PSTET Paper 2 flashcards

31 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Piaget's concrete operational stage

Ages roughly 7 to 11. The child masters conservation, classification, and seriation but reasons about concrete objects, not abstractions. Reversibility of thought appears, enabling arithmetic understanding.

Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky's term for the gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance. Instruction should target this zone, supported by scaffolding that fades as competence grows.

Negative reinforcement

Removal of an unpleasant stimulus after a behaviour, which increases that behaviour's frequency. It is not punishment; punishment decreases behaviour by adding or removing a stimulus.

Kohlberg's conventional level

Moral reasoning based on social approval and maintaining law and order. The child conforms to expectations of family and society rather than calculating personal consequences or invoking abstract principles.

Formative versus summative assessment

Formative assessment occurs during learning to give feedback and adjust teaching. Summative assessment occurs at the end to judge achievement and certify learning against criteria.

Inclusive education

All children, including those with disabilities, learn in the least restrictive mainstream setting with reasonable accommodation and individualized planning, rather than being segregated by ability.

Intrinsic motivation

Engagement driven by interest, curiosity, and satisfaction in the activity itself. It sustains learning more durably than external rewards, which can undermine it through overjustification.

Dyscalculia

A specific learning disability affecting number sense, arithmetic facts, and calculation. It is not low general intelligence; targeted multisensory mathematics instruction and concrete materials are the standard response.

GCD and LCM relationship

For two positive integers a and b, GCD x LCM = a x b. Hence LCM = ab / GCD. This shortcut avoids prime factorization when the GCD is easy to find.

Quadratic discriminant

For ax squared plus bx plus c equals zero, D = b squared minus 4ac. D positive gives two distinct real roots; D zero gives equal roots; D negative gives no real roots.

Sum of arithmetic progression

S equals n/2 times the sum of the first and last term, or n/2 times [2a + (n-1)d]. Here a is the first term, d the common difference, n the number of terms.

Pythagoras theorem

In a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Its converse tests whether a triangle has a right angle.

Newton's second law

Net force equals mass times acceleration, F = ma. Acceleration is directly proportional to net force and inversely proportional to mass, and points in the direction of the net force.

Ohm's law

At constant temperature, current through a conductor is directly proportional to potential difference: V = IR. Resistance is measured in ohms; series resistances add directly.

Photosynthesis equation

Six carbon dioxide plus six water, using light energy and chlorophyll in chloroplasts, yield one glucose and six oxygen. Glucose stores chemical energy; oxygen is released.

Fair test in science

An investigation in which only the independent variable is changed, all other conditions are kept constant, and the dependent variable is measured to give a valid conclusion.

Mathematization

NCF 2005's aim for mathematics: helping children think mathematically by formulating and solving problems, posing questions, and reasoning, rather than only memorizing procedures.

Fundamental Duties

Part IVA, added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, lists eleven duties of citizens, including respecting the Constitution, the national flag and anthem, and protecting the environment.

Article 32

The right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of Fundamental Rights, called the heart and soul of the Constitution by Ambedkar. It makes rights justiciable.

Money bill

A bill dealing with taxation or government expenditure, introduced only in the Lok Sabha with the President's recommendation. The Rajya Sabha may delay but not amend or reject it.

Indian Standard Time

India's uniform time, based on the 82.5 degree east meridian, which is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. It is a standard meridian, not a time zone boundary.

Tropic of Cancer in India

The 23.5 degree north latitude passes through eight Indian states, roughly from Gujarat to Mizoram, dividing India into tropical and subtropical climatic zones.

Dandi March

Gandhi's 1930 march to Dandi to make salt in defiance of the British salt law. It launched Civil Disobedience and became a defining moment of the freedom movement.

73rd Amendment

The 1992 amendment giving constitutional status to Panchayati Raj, mandating three tiers, five-year terms, State Election Commissions, and reservation for SC, ST, and women.

Language acquisition versus learning

Acquisition is unconscious, natural, and communicative; learning is conscious rule study. Krashen argues acquired competence drives fluency, while learned rules only monitor and edit output.

Skimming and scanning

Skimming reads quickly for the gist or main idea. Scanning searches quickly for a specific fact such as a date or name. Both are subskills of efficient reading.

Communicative Language Teaching

An approach prioritizing meaningful interaction, authentic tasks, and fluency, with the teacher as facilitator. Grammar serves communication rather than being the organizing principle of lessons.

Phoneme versus morpheme

A phoneme is the smallest sound unit that distinguishes meaning, such as /p/ and /b/ in pin and bin. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit, such as un- or -ness.

Alliteration

A figure of speech repeating initial consonant sounds in nearby words, as in 'silent, silver stream'. It creates rhythm and emphasis and is common in poetry and slogans.

Third conditional

If plus past perfect in the condition, would have plus past participle in the result: 'If she had studied, she would have passed.' It describes unreal past situations.

Reported speech backshift

When reporting, present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could. Time and place words shift, for example now to then and today to that day.