Quizzes: Scientific Instruction Flashcards
Which of the following instruments would be most useful to find the volume of a very large textbook?
Metric Ruler
Which of the following would best help students learn to protect themselves against potential health hazards in the laboratory?
Require students to wash their hands after a lab experience.
When examining the color and clarity of 1 gram of sugar in 30 milliliters of water, which of the following would be the best substitute for a test tube?
Graduated Cylinder
When is the best time to remind students about the lab safety rules?
immediately before the students begin an experiment
When determining the accurate measurement of a liquid, which piece of laboratory equipment would be best to find the liquid’s volume to the nearest milliliter?
Graduated Cylinder
Which of the following is not a standard part of general expectations for a classroom pet?
having the animal evaluated by a veterinarian to ensure safety and health
A multimeter would be needed for which of the following experiments?
comparing voltage changes after adding resistors to a circuit
A spring scale would be the most beneficial for which of the following investigations?
showing that gravity is constant for objects with different masses
Which of the following pieces of lab safety equipment might be used in case of a chemical spill?
Safety Shower
Which of the following pieces of safety equipment is most important to use when students are performing an investigation mixing chemicals?
Safety Goggles
In a typical science class, the teacher selects and prepares the tools that will be used for lab measurement. Later in the year, after having had experience with various tools, would it benefit students to have a variety of tools available from which to choose rather than a preselected set of tools? Why or why not?
Yes, a variety of tools requires the student to think about why a particular tool should be used.
Which of the following substances would be safest for use in a fifth-grade science experiment?
Dish Soap
A hand lens would be the most beneficial for which of the following investigations?
comparing metamorphic and igneous rocks
A hot plate would be the most beneficial during which of the following investigations?
measuring how far rubber bands can stretch at different temperatures
Which one of the following tools would be most appropriate to measure both the velocity and acceleration of a toy car in a lab activity?
Ticker Timer
Mr. Orlando is on the far side of the room when he sees a student mishandling equipment during a laboratory activity. Which of the following is the best first step Mr. Orlando should take to resolve the problem?
Move closer to the student.
Which of the following is the appropriate piece of safety equipment to use if chemicals are splashed in someone’s eye?
eyewash station
Which of the following is recommended student behavior in a laboratory setting?
reading and following experiment instructions
Which of the following safety practices will be most applicable to first-grade science labs?
Do not eat or drink in the lab.
Students are using rulers to measure the length of leaves from different species of plants. Which of the following describes the correct way to use a ruler to measure length?
Line up the zero mark of the ruler at one end of the leaf and record the value of the smallest tick mark closest to where the leaf ends.
When instructed to do so, why should a student waft a chemical?
to smell it
During an investigation on acids and bases, a bottle of diluted lemon juice spills onto the floor. What should the students do first?
notify the teacher
During which of the following investigations would it be critical for students to wear safety goggles?
- Heating substances over a flame to find the melting temperature
- Mixing a solution of sugar and water in a glass beaker
- Diluting an acid with water
An elementary student drops a beaker in the lab. Which of the following describes the best safety procedure for the teacher to follow when cleaning up the broken glass?
Use forceps to pick up the large pieces, a wet paper towel to pick up the small pieces, and place all of the pieces in a glass disposal container.
Which of the following is the first step a teacher should take after obtaining a new chemical to use in a student lab?
reading the MSDS for the chemical
When deciding to house a live animal in the classroom, the risk of a potential health hazard to the student or animal must be weighed against the educational value added. What guidelines must first be considered to address this potential hazard, prior to making a choice of getting the animal for the classroom?
the children that might be affected by allergic symptoms
What must a scientist consider when deciding which tools to use to gather data?
the expected outcome of the investigation
Which of the following pieces of safety equipment is appropriate to use if chemicals splash onto a student’s leg?
saftey shower
Density is measured by using the formula mass/volume. In addition to a scale, which of these tools would be helpful in finding the density of a regular-shaped, solid object?
metric ruler
Which of the following should be done before using a triple beam balance to measure the mass of an object?
