\t<\/span>D. targeted<\/font><\/p>For questions 53-58, choose which of the paragraphs A-G fit into the gaps in the article about an unusual school. There is ONE extra paragraph which you do not need to use.<\/p>
LEARNING TO PLAY OR PLAYING TO LEARN?<\/p>
In an old school building, a lively group of sixth graders is taking a class in \u201cSports for the Mind\u201d<\/p>
In a classroom, a teacher is playing a computer game on his laptop, which is linked to a large interactive whiteboard. His students are riveted to the screen. While he tries to avoid enemy robots to make it home safely, his sixth graders are tracking the robots\u2019 movements. They shout out instructions and warnings. \u201cThat extra movement cost you precious time,\u201d one student observes. \u201cLook behind you!\u201d shout others. \u201cGo! Go!\u201d<\/p>
53. __________<\/p>
This is no ordinary classroom. At the Quest to Learn school in New York City, a radical experiment is underway. Who knows where it will lead? This public school is being reinvented with the latest technology and quest-based learning as the underlying principle of teaching. Quest to Learn is the creation of game designer Katie Salen, who has long been concerned about the fact that the curriculum taught in schools often has little relevance to the students\u2019 world outside.<\/p>
54. __________<\/p>
This \u201cgamification\u201d of education is underpinned by the belief that learning which is fun leads to greater acquisition and retention of knowledge. Therefore, lessons are designed like quests \u2013 including online activities that teach subjects like maths through games. The grading system reflects levels of gaming competence such as novice, apprentice and master. Final exams are named boss level, referring to the last stage of video games where players face the ultimate test.<\/p>
55. __________<\/p>
As to homework, students still do traditional reading assignments, but also record podcasts or make their own video clips. These videos can provide a means of assessing student learning. \u201cYou have to understand something in order to explain it to someone else,\u201d curriculum designer Daniel O\u2019Keefe points out. In the future, games could even replace examinations. If a student succeeds in moving through ever more sophisticated levels of a game teaching physics, for example, he or she has clearly demonstrated the knowledge required.<\/p>
56. __________<\/p>
Another area that gaming develops is the ability to persevere. Gamers always \u201clevel up\u201d and aim to win, but the road to winning involves failure. Will Wright, designer of The Sims game, calls it failure-based learning, in which failure is short-lived, non-threatening and motivational for children. \u201cThey play for five minutes and lose,\u201d he says. But inevitably they will play again and again until they win. Children who persist after constant failures develop emotional resilience and intellectual stamina.<\/p>
57. __________<\/p>
In another lesson, the teacher presents the students with the survival game The Last of Us. With its complex plot and engaging characters, students learn nearly as much about literature as they would have done by reading a book. They play eight hours at home and complete the game in class.<\/p>
58. __________<\/p>
Gaming may be the catalyst for a fundamental change in education, for as games make the transition from commercial to educational use, they are proving to be very versatile. And since many games can be written to be intuitive or adaptive, maybe the day will dawn when the content of learning is customized to each individual\u2019s needs. This is one experiment that could pave the way towards a revolution in our education system. It\u2019s a goal worth pursuing. The question is whether other schools will follow suit.<\/p>
A. Other regular subjects like history and science are not neglected. Rather, they are embedded inside such quests, where students use a blend of academic subjects to solve problems. For example, in Creepytown, students pretend they are travel agents and use maths to convert currencies and English to write a travel blog. When the city has an economic crisis, students must improvise \u2013 they design a theme park to bring in revenue.<\/p>
B. The game evokes the full spectrum of emotions \u2013 from elation to being visibly moved and then stunned into utter silence in the game\u2019s final scene. Their teacher says he couldn\u2019t imagine this having happened if they had simply watched a film or read a novel together.<\/p>
C. National policy makers and parents alike are concerned about life skills, thus the recurrent debate centres around which skills students need for success in a rapidly evolving world. One point of consensus is the need for innovation in the nation\u2019s schools.<\/p>
D. Quest to Learn aims to bridge this gap with gaming. \u201cKids love to play games and they will commit to games for hours and hours, when their attention span is quite short for other things,\u201d says Arana Shapiro, director of curriculum at the school. Digital games are an integral part of children\u2019s lives and through play and exploration, we construct new ideas. Thus, games are a powerful tool for learning and could stimulate a quantum shift in teaching.<\/p>
E. The benefits of gaming are not restricted to schools in the USA. In Norway, for example, students watch a video game called The Walking Dead. They debate the ethical dilemma of dividing food between 10 survivors when they have provisions for only four. Who should be fed first? Having reached an ethical solution, students justify it with concepts of moral philosophy they have studied.<\/p>
F. As he cheats death and reaches home safely with less than two seconds to spare, the room erupts in cheers of relief, admiration and delight. There is no denying the level of engagement in learning in this classroom. It is absolute.<\/p>
G. Students are sometimes asked to design their own computer games as well, which demands expertise in maths, art, coding and deductive reasoning. Richard Arum, a professor at New York University, says this teaches children \u201cto collaborate, think critically and master 21st-century competencies,\u201d skills required for tomorrow\u2019s job market.<\/p>
For questions 59-70, read the passage and do the tasks that follow.<\/p>
AUTUMN LEAVES<\/p>
Canadian writer Jay Ingram investigates the mystery of why leaves turn red in the fall<\/p>
