Chapter 33 Quiz: Teaching Others

Question 1 In the Washington University experiment that opens this chapter, what happened when students were told they would teach material rather than be tested on it?

A) Their motivation increased but their actual performance was similar B) They spent more time studying, which accounted for any performance difference C) They outperformed the "study for test" group even when they were tested rather than given a chance to teach D) They performed worse on tests because they'd organized material for teaching rather than testing

Question 2 Which of the following is NOT one of the mechanisms identified for why expecting to teach produces better learning?

A) Better organization of the material in memory B) More thorough identification of knowledge gaps C) Greater familiarity with the source material through repeated rereading D) More elaboration through generating examples and analogies

Question 3 Bloom's 2 sigma finding (1984) showed that one-on-one human tutoring produced what kind of performance difference?

A) About 10% improvement over classroom instruction B) About two standard deviations improvement over conventional classroom instruction — the average tutored student performed better than ~98% of conventionally-instructed students C) Improvement for struggling students but no benefit for advanced students D) Better performance on immediate tests but not on delayed retention

Question 4 In the Feynman technique, what specifically does "identify where the explanation breaks down" mean in practice?

A) Finding the parts of your explanation that contradict the textbook B) Identifying where your explanation gets vague, circular, or dependent on jargon — where a curious student could ask "but why?" and you'd have no clear answer C) Identifying the most difficult concepts that should be simplified D) Finding the places where your explanation goes beyond what the textbook covers

Question 5 What is the "curse of knowledge," and how does it relate to teaching?

A) The fact that knowing more makes exams harder B) The cognitive phenomenon where experts find it difficult to remember what it was like not to know something, causing them to explain at too high a level C) The problem that highly knowledgeable people are less effective teachers because they know too much D) The difficulty of teaching material you've studied so recently that you haven't fully processed it

Question 6 Why is "Can you give me an example?" a more effective comprehension check than "Does that make sense?"

A) Examples take longer to explain, giving more time for the information to consolidate B) "Does that make sense?" is technically incorrect English C) "Does that make sense?" invites yes from confused students; "give me an example" requires active output that reveals actual understanding or its absence D) Examples are easier for learners to generate than verbal confirmations

Question 7 The chapter says the Feynman technique works on a "12-year-old audience" specifically. What is the functional purpose of this constraint?

A) Material that can be explained to a 12-year-old is at the correct difficulty level for exams B) The constraint of "no jargon" forces you to explain using actual concepts rather than technical vocabulary, revealing where vocabulary is concealing gaps in conceptual understanding C) 12-year-olds represent the median intellectual level of most audiences D) Explaining to young people is a form of ethical practice in science communication

Question 8 David's Feynman session on gradient descent revealed a specific gap. What was the first gap, and how was it found?

A) He discovered he didn't know the mathematical formula; found by trying to write it from memory B) He discovered he couldn't explain intuitively why the gradient points in the direction of steepest ascent; found when his analogy-based explanation couldn't answer "why the negative gradient, specifically?" C) He discovered he didn't understand why gradient descent uses partial derivatives; found in conversation with a colleague D) He discovered he had confused gradient descent with backpropagation; found by comparing his explanation to the textbook

Question 9 What did Amara call the gaps that tutoring specifically revealed — and what did they represent?

A) "Concept gaps" — absence of content knowledge B) "Word gaps" — places where she had technical vocabulary without the conceptual understanding behind it C) "Application gaps" — inability to apply concepts to novel problems D) "Memory gaps" — content she had once known but forgotten

Question 10 Which of the following represents the correct ordering of explanation strategy recommended for teaching?

A) Abstract principle → general rule → concrete example B) Technical definition → formal proof → practical application C) Concrete example → abstract principle; build from what the learner already knows D) Historical context → theory → applications

Question 11 What does the Socratic method add to explanation, compared to direct teaching?

A) It's more efficient, covering more material in less time B) By asking questions rather than providing answers, it requires the learner to construct understanding rather than receive it — a deeper form of cognitive engagement C) It avoids the curse of knowledge by not requiring the teacher to explain anything directly D) It works best for advanced learners and isn't suitable for novices

Question 12 According to the chapter, what does Amara mean when she says "I think I get more out of tutoring than my students do"?

A) She earns money from tutoring, which is a tangible benefit B) As the tutor, she is constantly being challenged to construct explanations from actual understanding by students' unexpected questions — which is a more demanding form of learning than being tutored C) As a tutor, she has more control over the session content D) Tutoring gives her access to practice problems she couldn't otherwise obtain

Answer Key

1. C — The remarkable finding: the teach group outperformed the test group even on tests — without being given the chance to actually teach. The expectation of teaching was sufficient to change how they processed the material during study.

2. C — The mechanism is not more rereading (more familiarity with source material). The mechanisms are organizational processing, gap identification, and elaboration — all active cognitive processes, not passive review.

3. B — Bloom's 1984 finding: tutored students performed on average two standard deviations above conventionally-instructed students. This means the average tutored student performed better than approximately 98% of classroom-instructed students.

4. B — "Where the explanation breaks down" means specifically: where it gets vague, where it's circular, where jargon is being used as a substitute for explanation, where you say "it just does X" without being able to explain why. The imaginary curious student's "but why?" question is the test.

5. B — The curse of knowledge: once you've learned something, it becomes difficult to remember what it was like not to know it. You unconsciously assume background knowledge your audience doesn't have, causing you to explain at too high a level.

6. C — "Does that make sense?" invites social compliance (saying yes to avoid embarrassment) rather than honest feedback. "Give me an example" requires active generation — and if the person can give an accurate example, they understand. If their example is wrong or missing, the gap is immediately visible.

7. B — The "12-year-old" constraint forces the abandonment of jargon. When you have to explain without technical vocabulary, you discover which parts of your "understanding" were actually just vocabulary — words without clear conceptual meaning attached.

8. B — David's first gap: his blindfold-and-hillside analogy couldn't explain why you go in the "negative" gradient direction specifically (rather than just "any downhill direction"). When the imaginary student asked "why negative?" his explanation became circular. The gap: he couldn't explain intuitively why the gradient points uphill rather than in some other direction.

9. B — Amara called them "word gaps" — places where she had the technical vocabulary (could define the term, use it correctly in a sentence) but lacked the explanatory understanding behind it (couldn't answer "why does it work this way?").

10. C — Concrete example before abstract principle is consistently more effective: it gives the abstract concept somewhere to land. Build from what the learner already knows: it activates prior knowledge as a scaffolding for new information.

11. B — The Socratic method's primary advantage: it requires the learner to construct understanding rather than receive it. Construction is a deeper form of cognitive engagement than reception. The teacher's questions guide the construction process without doing the construction for the learner.

12. B — Amara's insight: as a tutor, she is constantly challenged by students' unexpected questions to construct explanations from her actual understanding — not just retrieve memorized formulas. This active construction under unpredictable challenge is more cognitively demanding, and more productive for deep learning, than being the tutored student.