Zero the balance.
During part of a lab activity, students need to let a solution evaporate to see if any solutes are left behind. Which of the following tools would be most appropriate for this purpose?
watch glass
A second-grade class has created a pictograph of what type of shoe each person is wearing. What is the next visual representation students can make from the information given?
A bar graph
Students in Ms. Weikel’s class are having difficulty remembering the metric unit prefixes. What should she do to help them remember the prefixes?
Teach students a helpful mnemonic device.
A school cafeteria offers 5 different meals and serves each meal on a set day of the week. A teacher takes a survey among her students of which of the 5 meals is their favorite. Which of the following should the teacher use to display the results of the survey?
A pie chart
Patricia is measuring the volume of a chemical in the lab using a graduated cylinder. She takes three measurements of the same volume, reading 40 mL, 35 mL, and 38 mL. She pours the chemical into a 50-mL beaker, and it reaches the 50-mL marking exactly. Which of the following descriptions of her data when using the graduated cylinder is most accurate?
low accuracy, low precision
Malik set up a conversion:
3 gallons x 4 quarts/ 1 gallon x 2 pints/ 1 quart x 2 cups/1 pint
Which of the following conversions is he making?
Gallons to Cups
Edward wants to make a plot that depicts his classmate’s favorite types of juice. Which of the following plots would be best suited for that?
Pie Chart
A recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar but Kristen only has a teaspoon in her kitchen. How many teaspoons of sugar will she need?
96
Which is the most appropriate unit to measure the height of the average adult human?
Inches
Suppose Mike’s actual weight is 165 lbs. His scale says his weight is 164 lbs. What can be said about his scale?
It is accurate
Johnny wants to make a graph to display the amount of money the military spent over a period of time. Which graph would best display this data?
Line Graph
You know that your height is 5 ft 3 in. A friend measures you three times and gets these results: 5 ft 10 in, 5 ft 9.5 in, and 5 ft 10.5 in. How can these measurements be explained?
low accuracy, high precision
If 2.54 cm = 1 in, about how many inches are in 1 meter?
39.4 in.
A teacher’s goal in a math lesson to have students extract data from various charts and displays. What is the best way to do this?
Give each student a chart or display and have them create questions and then trade with a partner.
Which of the following is equivalent to 3 meters?
300 centimeters
Which of the following is the most appropriate unit for expressing the volume of an average glass of milk?
Pint
Which type of graph or chart would be best used to show comparisons between the volume of water drunk by athletes competing in two different sports?
Bar Graph
Mr. Muldoon is teaching about converting between metric and English units. One of his students refuses to engage in the activity and states “I am never leaving America so I don’t need to learn this.” How should he respond?
Explain the many ways in which people in America use the metric system.
Mr. Bielenberg asks students to measure 5 different objects from home using different units of measurement. He does not receive a wide variety of objects. How could he improve this activity in the future?
Give clear guidelines for expected objects.
Mr. Grubb is teaching about accuracy and precision. He asks students to write an essay explaining the difference between the two. He gets a couple of essays that are two sentences long. How can he improve this?
Give a rubric which clearly communicates expectations.
Which metric prefix indicates a factor of 10?
Deca-
The students in Ms. Dukes’ fifth-grade class are using electronic scales to measure the weights of various rocks during a geology lesson. One group has consistently high values for the weights. What is the first thing she should ask the group to help them get back on track?
Did you zero the scale before you started measuring?
If 2.2 lb = 1 kg, and Mary weighs 120 lbs, how much does she weigh in kg?
55 kg
Jamie needs to measure the diagonal of his computer screen for a project he is working on. What is an appropriate unit of measure he could use?
Centimeters
When asked to list sources of error in an experiment, a majority of Mr. Crone’s fifth-grade students included “human error” and “calculator error”. What is their most likely misunderstanding about sources of error in an experiment?
Students think error in measurement is a mistake made by the measurer.
Students think that a digital display has no margin of error.
Students think that electronic equipment always measures exactly.
