REET Level 1 flashcards

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

Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky's term for the gap between what a learner can do alone and what the learner can do with guidance from a more capable person. Teaching is most effective inside this zone.

Conservation (Piaget)

The understanding that quantity, mass or number stays the same even when appearance or arrangement changes. It appears in the concrete operational stage, roughly seven to eleven years.

Scaffolding

Temporary, graded support given by a teacher or peer so a learner can complete a task beyond independent reach. The support is gradually withdrawn as competence grows.

Inclusive education

Placing all children, including those with disabilities, in the same neighbourhood school with adapted curriculum, aids and support. It is backed by the RPwD Act 2016 and RTE Act 2009.

Formative assessment

Ongoing, diagnostic assessment during teaching that gives feedback to the learner and the teacher and shapes the next lesson. It is assessment for learning, not judgement at the end.

Gardner's multiple intelligences

Howard Gardner's model of eight relatively independent intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. It justifies varied classroom activities rather than one IQ score.

Operant conditioning (Skinner)

Skinner's theory that behaviour is shaped by its consequences: reinforcement strengthens a response while punishment or extinction weakens it. Programmed instruction and token systems draw on this model.

Intelligence quotient formula

IQ = (mental age ÷ chronological age) × 100, associated with Stern and the Stanford-Binet scale. An IQ of 100 marks average performance for the child's age.

Skimming

Rapid reading of a whole text to grasp its general idea or gist while ignoring details. It usually precedes close reading and is tested by asking for the main theme.

Extensive reading

Reading large amounts of longer, easier text for pleasure and fluency, with little attention to every word. It builds vocabulary and speed and complements intensive reading of short difficult passages.

Inductive grammar teaching

Learners study examples first and then discover the rule themselves, with the teacher guiding and confirming. It is learner-centred and the opposite of deductive teaching, where the rule comes first.

Cloze test

A passage with regular words deleted, usually every fifth or seventh word, which the learner restores using context. It measures reading comprehension and grammatical knowledge together and scores objectively.

Three-language formula

Policy adopted in the 1968 National Policy on Education under which school children learn the regional language, Hindi and English, with flexibility for Hindi-speaking states to choose another modern Indian language.

Error analysis

The study of learners' systematic mistakes to understand the rules underlying their interlanguage. It treats errors as evidence of learning in progress rather than as failures deserving punishment.

Comprehensible input

Krashen's claim that a second language is acquired when learners understand messages slightly beyond their current level, called i + 1, with meaning supported by context and not by explanation.

Affective filter

Krashen's idea that anxiety, low motivation and low self-confidence raise a mental filter that blocks language intake. A relaxed, supportive classroom lowers the filter and supports acquisition.

BICS and CALP

Cummins's distinction between basic interpersonal communicative skills, which are context-embedded and take about two years, and cognitive academic language proficiency, which is context-reduced and takes five to seven years.

Language interference

Transfer of first-language habits such as word order, sounds or prepositions into the second language, producing errors. Contrastive analysis tries to predict these by comparing the two systems.

Code-switching

Alternating between two languages inside a conversation or lesson. In a multilingual classroom it can clarify meaning, but it should not replace sustained practice in the target language.

Communicative competence

Hymes's term for the ability to use language appropriately as well as correctly. It covers grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence and is the goal of communicative language teaching.

Divisibility by 3 and 9

A number is divisible by 3 if its digit sum is a multiple of 3, and by 9 if the digit sum is a multiple of 9. For example, 4725 has digit sum 18, so it divides by both.

HCF–LCM relation

For two positive integers a and b, HCF × LCM = a × b, so LCM = (a × b) ÷ HCF. The identity does not hold when three or more numbers are taken together.

Circle: area and circumference

Area = πr² and circumference = 2πr, where r is the radius and π is taken as 22/7 or 3.14. The diameter is twice the radius.

Van Hiele levels

Five ordered levels of geometric thinking: visualisation, analysis, informal deduction, formal deduction and rigour. Primary pupils work at the first two, so properties are discovered from shapes, not proved.

Concrete–pictorial–abstract sequence

A teaching sequence moving from handling real objects, to pictures and diagrams, to symbols and algorithms. It suits Piaget's concrete operational stage and underpins primary work with manipulatives.

Average (mean)

The sum of all observations divided by the number of observations. The mean changes if any value changes and is pulled by extreme values, unlike the median.

Water cycle

The continuous movement of water through evaporation from surfaces, transpiration from plants, condensation into clouds, precipitation, and run-off or infiltration back to water bodies. Solar energy drives the cycle.

Food chain

A sequence showing energy transfer from producers such as green plants to herbivores and then to carnivores, with decomposers breaking down remains. Arrows point in the direction of energy flow.

Balanced diet

A diet supplying carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, water and roughage in the proportions the body needs for energy, growth, repair and protection from disease.

Rainwater harvesting

Collecting and storing rain where it falls, on rooftops or in tanks, or allowing it to percolate through pits and trenches. It recharges groundwater and reduces run-off and flooding.

Rotation and revolution

Rotation is the Earth spinning on its tilted axis in about 24 hours and causes day and night. Revolution is its orbit around the Sun in about 365¼ days and causes seasons.

Night blindness

Inability to see in dim light caused by deficiency of vitamin A. Sources include carrots, papaya, green leafy vegetables and milk; severe deficiency can progress to total blindness.