PSTET Paper 1 key terms

The internal drive that starts, directs and sustains a pupil's effort to learn. It may come from curiosity and interest (intrinsic) or from rewards, praise or marks (extrinsic), and it strongly affects classroom attention and persistence.

Growth in the ability to receive and interpret information through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Rich, varied sensory experience in early years supports later language, motor coordination and concept formation in children.

The progressive growth of thinking, memory, attention, problem solving and reasoning from infancy to adolescence. Piaget described it in stages, while Vygotsky stressed social interaction and language as tools that shape a child's thinking.

Four sequential periods of cognitive growth: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Each stage has characteristic thinking limits, such as egocentrism or inability to conserve, which teachers must consider when planning activities and explanations.

The understanding that quantity, mass or volume stays the same when only its appearance changes, for example water poured into a taller glass. It typically appears in the concrete operational stage and is a common source of primary-level misconceptions.

The Zone of Proximal Development is the gap between what a learner can do alone and what the learner can do with guidance from a more capable adult or peer. Teaching is most effective when aimed inside this zone.

Temporary support a teacher or peer gives a learner to complete a task just beyond independent reach, such as hints, models or leading questions. Support is gradually withdrawn as the learner gains competence and confidence.

Physical abilities involving controlled body movement. Gross motor skills use large muscles for running, jumping and balancing; fine motor skills use small muscles for writing, cutting and buttoning, which are essential for early literacy and classroom tasks.

Variations among learners in ability, pace, interest, language background, temperament and home experience. Recognising these differences leads teachers to adapt tasks, use multiple modes of presentation and avoid treating one child's speed as the class standard.

An approach in which children with disabilities, different languages or disadvantaged backgrounds learn in the same regular classroom with suitable adaptations. It requires flexible teaching, accessible materials and respect for diversity rather than separate provision.

Adding a pleasant consequence, such as praise, a star or a privilege, after a desired behaviour so that the behaviour is likely to recur. It works best when specific, immediate and linked to effort rather than only to results.

A classroom climate where pupils feel safe to ask, try and make mistakes without fear or humiliation. Such an environment reduces anxiety, encourages participation and is a precondition for effective learning and healthy socio-emotional development.

The modern view of the teacher as guide and organiser of learning rather than sole source of information. The teacher designs activities, asks probing questions, observes learners and adjusts support so that children construct understanding actively.

The ongoing use of observation, questioning and short tasks to find out what pupils understand and to adjust teaching immediately. It is formative and diagnostic, in contrast to end-of-term tests used mainly for grading or reporting.

Words such as ਕੁਝ, ਬਹੁਤ, ਥੋੜ੍ਹਾ, ਸਾਰੇ and ਕੋਈ that indicate how much or how many without giving an exact number. Correct use depends on whether the noun is countable and on agreement with the noun in Punjabi sentences.

Two grammatical categories that govern agreement in Punjabi. Nouns are masculine or feminine, and singular or plural; verbs, adjectives and pronouns must match them, so errors here are among the most visible in pupils' writing.

Postpositions such as ਨੇ, ਨੂੰ, ਦਾ, ਵਿੱਚ and ਤੋਂ that follow a noun and show its grammatical role in the sentence, for example subject, object, possession or location. Choosing the right marker is central to correct Punjabi sentence construction.

The form of a verb that locates an action in time: present, past or future, with aspectual distinctions such as habitual, continuous and perfect. Pupils must also match the verb to the subject's person, gender and number.

A fixed Punjabi phrase whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, such as ਅੱਖ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ. Idioms enrich expression and are commonly tested through meaning, completion and sentence-usage items in language papers.

A short, traditional saying that carries folk wisdom or a moral, often metaphorical and rhythmical. Recognising when a proverb fits a situation, and explaining its underlying message, are frequent comprehension and writing tasks.