Susan travels at a rate of 60 miles per hour for 3 hours. Her car uses on average one gallon of gas per 30 miles. How many gallons of gas does she use on her trip?
6
Mckenzie wants to make a graph to display the kinds of pets the students in her class have. Which graph would best display this data?
Bar graph
Of the following, which is most likely the distance from a classroom on the second floor to the playground outside at the end of the wing?
105 meters
A pool empties at a rate of 12 quarts every 2 minutes. How many hours and minutes will it take to completely empty the pool which contains 12,000 gallons? (1 gallon = 4 quarts)
133 hours and 20 minutes
Mrs. Stone has just finished teaching her students the difference between a line graph and a bar graph. She wants to evaluate if they have mastered this concept before the end of class. She plans to give them sets of data and then have them respond with the correct type of display. The best method to do this is:
Give each student a wipe board so they can all answer independently.
Which is the most appropriate unit to measure length of the average football field?
Meters
Which metric prefix indicates a factor of 1000?
Kilo-
Which of the following units is most appropriate to measure the volume of a solid?
Cubic Centimeters
April wants to make a graph to display the amount of time it takes 25 employees to get to work in the morning. Which graph would best display this data?
Stem and leaf plot
A group of students are looking at a circle graph. Each sector is labeled with a number followed by a symbol. Which of the following are the students most likely studying?
Percentages
Which of the following best represents the diameter of a virus?
30 nanometers
A third-grade class is working on a project about wildflowers. Each student uses a ruler to measure the diameter of different flowers. What is the advantage of requiring the students to perform each measurement three times with the same ruler?
It reduces random error.
Patrick likes to play horseshoes. He consistently tosses the horseshoes about one meter to the left of the stake. Which of the following accurately describes his results?
high precision, low accuracy
A teacher provides students a table on the historical populations of the United States during the 19th century, divided by decade. Which of the following would be the most appropriate display for the information?
A histogram
Cheetahs regularly reach a top speed of 60 miles per hour. What is the top speed in feet per second?
88 ft/sec
Which of the following units represents the shortest distance?
Nanometer
Students are investigating the nature of light with a flashlight, a mirror, and a piece of white paper. The teacher circulates among the groups of students, asking questions as they experiment and discussing what they see. Which two of the following teacher questions will best foster critical thinking during the student investigation?
Select all answers that apply.
“How do you know?”
“What makes you think that?”
Mr. Howard would like to create a short freewriting activity to determine whether his students are using critical-thinking skills on their current topic. Which Bloom’s verb would be the best for him to use to start his prompt?
Predict
Billy and Sally perform the same experiment ten times to observe if variations occur in the results from the experiment. After they perform the experiment ten times, they notice a large variance of results, but they hypothesized a small variance in results. When they discuss the experiment with their teacher, the teacher directs them to identify any deviations from the original experimental procedure. Which of the following best describes the benefit of the teacher’s directions?
The task helps Billy and Sally connect deviation in procedure to variance in results.
Studies show that higher-level thinking best moves science content into long-term memory. Which of the following question-starting phrases is most likely to elicit higher-level thinking from students?
How can you apply this idea to …
A teacher asks each small group of students to build a balance from pins, straws, wooden blocks, paper, and tape. Some of the groups try ideas that do not work. Which of the following teacher actions will best encourage these students to think critically while solving problems?
Ask students what they have tried, what happened, and what other thoughts they had.
A third-grade teacher is planning a lesson on representing data using dot plots. She plans to introduce the concept of dot plots, show examples, and create a class dot plot that shows how many siblings the students have. Which of the following would be the best way to incorporate technology into this lesson?
an online program that allows students to plot their data point on a dot plot
During a unit on Earth and space, Ms. Bosshardt wants her students to work on recognizing patterns by observing, describing, and illustrating clouds. Which of the following is the best way to incorporate technology into this lesson?
Have students go outside to observe clouds and use a phone camera to take pictures of a type of cloud that was previously discussed in the classroom.
