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Study Guide

Field 117–120: Lower Elementary (PK–3) Education
Subtest 4: Science and Social Studies
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Subarea 1—Science–Engaging Children in 3-Dimensional Science Learning as Identified in the National Research Council's A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

Objective 001—Scientific Phenomena

1. 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?

  1. An ice cube melts in a glass but becomes solid again when the water is frozen.
  2. Shadows are much cooler than areas of ground where sunlight strikes.
  3. Some things cling to a balloon after it has been rubbed on a cloth.
  4. A match changes its appearance after it burns.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. 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.
  2. Shadows are engaging, observable phenomena; however, they are not examples of matter and therefore are not a good anchor for this unit.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
Objective 002—Engaging Children in Science and Engineering Practices

2. 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?

  1. comparing different observations of what occurred
  2. distinguishing between opinions and evidence in an argument
  3. describing how specific images support a scientific explanation
  4. making valid claims to determine an optimal design solution to a problem
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Students are working with objects in this lesson, not viewing images, and they are working toward the practice of developing an explanation.
  4. 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.
Objective 003—Engaging Children in Developing and Using Disciplinary Core Ideas

3. 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?

  1. wave properties
  2. natural resources
  3. developing possible solutions
  4. defining and delimiting engineering problems
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
  1. Third-grade students should not yet be learning about wave properties, which would include discussions of amplitude, frequency, and wavelength. Moreover, these properties only relate to weather tangentially.
  2. While weather is a naturally occurring phenomenon and so might be considered a natural resource, this concept is not helpful in designing solutions for a weather-related problem.
  3. Correct. Communicating with other students about their prototypes is an important part of the developing possible solutions portion of the engineering design process and aids in the development of ideas, including generating improvements.
  4. The students should have already completed defining and delimiting their current engineering problems because they are described as being at the point of making claims about how their prototypes work.
Objective 004—Engaging Children in Developing and Using Crosscutting Concepts

4. Which of the following activities effectively integrates the patterns crosscutting concept into a first-grade space systems unit?

  1. recording information to describe how much light is available on a given day
  2. providing evidence of objects only being seen when they are illuminated
  3. observing the sun, moon, and stars to predict daily and monthly events
  4. communicating solutions to reduce the amount of junk orbiting Earth
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
  1. Examining only one day’s data will not provide enough information to find a pattern because multiple data points are needed.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Examining the amount of junk orbiting Earth relates better to scale, proportion, and quantity because it involves amounts of things.

Subarea 2—Science–Children's Sense-making and Science Teaching Pedagogy

Objective 005—Selecting and Modifying Instructional Materials for 3-Dimensional Learning

5. Prekindergarten children explore the concepts of sinking and floating by placing items in water. Which of the following supplies would best support this investigation?

  1. plastic building blocks that are different colors
  2. classroom objects made of different materials
  3. different-sized bottles with various types of liquid inside
  4. fish tanks with sizes that have varying depths and volumes
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. The blocks’ color is not directly related to whether it can sink or float.
  2. 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.
  3. These supplies introduce too many variables that could be confusing to prekindergarten children (e.g., different-sized bottles, different types of liquid).
  4. An object that will float in a large fish tank will also float in a small fish tank.
Objective 006—Children's Scientific Sense-making

6. 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?

  1. identifying kinds of wildlife that are found in a climate region
  2. explaining which climate regions humans like to live in
  3. finding the hottest and coldest climate regions
  4. describing patterns about climate regions
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
Objective 007—Pedagogical Strategies that Support Culturally Relevant Sense-making in 3-Dimensional Learning

7. 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?

  1. labeling the parts of various pea plants together with a partner
  2. making a model to explain the different plant heights and flower colors
  3. using the school library to conduct research on other common garden plants
  4. asking community members about their favorite fruits and vegetables and if those varieties can still be found today
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. Group talk is minimally supported with this action because the action can be completed independently.
  2. Correct. This activity allows students to leverage group discourse and knowledge on the topic of inheritance and bring their own experience to bear.
  3. Although research might provide more new information to the students, it doesn't use talk or group work.
  4. Although this activity leverages community involvement and discourse, it doesn't directly support the aims of the unit.
Objective 008—Equity and Access

8. As students in a prekindergarten classroom return from playing outside, they excitedly discuss how they have observed squirrels gathering acorns. These types of student experiences should be used as a basis for the design of a lesson that focuses on which of the following questions?