Different words with closely similar meanings, such as ਖੁਸ਼ੀ and ਪ੍ਰਸੰਨਤਾ. Knowledge of synonyms supports vocabulary expansion, paraphrase and precise word choice in composition, and is directly tested in objective language items.

Words with opposite meanings, such as ਉੱਚਾ and ਨੀਵਾਂ. Antonym tasks check whether a learner grasps a word's exact sense and can use contrast correctly in sentences, paragraphs and comprehension answers.

The correct arrangement of letters and diacritics in a written word, including matras and tippi or bindi placement. Consistent spelling accuracy is assessed in dictation, error-correction and free-writing tasks and reflects sound phonological awareness.

The ability to read a passage and extract its main idea, supporting details, sequence, implied meaning and the writer's purpose. Good comprehension questions require inference and vocabulary in context, not merely copying sentences from the text.

The method of teaching reading by linking letters and letter groups to the sounds they represent, so learners blend sounds to decode unfamiliar words. It supports early, accurate word recognition alongside whole-word and meaning-based approaches.

Words a reader recognises instantly and effortlessly without sounding them out, including many irregular high-frequency words. A large sight vocabulary frees attention for meaning and is built through repeated, contextual reading practice.

Reading with appropriate speed, accuracy and expression so that attention goes to meaning rather than decoding. Fluency develops through guided oral reading, modelling and repeated reading of familiar, well-matched texts at the learner's level.

Two rapid reading strategies: skimming means glancing through a text for its general idea, while scanning means hunting for a specific fact such as a date or name. Both are tested through timed comprehension and information-retrieval tasks.

Drawing a conclusion that the text implies but does not state directly, using clues plus the reader's background knowledge. Inference questions test deeper understanding than literal recall and are a regular feature of comprehension sections.

The two basic operations for combining and separating quantities. At primary level they are taught with concrete objects, number lines and place-value understanding before written algorithms, including carrying and borrowing across tens and hundreds.

The value a digit has because of its position in a number, so that 5 in 507 means five hundreds. A secure place-value concept underpins regrouping, comparison of numbers and all written calculation in the primary mathematics curriculum.

Repeated addition and equal sharing, introduced through arrays, groups and equal-group stories. Understanding them as inverse operations helps pupils check answers and later solve ratio, average and unitary-method problems.

Numbers that represent part of a whole or part of a set, written as a numerator over a denominator. Teaching moves from folding and shading concrete shapes to equivalent fractions, comparison and simple operations.

Two- and three-dimensional figures such as triangles, rectangles, circles, cubes and cylinders. Pupils learn to name, describe, sort and draw them, noting properties like sides, corners, faces and lines of symmetry.

Finding the length, weight, capacity, time or temperature of objects using standard units and instruments. Primary work includes estimating, choosing suitable units, converting between units and solving practical word problems.

Collecting, recording, organising and interpreting simple information using tally marks, pictographs and bar graphs. It builds early statistical thinking and connects mathematics to real classroom and neighbourhood contexts.

The way living things depend on one another and on their surroundings, as in food chains, pollination and decomposition. Understanding it helps pupils explain balance in nature and the effects of removing one part of an ecosystem.

The sequence in which energy passes from plants, the producers, to plant-eating animals and then to predators. Pupils should be able to build simple chains and explain what happens when one link is disturbed.

Actions and attitudes that protect air, water, soil, plants and animals from harm, such as saving water, reducing waste, planting trees and avoiding plastic. In EVS it is taught through local observation and pupil participation rather than slogans alone.

The continuous movement of water through evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. Teaching it with simple experiments and local examples explains rainfall, drying of wet surfaces and the importance of conserving freshwater.

Weather is the day-to-day condition of the atmosphere, while climate is the long-term pattern of a place. Pupils learn to observe, record and compare local weather and to relate climate to clothing, crops and seasons.

The people, services and institutions around a child's home and school, including families, shops, health workers and local government. EVS uses it to connect concepts of work, transport, health and citizenship to real, observable experience.