Pedagogy MCQs

Charles Spearman's two-factor theory holds that intelligence consists of a general factor ('g'), which underlies performance across all mental tasks, and specific factors ('s'), unique to particular abilities. The 'g' factor represents overall mental capacity. This influential idea shaped intelligence testing and debates about whether intelligence is one broad ability or many separate ones.

Industry vs Inferiority is the fourth stage in Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, occurring roughly ages 6–12. Children develop a sense of competence (industry) through mastering skills and tasks, or feelings of inferiority if they repeatedly fail or are discouraged. Erikson's eight stages emphasise the social and emotional challenges shaping personality across the lifespan.

This activity targets visual memory — the ability to encode, retain and recall information taken in through sight. By briefly exposing an image and asking for recall, the teacher exercises the students' capacity to form and retrieve mental pictures. Strong visual memory supports reading, spelling and comprehension, and such quick-flash exercises are a common perceptual-training technique.

The Big Five (OCEAN) model describes personality through five broad factors: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (emotional instability). Widely researched and cross-culturally supported, it is the most accepted contemporary framework of personality traits, useful for understanding individual differences in behaviour, including in educational settings.

Correlation is a statistical measure that indicates the degree and direction (positive or negative) of the relationship between two variables. A correlation coefficient ranges from -1 (perfect negative) through 0 (no relationship) to +1 (perfect positive). In education it shows, for example, how study time relates to achievement, though correlation does not by itself prove causation.

Piaget called the early stage of moral development 'heteronomous morality' (moral realism), typical of younger children, who see rules as fixed, absolute and handed down by authority, judging acts by their consequences rather than intentions. It later gives way to 'autonomous morality' (moral relativism), where children understand rules as social agreements and consider intentions.

A correlation coefficient of +1.00 indicates a perfect positive relationship: as one variable increases, the other increases in exact proportion. A coefficient of -1.00 indicates a perfect negative (inverse) relationship, and 0 indicates no linear relationship. Real data rarely reach perfect values, so most coefficients fall between these extremes, showing partial relationships.

Critical thinking is the disciplined process of actively analysing, evaluating and synthesising information and arguments to form a well-reasoned judgment. It involves questioning assumptions, weighing evidence and avoiding bias. Developing critical thinking is a central aim of modern education, cultivated through inquiry, discussion, problem-solving and open-ended questioning.

Jerome Bruner described three modes of representing knowledge that develop in order: enactive (learning through action and doing), iconic (through images and pictures) and symbolic (through language and abstract symbols). Effective teaching moves learners from concrete action, through visual representation, to abstract symbols — a progression reflected in his spiral curriculum.

The conventional level of Kohlberg's theory is where morality is based on conforming to social rules, gaining approval ('good boy/good girl' orientation) and maintaining law and order. Typical of older children and most adults, moral reasoning here values social expectations and duty. It lies between self-interested pre-conventional and principled post-conventional reasoning.