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MTTC Test (Lower Elementary Test #120)
- A second-grade teacher is planning a unit on structure and properties of matter. Which of the following statements about scientific phenomena should be used as an anchoring phenomena for this grade? A. An ice cube melts in a glass but becomes solid again when the water is frozen. B. Shadows are much cooler than areas of ground where sunlight strikes. C. Some things cling to a balloon after it has been rubbed on a cloth. D. A match changes its appearance after it burns. - Answer -A. CORRECT. The phenomenon of frozen water melting and re-freezing is a good anchor because it is observable, accessible across cultures, requires additional instruction, relates to both structure and properties of matter, and lends itself to investigations, including those related to temperature and phase changes. B. Shadows are engaging, observable phenomena; however, they are not examples of matter and therefore are not a good anchor for this unit. C. Items clinging to a balloon is an engaging and observable phenomenon; however, electric charge as a property of matter is beyond the scope of second-grade learning and therefore not an appropriate anchor.
D. The change in a match after burning is an interesting and observable phenomenon; however, it would fit best in a unit on physical and chemical changes, rather than in an introduction to structure and properties of matter, and it would be more appropriate for older students than for second-grade students.
- A kindergarten science classroom investigates changing the speed and direction of an object with a push or a pull. Which of the following activities most appropriately supports the students in analyzing and interpreting data? A. comparing different observations of what occurred B. distinguishing between opinions and evidence in an argument C. describing how specific images support a scientific explanation D. making valid claims to determine an optimal design solution to a problem - Answer -A. CORRECT. This investigation offers students the opportunity to observe how the speed and/or direction of an object changes with a push or a pull (e.g., pushing or pulling a toy car with various amounts of force). The descriptions of what they observed and the comparisons of different outcomes provide data that can be used for interpretation and analysis with the help of the teacher. B. The concept of change due to force is the focus of the lesson and, while opinions and evidence will be discussed, distinguishing them isn't the result of analyzing the data. In this scenario, students are more engaged in the practice of argument. C. Students are working with objects in this lesson, not viewing images, and they are working toward the practice of developing an explanation. D. Students are investigating how speed and direction can change, but not in reference to a specific goal, such as designing an optimal solution. This scenario is more about the practices of engaging in argument and designing solutions than in analyzing and interpreting data.
- Students in a third-grade science class make claims about how a prototype design that they made for a weather-related problem works. This activity matches which of the following disciplinary core ideas?
D. communicating solutions to reduce the amount of junk orbiting Earth - Answer -A. Examining only one day's data will not provide enough information to find a pattern because multiple data points are needed. B. Providing evidence in this way relates better to the crosscutting concept of cause and effect because being seen relies on the illumination of an object. C. CORRECT. By making observations and learning about the sun, moon, and stars, students can learn to recognize patterns, such as predicting the visible shape of the moon over time, as well as the positions of various celestial objects. D. Examining the amount of junk orbiting Earth relates better to scale, proportion, and quantity because it involves amounts of things.
- Prekindergarten children explore the concepts of sinking and floating by placing items in water. Which of the following supplies would best support this investigation? A. plastic building blocks that are different colors B. classroom objects made of different materials C. different-sized bottles with various types of liquid inside D. fish tanks with sizes that have varying depths and volumes - Answer -A. The blocks' color is not directly related to whether it can sink or float. B. CORRECT. By exploring sinking and floating with objects made of different materials (e.g., a wooden block, a foam block), students will learn that the type of material influences whether an object can float or will sink. C. These supplies introduce too many variables that could be confusing to prekindergarten children (e.g., different-sized bottles, different types of liquid).
