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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What type of intelligence does Patricia Greenfield study?

2. What does Jack Schaefer do?

3. Why does the high school language teacher quit teaching?

4. What do Haeckel, Reynolds and Dunbar confirm?

5. What do both knapping and rock climbing require?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Feldenkrais say about how parents can inhibit their child's abilities?

2. How has the hand been used throughout its long history?

3. Who is Patricia Greenfield and what does she theorize?

4. What two brain task does Noam Chomsky say are necessary for an individual to speak a language?

5. What does Wilson say about the skills of musical virtuosos?

6. What is one thing that influences which hand is dominant and what are a couple other characteristics that are often associated with one dominant hand or the other?

7. What are Wilson's conclusions about musical talent or heuristic?

8. What area of the brain seems to be specialized for language and for how long has this are been adapted for language?

9. Who is Paul Broca and for what is he known?

10. Why can't ground mammals take advantage of this global change?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Hand belongs to the non-fiction genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the non-fiction genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a non-fiction and a novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. Charles Bell asserts that practice enables the hand and eye to develop as sense organs so the brain teaches itself by making the hand and eye work together. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

2. Charles Sherrington claims the tip of the thumb and index finger are treated by the brain like the sensitive part of the retina. He claims the eye is drawn to the object automatically and the hand with its sensitive fingers grasps it. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

3. A biologic clock develops to set an internal time reference relative to the time used in a sequence of motion--for example, the time it takes for a ball to fall. Practice improves the sense of timing but a teacher or coach can help to sequence the process and eliminate making the same mistakes. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Often, authors will write about "what they know," and sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the books more interesting. Discuss the following:

1. Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Frank R. Wilson.

2. What in Wilson's background may have helped him in writing The Hand? What may have influenced the way he depicts various characters and scenes?

3. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her books? Why or why not? Give examples.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 970 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample