology, and what good things have come from psychology?

Information processing

Explain why knowledge is essential in information processing. In discussing this question, explain how knowledge is used in comprehension, and define the older and newer concepts of comprehension.

What are the implications of factors such as frequency, feedback, interference, distribution of practice on teaching and learning? Why should teachers explain these effects of these factors to their students?

Pattern recognition

What theories of pattern recognition are there, and is there the possibility that each theory has some degree of validity?

Define the difference between resource-limited and data-limited tasks.

Memory

Metacognition

Problem solving

Problem solving is a process. Describe the steps one follows in problem solving. Is there any difference between problem solving and creativity? What are the characteristics of the different instructional programs in problem solving?

What differentiates the expert from the novice in problem-solving ability?

Language

In what ways is human language different, and in what ways is it similar, to the communication used by animals such as dogs and parrots trained to talk?

In the United States today, students come to school from a wide variety of backgrounds. There are students who come from wealthy families, and students who come from poor families. There are students from homes where only English is spoken and students for whom the home language may be Spanish, Russian, or Chinese. How might these home differences affect the language of the classroom, and how might linguistic divergence affect the student in school or in the job market?

Application of psychological theory to subject matters

Many complex acts like driving a car can be done automatically.

Explain what automaticity is, how it develops, and techniques for determining if a behavior is automatic.

Explain how automaticity might affect reading, writing, artistic creation such as painting, sports such as figure skating, and playing a musical instrument.

EPSY 5114 Psychology of Student Learning
History of educational psychology

Differentiate and describe the various types of learning that can take place according to the behaviorist point of view. For each, describe the factors that influence the speed of learning. For each, also provide an example. What are the characteristics of the learner from the behaviorist perspective?

According to the human information-processing view, information passes through a number of steps before a student responds. Describe the major characteristics of each of these steps. What are the characteristics of the student according to the human information-processing view?

Cognitive psychology in education

Describe the structure of short-term memory and long-term memory. How are these two types of memory involved in learning and in forgetting? Describe at least three implications of the properties of short-term and long-term memory for educational practice.

Briefly describe the history of intelligence testing and its uses. What are the advantages and disadvantages, and the proper and improper uses of intelligence tests? Justify your answers.

Describe Piaget’s theory of concept development. Describe the various subprocesses, and indicate how the subprocesses are independent and/or dependent on each other.

Describe Piaget’s theory of the development of thinking. Is this theory best described as assuming a stage-like developmental progression or a linear, continuous development? Describe the steps of the development of intelligence according to Piaget indicating how each step is both dependent and independent of the previous step.

How do language skills develop? Provide examples of each step.

Describe the development of reading and writing skills. For each step, describe implications for practice.

Personality factors in learning

Describe the stages of moral development described by Kohlberg. If you were given the opportunity to design a curriculum aimed at stimulating moral development, how would you organize such a program?

Students may differ in the extent to which they attribute success and failure internally or externally, and they may be motivated by a need to succeed or a drive to avoid failure. Describe these two dimensions in detail and indicate how each dimension may influence performance. For each dimension, give an example for why two students who perform similarly on a first test may perform differently on the next test as a result of differences in their source of motivation.

Describe the Premack principle in terms of behaviorist theories of reinforcement. Describe at least three implications for instructional practice.

Describe four techniques of behavioral management in the classroom. For each, provide an example and describe advantages and disadvantages.

Describe five cognitive objectives in the classroom. Provide examples of each. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using these objectives.

Describe the three types of educational environments that are available for handicapped students. For each, describe the advantages and the disadvantages. If you were to be in the position to determine policy on the choice of environments available to handicapped students, what would you advocate. Justify your answer.

Describe the four social styles that are related to the attainment of identity by adolescents. Describe the implications of each of these styles for the attainment of identity, and for the potential problems associated with the style. Describe these implications both during adolescence and during later life.

EPSY 5115 Psychology of Adult Learning
Historical developments in psychology

Describe the evolution of psychology in terms of major developments and trends.

What forces outside of education lead to changes in the application of psychological theories to curriculum development.

Learning psychology

Describe the features of behavioral psychology and how those apply to an adult learner.

What possible instructional design variables are usually associated with the behavioral paradigm. What have been the positive applications of behavioral theory to adult learner environments.

Describe the developments in cognitive psychology since the 1960s. Identify important models (and theorists) which have contributed to the growth of the cognitive paradigm.

Briefly describe the issues associated with developmental theories in the areas of cognition, affective, and personality.

Program evaluation

Propose an evaluation plan for determining the value of an adult curriculum in an area of your selection (e.g., higher education, training, professional school).

Student evaluation

Describe the major attributes of classical testing. How did these attributes contribute to controversy in testing? How has the testing community adjusted to criticisms?

Propose a student evaluation plan for a given instructional situation (you define the situation).

Describe recent developments in testing and measurement. How might these advancements be employed in adult learning environments?

EPSY 5117 Problem Solving and Decision Making
Problem solving

What is a problem? What are the major components of a problem? What is the difference?

What role does knowledge play in problem solving? What methods of problem solving are highly dependent on knowledge? Please give an example of how knowledge facilitates problem solving.

Why are some problems very hard to solve and other problems very easy to solve? Under what conditions are ill-defined problems harder to solve than well-defined problems?

Are problem solving strategies readily generalizable across academic disciplines? If not, why not?

What are four major problem solving strategies? Please describe them and please cite their limitations.

Decision making

What is a decision? What are the major types of decisions? How is decision making different from problem solving?

What role does knowledge play in decision making? What methods of decision making are highly dependent on knowledge? Please give an example of how knowledge facilitates decision making.

Are decision making strategies readily generalizable across contexts? If not, why not?

What are four major decision making strategies? Please describe them and please cite their limitations.

Key individuals

Key concepts

8. Forms

See Educational Psychology - Degree Forms.

Revised February 2006