Mastery and Lifelong Learning — Module Assessment

Question 1

What was the central message of Ericsson's deliberate-practice research, as opposed to the popular "10,000-hour rule"?

Accepted Answer

The quality and design of practice matters more than the raw number of hours.

Answer

Anyone reaches expertise after exactly 10,000 hours of any activity.

Answer

Talent is the only real determinant of expertise.

Answer

Practising for fewer than 10,000 hours makes improvement impossible.

Question 2

Which best describes practice "at the edge of ability"?

Accepted Answer

Working just beyond your current reach on specific weaknesses, with feedback.

Answer

Repeatedly performing skills you have already mastered.

Answer

Logging as many total hours as possible regardless of focus.

Answer

Avoiding failure by staying inside your comfort zone.

Question 3

Why did most participants in Gick and Holyoak's studies fail to solve the radiation problem after reading the fortress story?

Accepted Answer

They did not spontaneously connect the shared deep structure until prompted.

Answer

The two problems shared no underlying principle.

Answer

They had never actually read the fortress story.

Answer

The radiation problem had no valid solution.

Question 4

What did Thorndike and Woodworth's 1901 work suggest about "formal discipline"?

Accepted Answer

Transfer depends on specific shared elements, not general mental strengthening.

Answer

Studying Latin reliably improves reasoning in all areas.

Answer

The mind works like a muscle strengthened by hard subjects.

Answer

Near transfer is just as rare as far transfer.

Question 5

In Chase and Simon's chess studies, why did the masters' recall advantage disappear for randomly arranged positions?

Accepted Answer

Random boards contained no familiar patterns to chunk, so expert memory fell back to ordinary limits

Answer

The masters lost interest in meaningless boards

Answer

Novices had secretly memorised the random patterns

Answer

The masters had weaker raw memory than novices

Question 6

What is the main benefit of automaticity in a complex skill?

Accepted Answer

It frees attention from low-level components so it can go to judgement and strategy

Answer

It increases the raw size of working memory

Answer

It removes the need for any further practice

Answer

It makes every mistake easier to notice

Question 7

Why is divergent thinking alone not enough for creativity?

Accepted Answer

Creative output must be both novel and appropriate, and judging appropriateness requires convergent, knowledge-based thinking

Answer

Divergent thinking is impossible without formal training

Answer

Divergent thinking only works in the arts

Answer

Convergent thinking generates more ideas than divergent thinking

Question 8

What did John Hayes's study of composers suggest?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledged masterworks almost never appeared before roughly a decade of serious work in the field

Answer

The best composers produced their finest work as untrained beginners

Answer

Divergent-thinking scores perfectly predicted musical greatness

Answer

Domain knowledge tended to block musical creativity

Question 9

In the Nestojko, Bui, Kornell and Bjork (2014) study, which group actually recalled and organised the passage best?

Accepted Answer

Students who expected to teach the material

Answer

Students who expected to be tested

Answer

Students who actually taught the material to a peer

Answer

Students who re-read the passage three times

Question 10

What is the core reason the Feynman technique exposes gaps in understanding?

Accepted Answer

Plain language leaves nowhere for vague or borrowed understanding to hide

Answer

It requires memorising the technical vocabulary of the field

Answer

It rewards speaking quickly and confidently

Answer

It replaces studying with teaching a computer program

Question 11

In Sparrow, Liu and Wegner's (2011) experiments, participants tended to remember information less well when they believed that:

Accepted Answer

The computer would save the information for later access

Answer

The information would be erased from the computer

Answer

They would be tested on it individually

Answer

They had to teach the information to another person

Question 12

Which statement best captures the difference between access and understanding?

Accepted Answer

Access means the fact sits in the world; understanding means it is built into a connected structure you can reason with

Answer

Understanding is simply having found the correct information once

Answer

Access and understanding are the same when the source is well written

Answer

Understanding requires memorising every detail rather than offloading any of it

Question 13

According to later research on growth mindset, which statement is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

Effects on achievement are generally small and concentrated among specific groups, such as lower-achieving students.

Answer

Believing ability can improve reliably transforms achievement for nearly all students.

Answer

Mindset has no measurable relationship to learning whatsoever.

Answer

Growth mindset only matters for adults, not for children.

Question 14

Why does the lesson favour a small daily learning habit over occasional ambitious sprints?

Accepted Answer

Small habits survive bad weeks and compound, while sprints depend on a feeling that fades.

Answer

Sprints are always more effective but harder to schedule.

Answer

Daily habits require more willpower each day, which builds discipline.

Answer

Ambitious plans are the only way to learn anything durable.