D. An object that will float in a large fish tank will also float in a small fish tank.
- As part of an instructional sequence about climate, a third-grade teacher assigns student groups to research climates in different regions of the world. Each group then creates a poster and presents its information to the class. Which of the following activities would best engage students in sense-making about climate regions during a whole-class follow-up discussion? A. identifying kinds of wildlife that are found in a climate region B. explaining which climate regions humans like to live in C. finding the hottest and coldest climate regions D. describing patterns about climate regions - Answer -A. Identifying specific kinds of wildlife in a climate region would provide students with the names of organisms in an area, but it would not deepen their understanding or sense-making as much as learning about specific adaptations exhibited by animals in a particular climate region. B. Humans live in a variety of climate regions throughout the world. Therefore, this activity does not add to sense-making about climate and climate regions. C. Finding the hottest and coldest climate regions is a fact-gathering activity that can add to student understanding about geography, but it does not deepen sense-making about climate and climate regions. D. CORRECT. Climate regions have specific temperature, precipitation, and location patterns. An activity in which students learn about these patterns increases the likelihood of student sense-making about climate regions.
- A third-grade teacher designs a unit on inheritance of traits in living things. Students have already seen a diagram showing the flower color and plant height of several generations of pea plants. Which of the following activities would best use talk and group work to support student sense-making of the inheritance of traits?
B. Squirrels gathering acorns does not illustrate the concept of pollination, though it might be linked to reproduction and dissemination. Additionally, both pollination and the distribution of seeds, such as acorns, are topics for older students. C. The cycling of matter is too advanced a topic for pre-kindergartners, and squirrels gathering acorns does not illustrate this concept in a straightforward manner. D. CORRECT. Students have observed the phenomenon of squirrels collecting acorns. Using this question, the students' observations can be leveraged for students to make sense of animal behavior caused by seasonal changes.
- Students in a second-grade classroom have recently completed a series of lessons about the importance of recycling. Several students observed that their school lunchroom does not have any containers for recyclable materials. Which of the following activities would be most effective to promote students' ability to positively contribute to civic discourse on this issue? A. conducting a classroom discussion about the most important reasons to recycle B. producing a poster to illustrate how food and materials can be properly recycled C. investigating the benefits that recycling has produced for the world's ecosystems D. preparing an appeal to the school principal about the usefulness of recycling bins - Answer -A. A classroom discussion would be a form of discourse, but it does not reach the level of civic discourse if it is only within the classroom. B. A poster would be civic engagement, but there is not explicit discourse involved. C. Investigating the benefits of recycling would help to ensure the students have understanding, but it is not civic discourse.
D. CORRECT. By preparing an appeal, the students are considering both sides of the issue, and bringing the topic to the principal involves the greater school community.
- A third-grade teacher plans a lesson on the beliefs and histories of the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan. Which of the following activities would best promote students' understanding of the beliefs and histories of the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan? A. investigating the traditional foods common to the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan B. listening to audio recordings of oral testimonies of the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan C. reviewing the accounts of European settlers interacting with the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan D. researching the borrowing of words from the languages of the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan into English - Answer -A. While food is part of the Anishinaabek culture, food is only narrowly related to beliefs and histories. B. CORRECT. Listening to audio recordings preserves the authenticity of the primary sources so that they cannot be misinterpreted or mistranslated. C. The accounts of European settlers would reflect their own perspectives and not necessarily the beliefs and histories of the Anishinaabek peoples. D. Researching words that have been borrowed into English could lead to information regarding the history of the tribes, but not in a targeted way.
- To introduce the geographic theme of places and regions, a first-grade teacher leads the class on a tour of the school grounds and its immediate environment. The students note the following observations. -school buildings -playground equipment -trees and plants
A. popular sovereignty B. checks and balances C. consent of the governed D. equal protection under the law - Answer -A. Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a government is derived from the rights of the people, which is not what is being modeled in this lesson. B. CORRECT. The system of checks and balances was created so that each branch of the government (e.g., the executive branch, judicial branch, and legislative branch) is empowered to prevent overreach by other branches. C. Consent of the governed is the theory that the citizens of a country give their permission for the government to operate, and permission is not discussed in this scenario. D. Equal protection under the law is a principle that means a law must treat every person the same as it would treat others in similar circumstances, which is not an issue in this lesson.