A. One of the most captivating natural events of the year in many areas throughout North America is the turning of the leaves in the fall. The colours are magnificent, but the question of exactly why some trees turn yellow or orange, and others red or purple, is something which has long puzzled scientists.<\/p>
B. Summer leaves are green because they are full of chlorophyll, the molecule that captures sunlight and converts that energy into new building materials for the tree. As fall approaches in the northern hemisphere, the amount of solar energy available declines considerably. For many trees \u2013 evergreen conifers being an exception \u2013 the best strategy is to abandon photosynthesis until the spring. So rather than maintaining the now redundant leaves throughout the winter, the tree saves its precious resources and discards them. But before letting its leaves go, the tree dismantles their chlorophyll molecules and ships their valuable nitrogen back into the twigs. As chlorophyll is depleted, other colours that have been dominated by it throughout the summer begin to be revealed. This unmasking explains the autumn colours of yellow and orange, but not the brilliant reds and purples of trees such as the maple or sumac.<\/p>
C. The source of the red is widely known: it is created by anthocyanins, water-soluble plant pigments reflecting the red to blue range of the visible spectrum. They belong to a class of sugar-based chemical compounds also known as flavonoids. What\u2019s puzzling is that anthocyanins are actually newly minted, made in the leaves at the same time as the tree is preparing to drop them. But it is hard to make sense of the manufacture of anthocyanins \u2013 why should a tree bother making new chemicals in its leaves when it\u2019s already scrambling to withdraw and preserve the ones already there?<\/p>
D. Some theories about anthocyanins have argued that they might act as a chemical defence against attacks by insects or fungi, or that they might attract fruit-eating birds or increase a leaf\u2019s tolerance to freezing. However there are problems with each of these theories, including the fact that leaves are red for such a relatively short period that the expense of energy needed to manufacture the anthocyanins would outweigh any anti-fungal or anti-herbivore activity achieved.<\/p>
E. It has also been proposed that trees may produce vivid red colours to convince herbivorous insects that they are healthy and robust and would be easily able to mount chemical defences against infestation. If insects paid attention to such advertisements, they might be prompted to lay their eggs on a duller, and presumably less resistant host. The flaw in this theory lies in the lack of proof to support it. No one has as yet ascertained whether more robust trees sport the brightest leaves, or whether insects make choices according to colour intensity.<\/p>
F. Perhaps the most plausible suggestion as to why leaves would go to the trouble of making anthocyanins when they\u2019re busy packing up for the winter is the theory known as the \u2018light screen\u2019 hypothesis. It sounds paradoxical, because the idea behind this hypothesis is that the red pigment is made in autumn leaves to protect chlorophyll, the light-absorbing chemical, from too much light. Why does chlorophyll need protection when it is the natural world\u2019s supreme light absorber? Why protect chlorophyll at a time when the tree is breaking it down to salvage as much of it as possible?<\/p>
G. Chlorophyll, although exquisitely evolved to capture the energy of sunlight, can sometimes be overwhelmed by it, especially in situations of drought, low temperatures, or nutrient deficiency. Moreover, the problem of oversensitivity to light is even more acute in the fall, when the leaf is busy preparing for winter by dismantling its internal machinery. The energy absorbed by the chlorophyll molecules of the unstable autumn leaf is not immediately channelled into useful products and processes, as it would be in an intact summer leaf. The weakened fall leaf then becomes vulnerable to the highly destructive effects of the oxygen created by the excited chlorophyll molecules.<\/p>
H. Even if you had never suspected that this is what was going on when leaves turn red, there are clues out there. One is straightforward: on many trees, the leaves that are the reddest are those on the side of the tree which gets most sun. Not only that, but the red is brighter on the upper side of the leaf. It has also been recognised for decades that the best conditions for intense red colours are dry, sunny days and cool nights, conditions that nicely match those that make leaves susceptible to excess light. And finally, trees such as maples usually get much redder the more north you travel in the northern hemisphere. It\u2019s colder there, they\u2019re more stressed, their chlorophyll is more sensitive and it needs more sunblock.<\/p>
I. What is still not fully understood, however, is why some trees resort to producing red pigments while others don\u2019t bother, and simply reveal their orange or yellow hues. Do these trees have other means at their disposal to prevent overexposure to light in autumn? Their story, though not as spectacular to the eye, will surely turn out to be as subtle and as complex. <\/p>
Questions 59-62<\/p>
Which paragraph contains the following information?<\/p>
Write the correct letter A-I.<\/p>
59. a description of the substance responsible for the red colouration of leaves<\/p>
60. some evidence to confirm a theory about the purpose of the red leaves<\/p>
61. an explanation of the function of chlorophyll<\/p>
62. a suggestion that the red colouration in leaves could serve as a warning signal<\/p>
Questions 63-66<\/p>
Complete the notes below.<\/p>
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.<\/p>
Why believe the \u2018light screen\u2019 hypothesis?<\/p>
The most vividly coloured red leaves are found on the side of the tree facing the (63) __________.<\/p>
The (64) __________ surfaces of leaves contain the most red pigment.<\/p>
Red leaves are most abundant when daytime weather conditions are (65) __________ and sunny.<\/p>
The intensity of the red colour of leaves increases as you go further (66) __________.<\/p>
Questions 67-69<\/p>
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?<\/p>
Write<\/p>
TRUE \t<\/span>if the statement agrees with the information<\/font><\/p>FALSE \t<\/span>if the statement contradicts the information<\/font><\/p>