Which of the following is essential for fostering critical thinking in the classroom?
sufficient student background knowledge
A third-grade teacher wants students to learn about the structures that help organisms survive within their environments. Which of the following activities best supports critical thinking and relates to the lesson goal?
Have students find similarities and differences in the breathing apparatus of fish, amphibians, and reptiles and connect their findings to life underwater versus life on land.
A kindergarten teacher is developing a science lesson to teach students how materials change when they are heated or cooled. Keeping this objective in mind, which of the following would be the best use of technology?
Watching a short time-lapse video clip of matter changing states from solid to liquid and liquid to gas.
During a third-grade unit on resources a teacher wants to include activities that involve scientific investigation and reasoning as described by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 3. Which of the following activities is based on a scientific investigation and best enables students to make informed choices about the use and conservation of natural resources?
Have students research how to recycle on the internet, and then have them set up a classroom recycling center with student-made signs indicating what can and cannot be recycled.
Which of the following is NOT a valid reason for using children’s literature as part of an inquiry lesson in elementary school science?
to show that scientists are smarter than everyone else
A class is learning about the water cycle. Which of the following would be the most appropriate way to use technology to support their understanding of the movement of water through the water cycle?
Use a website that requires students to drag images representing each stage of the water cycle into their correct place on a diagram.
The choices below describe some possible ways a teacher could address misconceptions in science. Which of the following approaches is the LEAST likely to help students replace a scientific misconception with an accepted scientific truth?
ignoring the misconception and focusing only on the accepted science
A second-grade class is starting a month-long investigation about Earth and space in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 2. During the week of a full moon, the students are asked to observe and draw the Moon and its position in the sky at 7:00 p.m. They repeat the activity approximately once each week for the next three weeks.
At the end of the four weeks, the teacher shows drawings of the moon in its various phases and demonstrates the positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon at each phase with three props: a lamp, a globe, and a ball that represents the Moon.
Which of the following is the best follow-up activity for helping second-grade students learn what causes the phases of the Moon?
Draw a single moon phase on the board and ask a few students to position the props to represent that moon phase. Allow the class to verbally help the active students. Repeat for other moon phases.
Many of today’s education experts recommend that teachers move away from the “sage on the stage” approach and become more of a “facilitator of learning.” What does this most likely mean?
This means that teachers need to move away from long lectures and move toward facilitating the classroom while allowing students to become active participants in learning.
During a unit on organisms and environments, Ms. Grandview wants her second-grade students to identify the importance of weather and seasonal information when making choices in clothing and activities, in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 2. Which of the following is the best way to incorporate technology into this lesson?
Have students use an internet weather site to find out about the current weather in a city elsewhere in the world and then draw pictures of the clothing and activities that would be appropriate given those weather conditions.
Which of the following activities will best allow students to self-identify their misconceptions?
applying the scientific method to an idea in class and designing an experiment
A teacher wants his students to learn about different forms of energy in everyday life. Which of the following is the most engaging way to start a lesson that relates to the lesson goals and encourages students to see themselves as scientists?
Give students time to rotate through several hands-on science experiments that demonstrate the transformation of energy from one form to another.
Which of the following activities best represents exploratory play during a unit on Earth and space in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 1?
Provide students with rocks, sand, soil, portland cement, water, mixing bowls, spoons, and paper cups and ask them to try to make concrete that will harden in a paper cup.
What is the best way to structure inquiry-based research in a 5th-grade classroom?
facilitate student-selected topics and student questioning
A teacher wants students to understand how environments can support a population of plants and animals in an ecosystem. Which of the following is the most engaging way to start a lesson that relates to the lesson goals and encourages students to see themselves as scientists?
Have students observe and record the interactions of plants and animals in a terrarium over a span of several days or weeks.
Which of the following students would qualify as an English-language learner?
a student whose family speaks Choctaw at home
Mr. Murphy is planning a lesson designed to meet the needs of all learners in his science class. The goal of his lesson is to help the learner enjoy learning science. Which of the following should Mr. Murphy incorporate first into the lesson in order to reach his goal?
activities focused on a variety of interests and learning styles
A kindergarten class is learning about daily weather changes in a unit on Earth and space in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade K. Which of the following weather tools are age-appropriate for use by kindergarteners during an investigation of the weather?
digital thermometer
their own senses
Which of the following is the best way to use data collected from pre-assessment activities?
to drive instruction
Technology is best utilized in the classroom when it can accomplish which of the following?
enhances the learning objective
During a unit on Earth and space, Mr. Pérez wants his third-grade students to investigate rapid changes in Earth’s surface such as those produced by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and landslides, in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 3. Which of the following is the best way to incorporate technology into this lesson?
Have students use presentation software to make and present two-minute reports, each on one aspect of the topics on the list.
In which of the following assignments would students most likely find the Venn diagram to be a useful tool in organizing their information?
The teacher has asked the students to compare and contrast plants and animals.
Traditionally, most elementary questions asked during instruction and assessment are at the recall level. Which level of Bloom’s Taxonomy encourages the learner to think at the highest level?
synthesis (creating)
During a unit on Earth and space, Ms. Washington wants her first-grade students to identify the characteristics of day and night, including the reason for time zones, in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 1. Which of the following is the best way to incorporate technology as students BEGIN this lesson?
Set up a videoconference with a person from a very different time zone and encourage students to discuss the current time of day and what it looks like outside.
Which of the following activities would provide the most beneficial learning experience for a third-grade class studying the planets and their positions relative to each other?
Students create a scaled-down model of the solar system on the field using inflatable planets.
Ms. Babu feels her class has a good understanding of the definitions and theories associated with physical and chemical changes, but she wants them to apply the concepts.
Which homework assignment would best help students connect the concepts to their everyday lives?
Have students look for a chemical or physical change they see after they leave school, and then tell the class about it the next day.
A teacher of early elementary students would like to incorporate additional digital technology into classroom learning. Which of the following is the most effective approach?
Find ways to purposefully integrate technology into current lesson plans, such as using science-based programs to supplement core content science instruction.
The Dalton School District has access to a short exciting, personal, eye-witness story about a tornado that struck across their state and killed 36 people. The author describes how she felt during the approach, destruction, and aftermath of the tornado.
Of the following choices, which is the best place in the lesson plan for the science teacher to read the story to the class?
as an introduction to the unit
Casey is building a treehouse in his backyard. He works on it every day with all of his friends. Casey has little interest in science until Mrs. Baker teaches simple machines, and uses Casey’s construction project as an example for how pulleys make lifting the building materials much easier. What process does Mrs. Baker use to encourage Casey’s love for science?
real-world situations for application
During a unit on scientific investigation and reasoning, Ms. Washington wants her third-grade students to practice analyzing and interpreting patterns in data, in accordance with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Grade 3. Which TWO of the following are the best ways to incorporate technology into this lesson?
Have students look at objects of different temperatures through infrared goggles and record their observations. Then allow students to discuss their observations as they make sense of what they see through the goggles.
Teach students how to use a photogate timer to calculate average speed and have students measure, record, graph, and analyze the average speeds of cars rolling down a ramp at different ramp angles.
A second-grade teacher is teaching students about conserving resources and recycling household materials in accordance with the grade-level standards. Which of the following learning activities best aligns with the teacher’s goal?
Start a school-wide recycling program and have students create flyers about conservation to encourage participation.
After teaching a complex unit, what is the best way to assess what students have learned?
have the students take an end-of-unit exam
Ms. Potter just finished a fourth-grade unit on energy transformations. As part of an assessment, Ms. Potter demonstrates the operation of a machine that incorporates several energy transformations as it performs a task. Which of the following is the most effective way for her to assess the students’ ability to trace energy transformations in a system?
having students use a provided diagram to label each energy transformation where it occurs while the machine is operating
School administrators often require their staff to write common assessments. Which of the following is important to consider regarding the writing of common assessments in a team of four teachers, all of whom teach third grade on the same campus?