- The teachers of an urban prekindergarten class plan a student field trip to a farm to learn about the roles of farms and farmers in providing food for the community, the tools and resources they use, and the goods and services they provide. Before the field trip, the teachers could best use which of the following strategies to activate the children's prior knowledge? A. having children vote on the most interesting farm activities and farm animals and graphing the results as a class B. asking children about what they know and want to know about farms and creating illustrations of the responses on a poster C. creating a Venn diagram with the children in which they record the similarities and differences between different types of familiar foods
D. walking with children around the school grounds to observe animals and machinery to form a comparison with what they will see at the farm - Answer -A. Voting and graphing the results would be a good math activity to do after the field trip, but it would not be an appropriate way to activate the children's prior knowledge. B. CORRECT. Having a discussion and using visual models will help the children recognize and identify what they already know about farms and farmers. C. A Venn diagram will focus the children's attention on the types of food, not the roles of the farms and farmers in providing food for the community. D. This activity could scaffold animals and machinery for the children, but it will not help them think about what they already know about farms. A third-grade teacher begins a lesson on forces and motion by showing their students a video of a professional bowler repeatedly throwing a ball and knocking down bowling pins. This instructional choice primarily gives students: A. a clear demonstration of crosscutting patterns across scientific content areas and their applications. B. justification that the class's topics of study exist in the real world in engaging settings. C. data that can be recorded in charts to support the teacher's explanations of the topic. D. a realistic example of a core idea in the form of an explainable observation. - Answer -A. Students observe the phenomenon, but there is no questioning or specific directed observation of crosscutting concepts. B. This explanation may be an ancillary effect of the instructional choice but is not its purpose. C. The scenario does not describe students collecting data, and data should not be used to support a teacher's explanation but to support students developing their own.
A. growing sunflowers in the classroom in order to discuss how and why they move B. examining and comparing how to take care of different common household pets C. taking a walking field trip to observe the plants and animals around the school D. dissecting apples to explore the parts of the fruit and their purpose - Answer -A. CORRECT. Noticing how a flower turns toward the sun and which flowers will grow or not depending on where they are in the classroom is a phenomenon that can drive multiple lessons. B. Students may have some familiarity and interest in the topic, but discussing animal needs is not a phenomenon because it is not an observable puzzling event. C. Observing which plants and animals grow around the school is an investigation that could support learning this topic, but it is not a phenomenon because it is not an observable puzzling event. D. This activity allows students to explore the structure and function of apples, but studying the structure and function of apples is not an anchoring phenomenon A prekindergarten teacher presents two identical clear containers to children, both containing marbles and coins. The first container also includes rubber erasers, while the other includes cotton balls. The teacher shakes the containers and encourages children to determine which creates a louder noise. Next, the teacher asks children to identify the cause of the difference in noise volumes between the two containers and determine a modification to the containers that would make them equally loud. The teacher's prompting encourages the children's engagement in which of the following science and engineering practices? A. asking questions and defining problems B. planning and carrying out investigations
C. using mathematics and computational thinking D. constructing explanations and designing solutions - Answer -A. The teacher's questions are guiding the activity, rather than the children generating questions. B. The class has already completed this step of the process by conducting the experiment together. C. Although there are mathematics concepts in volume and noise measurement, that is above grade- level and is not the purpose of this practice. D. CORRECT. The children are being asked to create an explanation for the discrepancy and how to remedy it. A local lake and its shoreline are known to have species that live in certain ecosystems, such as heavily wooded areas or the shoreline. Which of the following activities best supports a planned second-grade unit on the local lake that allows students to practice scientific modeling? A. marking the location of areas where different plant and animal species live on a hiking map featuring the lake B. learning about a local frog species and how its body is adapted to its environment C. visiting the lake to collect samples of water to see what living creatures it contains D. constructing an explanation of how lake-effect snow forms - Answer -A. CORRECT. This activity allows second-grade students to develop a simple, functional model of an area that they are studying. B. Rather than examining the environment of the local lake and its shoreline, this activity emphasizes the structure and function of a single creature. C. This activity emphasizes carrying out an investigation, not modeling.
