HPTET TGT key terms

Vygotsky's idea that learning is most effective in the gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance from a more capable person.

Temporary support a teacher or peer gives a learner to complete a task just beyond their current ability, gradually withdrawn as competence grows.

A theory holding that learners actively build understanding by connecting new information to prior knowledge rather than passively receiving it.

An organised mental framework a person uses to interpret experience and store related knowledge; learning involves modifying or adding to schemas.

Piaget's paired processes: fitting new experience into an existing mental framework (assimilation) versus changing the framework to fit the new experience (accommodation).

Four sequential stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational) describing qualitative shifts in reasoning from infancy to adolescence.

The understanding that quantity, mass or volume stays the same despite changes in appearance or arrangement; typically achieved in the concrete operational stage.

A numerical index of general cognitive performance, traditionally mental age divided by chronological age times 100, now usually derived from standardised test scores.

Gardner's proposal that people differ in relatively independent abilities such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Skinner's principle that behaviour is shaped by its consequences, with reinforcement increasing and punishment decreasing the likelihood of repetition.

Pavlov's model in which a neutral stimulus comes to trigger a response after repeated pairing with a stimulus that already produces it.

Rules determining how often and when reinforcement follows behaviour, such as fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval and variable-interval patterns, each producing distinct response rates.

Ongoing, low-stakes checking of learning during instruction, used to adjust teaching and give feedback rather than to assign final grades.

Assessment conducted at the end of a unit, term or course to judge attainment against standards and to certify or report learning.

Using evidence from assessment primarily to help learners close the gap to goals, through clear criteria, feedback and learner self-regulation.

A scoring guide listing criteria and graded descriptions of performance, making judgement transparent and consistent across learners and evaluators.

An approach in which schools adapt curriculum, environment and teaching so that all children, including those with disabilities, learn together in mainstream settings.

A written plan for a learner with special educational needs specifying present levels, measurable goals, services, accommodations and review dates.

Deliberately varying content, process, product or environment in response to learner readiness, interests and profiles, while keeping shared learning goals.

Administering and scoring a test under uniform conditions with established norms, so individual scores can be interpreted relative to a reference group.

The consistency of a test or observation: the degree to which repeated measurement under similar conditions yields similar results.

The extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure and supports the inferences and decisions made from its scores.

A three-level, six-stage account of moral reasoning progressing from obedience and self-interest through social approval and law-and-order to universal ethical principles.

Eight life stages, each centred on a crisis such as trust versus mistrust or identity versus role confusion, whose resolution shapes later personality.

The process through which individuals acquire the values, norms, language and behaviours expected in their family, school and wider society.

The developmental period between childhood and adulthood marked by puberty, identity exploration, peer orientation and growth in abstract and reflective thinking.

A persistent difficulty in acquiring specific academic skills such as reading, writing or arithmetic, not explained by low intelligence, sensory loss or inadequate schooling.

Systematic inquiry by a teacher into their own classroom practice, cycling through planning, acting, observing and reflecting to improve learning.

A teacher's disciplined habit of examining the assumptions and effects of their own decisions in order to improve subsequent instruction.

Himachal Pradesh became a full state of India on 25 January 1971 under the Himachal Pradesh Act, having previously been a Union Territory.

Himachal Pradesh is divided into twelve districts, including Shimla, Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Solan, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Chamba, Sirmaur, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti.

The capital city of Himachal Pradesh, formerly the summer capital of British India, located in the southern hills and named after the goddess Shyamala.

The highest judicial authority in the state, established in 1971 and seated at Shimla, with jurisdiction over the whole of Himachal Pradesh.

The unicameral state legislature of Himachal Pradesh, with 68 elected members, responsible for making state laws and approving the state budget.

A high-altitude cold-desert district of Himachal Pradesh bordering Tibet, known for sparse rainfall, Buddhist monasteries such as Key, and the Chandra-Bhaga valleys.

A high mountain pass in the Pir Panjal range linking Kullu valley with Lahaul, closed by snow in winter and historically a trade route.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kullu district conserving Himalayan biodiversity, including forests, alpine meadows and species such as the western tragopan.

A geographically indicated tea grown in the Kangra valley, historically planted in the nineteenth century and known for its light, aromatic liquor.

State-specific developments in governance, schemes, budgets, appointments and disasters that candidates must track from recent official sources before the exam.