FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam

Which teacher action will most likely help develop students' divergent thinking abilities?

1. Assign repetitive tasks for practice

2. Request that a list of procedures be developed by student groups

3. Encourage students to memorize facts and figures

4. Provide detailed instructions for every task

The correct answer is: Request that a list of procedures be developed by student groups

The action that involves requesting that a list of procedures be developed by student groups is effective in fostering divergent thinking abilities. Divergent thinking refers to the capacity to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. When students are tasked with developing procedures as a group, they engage in brainstorming and collaboration, which stimulates their creativity and encourages them to think outside the conventional frameworks. This process promotes open-ended exploration and the interchange of diverse perspectives, allowing students to consider various ways to approach a problem. In contrast, assigning repetitive tasks tends to promote rote learning and may stifle creativity, as it limits opportunities for students to think critically or explore different solutions. Encouraging memorization of facts and figures can lead to a focus on recall rather than exploration and innovation. Similarly, providing detailed instructions for every task restricts students’ independence and creative exploration, as they may feel compelled to follow a strict guideline rather than think divergently about how to approach the task at hand. All of these approaches focus more on convergent thinking, where there is typically a single correct answer, rather than the open-ended, exploratory nature of divergent thinking.