C. discussing how weather is produced by the movement of air and water of different temperatures D. comparing images of the sky in different parts of the world with similar weather conditions and the average temperatures of those locations - Answer -A. These teacher-developed sequences, while they may be patterns, do not engage students in observing patterns in the local weather phenomena. B. CORRECT. This activity allows students to find patterns in weather over time in an age-appropriate way. C. Rather than exploring the patterns in weather, this activity is about the fundamental causes of weather, and is not age appropriate. D. This activity considers similarities in weather in various locations, not local patterns over time. A first-grade teacher teaches a lesson on sound waves as part of a unit on light and sound. Students observe a phenomenon where a piece of paper is placed on a speaker and the volume of sound coming out of the speaker is altered. The teacher asks the students, "What happens to the paper when we change the volume on the speaker?" Which of the following crosscutting concepts is the teacher primarily identifying in the lesson? A. cause and effect B. stability and change C. structure and function D. systems and system models - Answer -A. CORRECT. Students observe what occurs in movement of the paper (effect) as the volume (cause) increases and decreases.
B. The goal of this lesson is to learn about how sound waves produce effects, as shown on a piece of paper, so although the paper moves, the focus of the lesson is why there is a change, not just identifying that there is one. C. Although students observe that the movement of the paper changes, its movement is not related to the structure or the function of the paper. D. In this lesson, students will not observe a group of parts that are working together to make a system. A kindergarten teacher plans a lesson for a forces and interactions unit. The students are given a marble, a track, and a ramp. The goal of the lesson is to construct a system that explores the crosscutting concept of cause and effect in relation to making the marble move as fast as possible. Which of the following possible lesson components supports the lesson goal? A. using the ramp to change the height and increase the speed of the marble B. observing whether the marble goes fast or slow at the same track height C. recording the direction of the marble as it exits the ramp D. directing where the marble will roll by using the track - Answer -A. CORRECT. This activity allows students to connect the cause of ramp height with the effect of marble speed. B. Although students observe the speed of a marble, this element does not relate any cause to the change of speed. C. Rather than observing a cause-and-effect relationship between the direction and the speed, students only observe the direction the marble rolls.
B. Students read a book about how scientists calculate and record the length of different Earth events. C. Students solve word problems using subtraction to calculate the length of different Earth events. D. Students construct a timeline to compare the timescales at which different Earth events occur. - Answer -A. Rather than being in the service of science learning, this activity only engages students in mathematics related to the science topic. B. This activity engages students in learning about how scientists use mathematics in their work but does not engage students in using mathematics in service of science learning. C. Although this activity engages students in mathematics related to the science topic, it is not in the service of science learning. D. CORRECT. Students must use mathematical thinking in order to compare the timescales at which different Earth events occur as part of their science learning. A third-grade class investigates differences between animals of the same species and how those differences can be beneficial. Their teacher reads a newspaper article on how the coat thicknesses of elk herds in Michigan's Upper Peninsula changes over time. Which of the following supplemental activities makes the article more beneficial for the purpose of student sense-making? A. reading a storybook that features an elk character before reading the article B. explaining to the students the history of elk hunting and the reintroduction of the species into Michigan C. paraphrasing the newspaper article so that it is presented in a way that is below students' reading level D. asking students to theorize about the advantages and disadvantages of thinner fur coats for animals after reading the article - Answer -A. Although this supplemental activity might build student engagement, it doesn't directly support sense-making.
B. Rather than relate to biological adaptations to environment, this supplemental activity only provides historical context. C. This supplemental activity may make the article more accessible to some students, but neither allows students to be challenged by the original text nor encourages them to consider reasons for the phenomenon themselves. D. CORRECT. This supplemental activity encourages students to engage in sense-making on the topic of coat thickness. A second-grade teacher plans an Earth's systems unit on processes that shape Earth. The teacher shows students pictures of a variety of ways that dikes prevent water from changing the land. Which of the following activities helps students better understand how dikes prevent water from changing the land? A. listing the ways in which water is held back by different types of dikes B. creating a Venn diagram comparing the different types of dikes C. modeling in small groups how dikes contain water D. researching the materials that comprise a dike - Answer -A. Although students list differences they observe, they do not demonstrate understanding of the effect each difference has on the function of the dike. B. Rather than demonstrating understanding of the effects of the similarities and differences, students only identify similarities and differences between dikes. C. CORRECT. Students are applying their understanding of dikes to illustrate and explain how dikes work to prevent water from changing the land. D. Students will understand the engineering of a dike but will not demonstrate understanding of how the dike prevents water from changing the land.
