MAHA TAIT cheat sheet

Piaget's stages: sensorimotor (0–2, object permanence), preoperational (2–7, egocentrism, irreversibility), concrete operational (7–11, conservation, classification, seriation), formal operational (11+, abstract and hypothetical reasoning).

Vygotsky's ZPD is the gap between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with adult or peer assistance; scaffolding is temporary support within that zone.

Kohlberg's moral development: pre-conventional (punishment/obedience, instrumental exchange), conventional (good boy/good girl, law and order), post-conventional (social contract, universal ethical principles).

Erikson's psychosocial stages relevant to school-age children: industry vs inferiority (6–12) and identity vs role confusion (adolescence).

Inclusive education principle: adapt curriculum, materials, and assessment to learner diversity rather than expecting the child to fit a fixed norm; RTE Act 2009 mandates free and compulsory education for ages 6–14.

Formative assessment is ongoing and diagnostic (observation, portfolios, oral questioning); summative assessment measures achievement at the end of a unit or term.

Learning is constructivist when the learner actively builds meaning from prior knowledge; rote memorisation without understanding does not transfer to new problems.

Individual differences include learning styles, multiple intelligences (Gardner: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic), and special educational needs.

Motivation: intrinsic motivation arises from interest and competence; extrinsic motivation comes from rewards or punishments. Overusing extrinsic rewards can reduce intrinsic interest.

Linguistic levels: phonology (sound system), morphology (word formation, e.g., Marathi suffixes -ला, -चा, -ने), syntax (sentence structure), semantics (meaning), pragmatics (contextual use).

Marathi noun gender: masculine (पुल्लिंग), feminine (स्त्रीलिंग), neuter (नपुंसकलिंग); gender agreement affects adjective and verb endings.

Marathi case markers (vibhakti): nominative -Ø, accusative/dative -ला, instrumental -ने, genitive -चा/-ची/-चे, locative -त/-मध्ये.

Hindi verb conjugation: present habitual (करता हूँ/करती है), present continuous (कर रहा हूँ), simple past (किया), past continuous (कर रहा था), future (करूँगा/करेगी).

Urdu script is written right to left; letters change shape according to position (initial, medial, final, isolated).

Language acquisition vs learning: acquisition is natural, subconscious, and contextual; learning is conscious, rule-based, and usually formal.

LAC (Language Across the Curriculum) holds that every subject teacher is also a language teacher; subject-specific vocabulary and text structures must be taught explicitly.

Four language skills: listening and reading are receptive; speaking and writing are productive. Assessment should cover all four, not only grammar.

Multilingualism is a resource, not a deficit: the child's home language can be used as a bridge to the school language.

English tense system: simple present (habits/facts), present continuous (now), present perfect (past action with present relevance), simple past (finished action), past perfect (earlier past), future (will/going to).

Articles: 'a/an' for indefinite singular count nouns; 'the' for definite or previously mentioned nouns; zero article for generic plurals and abstract nouns.

Prepositions of time: in (months, years, seasons), on (days, dates), at (clock times, specific points).

Active to passive: object becomes subject, verb becomes be + past participle, agent introduced by 'by'. Example: 'The teacher wrote the letter' → 'The letter was written by the teacher.'

Direct to indirect speech: change pronouns to match the reporter, backshift tense (present → past), and adjust time/place words (now → then, here → there).

Phonemes vs graphemes: English has 44 phonemes but only 26 letters; phonics teaching maps sounds to spellings.

Reading sub-skills: skimming (main idea), scanning (specific detail), inference (reading between the lines), and intensive reading (close analysis).

Writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, publishing; peer feedback improves revision quality.

Common error types: subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, article omission, preposition choice, and word order in indirect questions.

Place value: each digit's value is digit × value of its position (e.g., in 4,582 the 5 stands for 500).

Divisibility rules: by 2 (last digit even), by 3 (digit sum divisible by 3), by 5 (last digit 0 or 5), by 9 (digit sum divisible by 9), by 11 (alternating digit sum divisible by 11).

Fractions: a/b + c/d = (ad + bc)/bd; a/b ÷ c/d = a/b × d/c. Always simplify by the HCF.

Perimeter and area: rectangle P = 2(l + b), A = l × b; triangle A = ½ × base × height; circle C = 2πr, A = πr².

Volume: cuboid V = l × b × h; cube V = a³; cylinder V = πr²h.

Percentage: part = (percent/100) × whole; percentage change = (change/original) × 100.

Simple interest SI = (P × R × T)/100; compound amount A = P(1 + R/100)^T.

Average = sum of observations ÷ number of observations; speed = distance ÷ time.

Symmetry: a line of symmetry divides a figure into two mirror-image halves; rotational symmetry order is the number of positions a figure matches itself in one full turn.

Prime numbers up to 30: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29. 1 is neither prime nor composite.

Food chain: producer (green plants) → primary consumer (herbivore) → secondary consumer (carnivore); decomposers break down dead matter and return nutrients to soil.

Photosynthesis: green plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make glucose and release oxygen; chlorophyll traps light energy.

Human digestive system order: mouth → oesophagus → stomach → small intestine → large intestine; bile from the liver emulsifies fats.

Water cycle stages: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, collection; the sun is the driving energy source.

States of matter: solid (fixed shape and volume), liquid (fixed volume, takes shape of container), gas (fills container); changes of state are physical changes.

Air composition: about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, plus water vapour.

Renewable vs non-renewable resources: solar, wind, hydro, and biomass are renewable; coal, petroleum, and natural gas are non-renewable fossil fuels.

Sense organs and functions: eyes (sight), ears (hearing and balance), nose (smell), tongue (taste), skin (touch and temperature).

Health and hygiene: communicable diseases spread through air, water, food, vectors, or contact; handwashing and safe drinking water reduce transmission.