Learning in the Age of AI — Module Assessment

Question 1

What is the most learning-effective way to use an AI chatbot when studying a hard topic?

Accepted Answer

Prompt it to quiz you and withhold answers until you attempt them

Answer

Ask it to solve all the problems and read the worked steps

Answer

Have it summarise the topic so you can skip the reading

Answer

Ask for the shortest possible answer to save time

Question 2

Bloom's 1984 "2 sigma problem" is often cited in discussions of AI tutoring. What did it actually report?

Accepted Answer

One-to-one tutoring raised average performance by about two standard deviations over conventional classes

Answer

AI tutors already outperform human teachers by two standard deviations

Answer

Students learn twice as fast when using any digital tool

Answer

Group instruction is as effective as individual tutoring

Question 3

What does the research on "cognitive offloading" and the Google effect suggest about relying on external tools?

Accepted Answer

When we expect a tool to store information, we tend to remember it less ourselves

Answer

Technology reliably makes people less intelligent over time

Answer

People remember offloaded information better than information they must recall

Answer

Offloading has no measurable effect on what we remember

Question 4

Why can struggling with a problem before asking an AI produce better learning?

Accepted Answer

Because struggle is a desirable difficulty that builds durable understanding before the answer arrives

Answer

Because slower work always signals a smarter learner

Answer

Because AI answers are usually wrong and should be avoided

Answer

Because memorising the answer is the main goal of learning

Question 5

What feature most distinguishes a "second brain" from ordinary note-taking?

Accepted Answer

Connecting notes to each other so ideas compound

Answer

Saving as many sources as possible in one place

Answer

Quoting sources word for word for accuracy

Answer

Using the most advanced note-taking app available

Question 6

What was Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten, and why is it a useful model?

Accepted Answer

A slip-box of tens of thousands of atomic, cross-referenced note cards

Answer

A photographic memory technique he was born with

Answer

A published encyclopedia he wrote from memory

Answer

An early computer database that summarised his reading automatically

Question 7

Why is the "backfire effect" best described cautiously rather than as an established fact?

Accepted Answer

Because later, larger studies often failed to reproduce it and found corrections usually help

Answer

Because it was never actually published in any research

Answer

Because it only applies to physics students, not the general public

Answer

Because it proves that corrections always make false beliefs stronger

Question 8

What does 'holding beliefs provisionally' with intellectual humility actually mean?

Accepted Answer

Proportioning confidence to evidence and knowing what would change your mind

Answer

Treating every opinion as equally valid regardless of evidence

Answer

Never committing to any firm view on anything

Answer

Abandoning a belief whenever someone challenges it confidently

Question 9

According to Loewenstein's information-gap theory, curiosity is best described as:

Accepted Answer

The discomfort of a specific gap between what you know and want to know

Answer

A general love of facts and trivia across all subjects

Answer

A fixed personality trait you are born with

Answer

The reward you feel only after you have mastered a topic

Question 10

What did Gruber, Gelman, and Ranganath's 2014 study find about curiosity and memory?

Accepted Answer

High-curiosity states improved memory and engaged reward and memory circuits, even for unrelated material

Answer

Curiosity had no measurable effect on how well answers were remembered

Answer

Only expert participants benefited from feeling curious

Answer

Curiosity improved memory only for the exact trivia answers and nothing else

Question 11

What did Eleanor Maguire and colleagues find in their studies of London taxi drivers?

Accepted Answer

Learning The Knowledge was linked to increased grey matter in the posterior hippocampus

Answer

Taxi drivers had smaller hippocampi than other people, showing memory strain

Answer

Only drivers under thirty showed any brain changes

Answer

The brain changes disappeared as soon as training ended

Question 12

Which statement about cognitive reserve is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

It buffers and delays symptoms of ageing or damage without stopping the underlying disease

Answer

It guarantees that a person will never develop dementia

Answer

It is fixed at birth and cannot be changed by experience

Answer

It is another name for brain-training game scores

Question 13

According to the Dunlosky (2013) review, which pair of techniques was rated highest in utility?

Accepted Answer

Practice testing (retrieval) and distributed practice (spacing)

Answer

Highlighting and rereading

Answer

Summarising and keyword mnemonics

Answer

Rereading and imagery for text

Question 14

What is the best test of whether you are using AI as an amplifier rather than a substitute for learning?

Accepted Answer

After using the tool, you can still do the thinking or recall it yourself

Answer

The tool produced a fluent, confident answer

Answer

You saved time compared with studying alone

Answer

You used the newest available model