PrepTest 110, Section 2, Question 5
Many elementary schools have recently offered computer-assisted educational(42 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(10 more words not shown)
- AStudents in these(11 more words not shown)
- BOf the disciplines(14 more words not shown)
- CMany elementary school(10 more words not shown)
- DYoung students are(22 more words not shown)
- EThe elementary schools(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What is mixed about these reactions: whether students enjoy using computers, or whether the computers help them learn?
At first I'd want that distinction. Students could dislike an exercise and still learn from it. But the passage then specifies the reactions: students find the programs useful for arithmetic, much less useful for science, and no help for reading and writing. The contrast is between subjects, not simply between happy and unhappy students.
The question asks us to explain that contrast. Perhaps arithmetic fits this kind of program particularly well because its answers and procedures are more exact. A program might be well suited to working through a calculation but less suited to helping a student develop a piece of writing. That's a possibility to test, not something we need to assume about every computer program.
What we’re looking for
I'd look for a reason the same general teaching approach works better for arithmetic than for the other subjects. A fact about computers being popular overall won't explain the difference.
Working the answers
- A
Starting both reading and arithmetic before learning to use computers doesn't distinguish the two subjects. Yet the students find the computer programs helpful for one and unhelpful for the other. A gives them a shared history without explaining their different reactions.
- BCorrect
This gives us the difference we were looking for. Arithmetic's exactness makes it more suitable for computer-assisted education than the other listed subjects and skills. That would help explain why students find the computer programs most useful there.
We aren't being asked to establish a rule about all technology or all teaching. Accepting B as true gives these mixed reports a sensible explanation: the method is better suited to one subject than to the others.
- C
Teachers' reluctance might affect how programs are used, but C doesn't tell us that it differs by subject. Are teachers more reluctant to use computers for writing than for arithmetic? We aren't told. A general reluctance doesn't explain the specific pattern in students' reports.
- D
Newer equipment might hold students' interest better, but we don't know that the arithmetic programs use newer computers or graphics than the other programs. That missing comparison matters. D describes a difference between newer and older technology; our puzzle concerns a difference between subjects.
- E
Offering more programs doesn't tell us that those programs are more helpful. The schools could offer many reading programs that students find ineffective. We would still want to know why the arithmetic programs work better for them. The number of offerings alone doesn't explain their relative usefulness.
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