  1. What is the impact of humans on the survival of plants and animals?
  2. What is the role of animals in the pollination of trees and flowers?
  3. How do animals function in the cycling of matter?
  4. Why are some animals putting away food?
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Based upon the students’ observations, the follow-up lesson should be designed to center on squirrels, not humans. Further, squirrels gathering nuts does not illustrate the relationship between human activity and the survival of plants and animals.
  2. 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.
  3. The cycling of matter is too advanced a topic for prekindergartners, and squirrels gathering acorns does not illustrate this concept in a straightforward manner.
  4. 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.

Subarea 3—Social Studies–Instruction and Practices

Objective 009—Civic Engagement

9. 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?

  1. conducting a classroom discussion about the most important reasons to recycle
  2. producing a poster to illustrate how food and materials can be properly recycled
  3. investigating the benefits that recycling has produced for the world's ecosystems
  4. preparing an appeal to the school principal about the usefulness of recycling bins
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. 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.
  2. A poster would be civic engagement, but there is not explicit discourse involved.
  3. Investigating the benefits of recycling would help to ensure the students have understanding, but it is not civic discourse.
  4. 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.
Objective 010—History

10. 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?

  1. investigating the traditional foods common to the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan
  2. listening to audio recordings of oral testimonies of the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan
  3. reviewing the accounts of European settlers interacting with the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan
  4. researching the borrowing of words from the languages of the Anishinaabek tribes of Michigan into English
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. While food is part of the Anishinaabek culture, food is only narrowly related to beliefs and histories.
  2. Correct. Listening to audio recordings preserves the authenticity of the primary sources so that they cannot be misinterpreted or mistranslated.
  3. The accounts of European settlers would reflect their own perspectives and not necessarily the beliefs and histories of the Anishinaabek peoples.
  4. Researching words that have been borrowed into English could lead to information regarding the history of the tribes, but not in a targeted way.
Objective 011—Geography

11. 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
  • cars in the parking lot
  • road work and construction
  • birds and squirrels

Later, the teacher leads the students in dividing the list into two lists. This activity can best be incorporated into a lesson designed to help students reach which of the following understandings?

  1. A place can be described by either its absolute location or its relative location.
  2. A place includes both physical characteristics and human characteristics.
  3. The local community near the school differs from other communities.
  4. The local community near the school is one part of a larger region.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. The students are observing objects that can be used to describe relative locations, but that is not the focus of the exercise.
  2. Correct. The students are observing their environment to list objects that are both natural and made by people.
  3. The students are discussing what they see in their school community, but no other community is mentioned.
  4. While this is a true statement, none of the information gathered by the students would support that finding.
Objective 012—Civics and Government

12. A third-grade teacher plans a lesson on the three branches of government that will be based on student-centered activities involving classroom rules. The teacher will divide the class into three groups. The first group will be responsible for writing new rules for the class, the second group for determining how these rules will be upheld and enforced, and the third group for determining if the new rules violate or contradict any of the rules and norms previously established in the classroom. Which of the following topics in civics would be most effectively demonstrated in this activity?

  1. popular sovereignty
  2. checks and balances
  3. consent of the governed
  4. equal protection under the law
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
Objective 013—Economics

13. 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?

  1. having children vote on the most interesting farm activities and farm animals and graphing the results as a class
  2. asking children about what they know and want to know about farms and creating illustrations of the responses on a poster
  3. creating a Venn diagram with the children in which they record the similarities and differences between different types of familiar foods
  4. 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. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. 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.
  2. Correct. Having a discussion and using visual models will help the children recognize and identify what they already know about farms and farmers.
  3. 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.
  4. This activity could scaffold animals and machinery for the children, but it will not help them think about what they already know about farms.