WB TET Primary 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 independently and what the learner can do with guidance from a more capable person; instruction is most effective in this zone.

Scaffolding

Temporary support a teacher or peer gives a learner to complete a task beyond independent reach; it is gradually withdrawn as the learner gains competence, not permanent help.

Concrete operational stage

Piaget's stage from about 7 to 11 years, when children can conserve, classify, and reason logically about tangible objects but often struggle with abstract hypothetical problems.

Formative assessment

Ongoing assessment used during teaching to identify learning needs and adjust instruction; examples include observation, questioning, quizzes, and feedback, not only end-of-term marks.

Industry versus inferiority

Erikson's psychosocial task of middle childhood, about 6 to 12 years; children develop competence through successful work and praise, or inferiority through repeated failure or ridicule.

Dyscalculia

A specific learning disability affecting number sense, arithmetic facts, and calculation; a pupil may understand language well yet struggle with place value, operations, and mathematical symbols.

Intrinsic motivation

Drive to learn arising from interest, curiosity, or satisfaction in the activity itself; it is supported by choice, challenge, and meaningful tasks rather than only external rewards.

Phonics approach

Teaching reading by explicitly linking letters and letter groups to sounds and blending them into words; it is most useful in alphabetic scripts and needs meaningful text practice.

Whole-language approach

Teaching literacy through complete, meaningful texts and communication rather than isolated drills; learners use context, prediction, and purpose to read and write.

Multilingualism as resource

Using the learner's home language to explain concepts and build bridges to the school language; this supports comprehension and identity rather than delaying second-language learning.

Literal comprehension

Understanding information directly stated in a text, such as names, dates, and explicit events; it is the first comprehension level and is assessed by recall or locating answers.

Inferential comprehension

Understanding ideas not directly stated by connecting clues, causes, and context; readers predict, infer motives, and draw conclusions from what the text implies.

Developmental error

A learner's error that reflects an emerging rule, such as overgeneralising a past-tense ending; it shows active language construction and should be addressed through pattern-focused feedback.

Communicative competence

Ability to use a language appropriately and effectively, combining grammar, vocabulary, social rules, discourse organisation, and strategies for overcoming communication gaps.

Article by sound rule

Use 'a' before consonant sounds and 'an' before vowel sounds, judging sound not spelling: an hour, a university, an honest answer, a European country.

Present continuous form

A verb tense made with the present form of 'be' plus the -ing form, as in 'She is reading'; it describes actions happening now or around now.

Prepositions of time

Use 'in' for months, years, and seasons; 'on' for days and dates; 'at' for clock times and fixed points, as in in May, on Monday, at 5 o'clock.

Skimming and scanning

Skimming is fast reading for the general idea; scanning is fast reading to locate specific information such as a date or name. Both are selective reading strategies.

Portfolio assessment

Systematic collection of a learner's work over time, such as drafts, reading records, and projects, used to show progress and support reflection rather than a single test score.

Place value

The value a digit has because of its position in a number; moving one place left multiplies value by ten, so in 3,472 the 4 means four hundred.

BODMAS

Order of operations: Brackets, Of or Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction; division and multiplication are done left to right, then addition and subtraction left to right.

Equivalent fractions

Fractions naming the same value, made by multiplying or dividing numerator and denominator by the same nonzero number; 1/2, 2/4, and 5/10 are equivalent.

Area of rectangle

The number of square units covering a rectangle, found by length × breadth; a 6 cm by 4 cm rectangle has area 24 square centimetres.

Perimeter

The total distance around a closed plane figure, measured in linear units; for a rectangle it is 2(length + breadth), and for a square it is 4 × side.

Average

A measure of central tendency found by adding all observations and dividing by their number; the average of 4, 6, and 8 is 18 ÷ 3 = 6.

Unitary method

A problem-solving method that first finds the value of one unit by division, then multiplies to find the value of the required number of units.

Food chain

A sequence showing energy transfer from producer to herbivore to carnivore; arrows point from the eaten organism to the eater, and decomposers recycle dead material.

Water cycle

Continuous movement of water through evaporation from surfaces, condensation into clouds, precipitation as rain or snow, and collection in rivers, lakes, and ground.

Photosynthesis

Process by which green plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make food and release oxygen; chlorophyll in leaves captures light energy.

Communicable disease

An illness caused by pathogens that can spread from person to person or through water, food, air, or vectors; examples include diarrhoea, tuberculosis, and malaria.

3Rs of waste management

Reduce, reuse, and recycle: prevent unnecessary waste, use items again, and process materials into new products; this conserves resources and reduces landfill and pollution.

Map key

A legend explaining the symbols and colours used on a map, such as blue for water and a cross for a hospital; it is needed to read map information accurately.