CG TET Paper 2 key terms

A school assessment approach that judges learning throughout the year rather than in one final test, and covers both scholastic subjects and co-scholastic areas such as attitudes, values and participation.

Assessment carried out during teaching to gather evidence about what learners understand so instruction can be adjusted immediately; feedback is used for improvement and results usually do not count towards a final grade.

Assessment conducted at the end of a unit, term or course to judge how much learning has been achieved; it certifies attainment and is typically graded, but gives little scope for changing teaching.

Using evidence from classroom tasks to decide the next teaching step and to help pupils understand where they are going and how to close the gap; the learner is an active partner in the process.

Vygotsky's term for the range of tasks a learner can complete with guidance from a more capable person but cannot yet manage alone; teaching is most effective when aimed at this range.

Temporary support such as prompts, models or worked steps that a teacher provides so a learner can attempt a difficult task, gradually withdrawn as the learner gains competence.

A four-stage sequence (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational) describing how children's thinking moves from action-based to abstract reasoning; each stage has characteristic strengths and limits.

The understanding that quantity, mass or volume stays the same when appearance changes, such as water poured into a taller glass; normally achieved in the concrete operational stage, its absence marks preoperational thinking.

Piaget's third stage, roughly ages seven to eleven, when children reason logically about objects they can see or handle but struggle with purely hypothetical or abstract problems.

An organised mental pattern or framework that a learner uses to interpret new experience; existing schemas are modified through assimilation and accommodation as understanding develops.

Two complementary processes of cognitive adaptation: assimilation fits new information into an existing mental framework, while accommodation changes the framework itself when it no longer fits the new experience.

The view, associated with Vygotsky, that knowledge is built through interaction with others and with cultural tools such as language, so collaborative talk and guided participation are central to learning.

Intrinsic motivation arises from interest or satisfaction in the activity itself; extrinsic motivation comes from outside rewards or pressures such as marks, prizes or fear of punishment. Intrinsic motivation generally sustains learning longer.

Any consequence that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated; positive reinforcement adds something pleasant, negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant, and both differ from punishment.

Skinner's learning principle that behaviour is shaped by its consequences: actions followed by reinforcement become more frequent, while those followed by punishment or extinction become less frequent.

Pavlov's principle that a neutral stimulus paired repeatedly with a stimulus that naturally produces a response will itself come to trigger that response, explaining some learned emotional reactions.

Schooling in which children with disabilities, different languages or varied backgrounds learn together in ordinary classrooms with the curriculum and support adapted to them, rather than being separated out.

Variations among learners in ability, pace, interest, language, personality and background that require a teacher to plan for a range of needs instead of teaching one assumed average child.

Planning lessons so that content, process or product can vary for different learners while the same core goal is retained, allowing pace, support and task format to match readiness and interest.

A persistent difficulty in acquiring a specific academic skill, such as reading or arithmetic, despite adequate intelligence and opportunity; it is not caused by sensory impairment, poor attendance or lack of teaching.

A specific learning difficulty affecting accurate and fluent word reading and spelling, often with weak phonological awareness; it is unrelated to general intelligence and responds to structured, explicit teaching.

The ability to notice and manipulate individual speech sounds in words, such as blending or deleting sounds; a foundation for decoding print and a frequent focus of early reading intervention.

Teaching reading by linking letters or letter groups to the sounds they represent, so learners can decode unfamiliar printed words systematically rather than relying on memorised whole words.

Converting printed letters and letter patterns into the spoken sounds and words they stand for; accurate decoding is necessary for comprehension, though comprehension also depends on vocabulary and background knowledge.

Constructing meaning from a text by combining decoding with vocabulary, background knowledge and inference, so the reader can identify main ideas, follow arguments and interpret implied meaning.

Two rapid reading strategies: skimming moves quickly through a text for its general idea or gist, while scanning looks for a specific detail such as a date, name or figure.

Deriving meaning that the text implies but does not state directly, by connecting clues with existing knowledge; a higher-order comprehension skill tested in unseen passages.

An approach that treats language as a tool for real interaction, so classroom time is spent on meaningful communication tasks rather than only on rules, translation and rote memorisation.

Acquisition is the natural, unconscious picking up of a language through exposure and use, as with a mother tongue; learning is the conscious study of rules, usually in a formal classroom.

The first language a child acquires at home; it supports early concept formation and can be used as a bridge when teaching a second language or a school subject.

The ability of a learner or community to use more than one language; in Indian classrooms it is a resource that teachers can draw on to explain concepts and connect school knowledge to home experience.

Classroom work on poems that develops appreciation of rhythm, imagery and feeling before analysis; learners should hear the poem aloud, respond personally, and only then examine form and devices.

A deliberate departure from literal language, such as simile, metaphor, personification or alliteration, used to create effect; recognising these helps learners interpret literary and persuasive texts.

The value a digit has because of its position in a numeral, so in 3,472 the 4 means four hundred; the concept underpins algorithms for addition, subtraction and regrouping.

A fixed step-by-step procedure that always produces a correct result, such as the standard method for long division; learners should understand why the steps work, not only memorise them.

Working through unfamiliar situations by understanding the problem, choosing a strategy, carrying it out and reviewing the result; a central aim of mathematics teaching rather than an optional extra.

Justifying claims by logical argument rather than by example or appeal to authority, including generalising patterns and explaining why a rule must hold; a stated goal of school mathematics.

A cycle of observing, forming a testable question or hypothesis, controlled experiment, data collection and conclusion; in school science it is best taught through pupils' own investigations.

A tentative, testable statement about a relationship between variables, framed before data are collected so that observations can confirm or refute it rather than merely illustrate a textbook answer.

A factor kept constant across experimental trials so that any observed change can be attributed to the variable deliberately manipulated; essential for drawing a fair conclusion.

A transferable science ability such as observing, classifying, measuring, inferring or predicting that pupils practise through activities and that can be assessed separately from content recall.

Primary sources are first-hand evidence produced at the time, such as inscriptions, coins or eyewitness accounts; secondary sources interpret such evidence later, for example textbooks and later histories.

Arranging events in the order they occurred and using dates, periods and eras correctly; a basic skill for understanding cause and consequence in history.

An explanation of past events built by selecting and weighing evidence; different historians may interpret the same evidence differently, so pupils should learn to compare accounts rather than memorise one version.

The viewpoint from which a source is written and the slant it gives to facts; recognising whose voice is included or omitted helps pupils judge the reliability of an account.

Imaginary lines of angular measurement: latitude gives distance north or south of the equator, longitude gives distance east or west of the prime meridian, together fixing any location on the globe.

The ratio between distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground, letting users convert measured centimetres into real kilometres; large-scale maps show small areas in more detail.

A line on a topographic map joining points of equal height above sea level; the spacing of contours shows slope steepness and their shape reveals landforms such as hills and valleys.

Meeting present needs without destroying the resource base future generations will depend on, balancing economic growth, social welfare and environmental protection in decisions about land, water and energy.

Grouping natural resources as renewable or non-renewable, and as potential, developed, stock or reserve, according to their availability and present level of use and technology.