Common assessments need to be a collaborative effort, aligned to the curriculum, and administered regularly.
During a sixth-grade unit on suspensions, Mr. Ricky teaches that the color of a suspension depends on how light reflects on the solutes. He uses the examples of glacial lakes, which contain silt from the glacier’s movement. When sunlight hits the lake and reflects from this suspended silt, the lake appears a spectacular turquoise blue or green color.
Of the following student activities, which would be most useful to include while assessing students’ understanding of his unit on suspensions?
drawing a diagram of why glacial lakes are blue
During lessons, teachers should provide effective feedback to students. Which of the following explains why immediate specific feedback is essential?
to ensure a positive learning experience in science
A test given at the end of a unit on evolution is an example of:
a summative assessment.
In the middle of a lesson on plant systems, a teacher asks students to raise their hand if a statement she says about roots is true. She reads four statements and notes how accurate the class is for each statement. This exercise is an example of:
a formative assessment.
A teacher would like to assess students’ understanding of what to do during a natural hazard, such as a lightning storm or a tornado. Which of the following would be the most effective way to do this?
having students write stories that illustrate which safety procedures to follow in an emergency and why
In the middle of a unit on lunar cycles, Mr. Rice hands out drawing paper and gives his students the following task:
A new moon is always high in the sky at noon. Use what you know about the positions of the sun, moon, and Earth during a new moon to draw a diagram to show why a new moon is in the sky at noon.
After the students finished their drawings, Mr. Rice looked at them before he planned the next unit in the lesson.
Mr. Rice used this activity as which of the following?
formative assessment
During a unit on sound, a teacher wants to informally assess the class to see if they can differentiate between longitudinal and transverse wave behavior. Which of the following would be the most effective way to do this?
having students link arms and demonstrate each type of wave with their bodies
Mrs. Walker just completed a unit on the anatomy of a rat with her fifth graders. Which of the following is the most effective way for a teacher to assess the students’ understanding of the concept?
Have students draw a rat and label the parts.
Mrs. Hogan is wrapping up a unit on homeostasis. She would like to assess student knowledge before she moves on. Which of the following would be the best summative assessment?
a test over homeostasis and the processes involved
A test given at the end of a unit on weather and climate is an example of:
a summative assessment.
Which of the following statements best describes a formative assessment?
Formative assessments measure what students know along the way.
A teacher would like to assess students’ understanding of the similarities and differences between mitosis and meiosis. Which of the following would be the most effective way to do this?
Have students partner up and create a Venn diagram for mitosis and meiosis.
Formative assessments provide information that can be used for which of the following?
To change and improve instruction.
During a lesson on ocean currents, a teacher asks his class to respond to a question by giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. This is an example of which of the following types of assessment?
informal
Which would be the recommended sequence to follow when asking questions in the classroom?
ask the question, wait 5-10 seconds, and then call on a specific student to answer
Which of the following is a list of ideas for formative assessment?
creating a graphic organizer, cooperative learning activities, and a foldable
Mrs. Johnson’s class is learning about ecology. She asks them to draw a picture of an example of interspecific competition and intraspecific competition. Then, she posts the pictures on the board and asks students to identify which type of competition is pictured. What type of activity is this?
formative assessment
A science teacher would like to determine students’ understanding at the end of a unit. Which of the following activities would be best suited for this purpose?
a test featuring a variety of questioning methods
Which of the following would best assess students’ abilities to formulate testable scientific questions?
Demonstrate a science event with an unexpected outcome and ask each to write a related question that they might be able to answer with classroom experiments.
The semester exam administered to students at the end of the term is considered to be a:
summative assessment.
Of the following, which is the most important feature of an instructional assessment?
The learning objectives are assessed and do not vary significantly from the material the students were taught.
In science class, a student rarely remembers to complete homework and earns a low average grade on quizzes and tests. During discussion, the student asks thoughtful questions and participates eagerly. Which of the following assessment formats would allow the science teacher to fully evaluate the student’s mastery of content?
questioning
