JBTE Primary Education Exam cheat sheet

Piaget's stages in order: sensorimotor (0-2, object permanence), preoperational (2-7, symbolic play, egocentrism), concrete operational (7-11, conservation, reversibility), formal operational (11+, abstract hypothetico-deductive reasoning).

Erikson's first four psychosocial crises: trust vs mistrust (0-1), autonomy vs shame/doubt (1-3), initiative vs guilt (3-6), industry vs inferiority (6-12); school-age tasks center on industry.

Vygotsky: the zone of proximal development is the gap between independent performance and performance with adult or peer scaffolding; private speech later becomes inner speech.

Kohlberg's stages: pre-conventional (punishment avoidance, self-interest), conventional (approval, law and order), post-conventional (social contract, universal ethics); stage 4 is typical of later school age.

Bronfenbrenner's ecological model layers: microsystem (family, classroom), mesosystem (links between microsystems), exosystem (parent workplace), macrosystem (culture), chronosystem (time).

Classical conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus (Pavlov); operant conditioning shapes behavior via reinforcement and punishment (Skinner); reinforcement always increases a behavior, punishment decreases it.

Maslow's hierarchy order: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, self-actualization; lower needs generally dominate until met.

Working memory holds roughly 4-7 chunks briefly; long-term memory is effectively unlimited, and spaced retrieval practice produces stronger retention than massed rereading.

Dweck: a growth mindset attributes success to effort and strategy, a fixed mindset to innate ability; process praise supports persistence after failure.

The five essential components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

The Simple View of Reading: reading comprehension = decoding x language comprehension; a weakness in either factor limits overall comprehension.

Phonological awareness is the umbrella (syllables, rhymes, onset-rime); phonemic awareness is the narrowest level, manipulating individual phonemes.

Phonics terms: digraph = two letters, one sound (sh, ch); blend = adjacent consonants each heard (bl, str); diphthong = gliding vowel (oi, ou); r-controlled vowel changes the vowel sound (car, her, bird).

Fluency has three dimensions: accuracy, rate (words correct per minute), and prosody; it bridges word recognition and comprehension.

Scarborough's Reading Rope intertwines word recognition strands (phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition) with language comprehension strands (background knowledge, vocabulary, syntax, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge).

Writing process stages: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing; the 6+1 traits are ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation.

Text structures to teach: description, sequence, compare-contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution; each has characteristic signal words.

Second-language acquisition: BICS (conversational fluency) typically develops in 1-3 years, CALP (academic language) in 5-7 years.

Place value: each position is ten times the value of the position to its right; 4,582 = 4 thousands + 5 hundreds + 8 tens + 2 ones.

Operations and their inverses: addition/subtraction, multiplication/division; the distributive property a(b + c) = ab + ac links them.

Fraction rules: a/b + c/d requires a common denominator; a/b x c/d = ac/bd; a/b divided by c/d = a/b x d/c; any nonzero number divided by itself equals 1.

Decimal-fraction equivalence: 0.75 = 75/100 = 3/4; moving the decimal one place right multiplies by 10, one place left divides by 10.

Perimeter is the distance around a polygon; area of a rectangle = length x width; area of a triangle = 1/2 x base x height; volume of a rectangular prism = l x w x h.

Circle formulas: circumference = pi x d = 2 x pi x r; area = pi x r squared; pi is approximately 3.14.

Mean = sum divided by count; median = middle value of an ordered set; mode = most frequent value; range = maximum minus minimum.

Order of operations: parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division left to right, addition and subtraction left to right.

Angle facts: a straight angle is 180 degrees, a full turn 360; triangle angles sum to 180 degrees, quadrilateral angles to 360 degrees.

Scientific method sequence: question, hypothesis, controlled experiment with one independent variable, data collection, analysis, conclusion; the dependent variable is what is measured.

States of matter: solids hold shape and volume, liquids hold volume but not shape, gases hold neither; heating generally increases particle motion and causes expansion.

Water cycle terms: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, collection/runoff; the Sun is the energy source.

Food chain order: producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, decomposer; energy decreases by roughly 90 percent at each trophic level (about 10 percent transferred).

Photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide, water, and light energy to produce glucose and oxygen; respiration reverses the equation, releasing energy from glucose.

Earth-Sun-Moon: one Earth rotation = one day; one Earth revolution = one year; the Moon's phases result from its changing position relative to Earth and Sun, not from Earth's shadow.

Force and motion: a net force changes motion; gravity pulls toward Earth's center; friction opposes motion; simple machines (lever, pulley, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, wedge) trade force for distance.

Electricity: a closed circuit is required for current; conductors (copper, aluminum) allow current, insulators (rubber, glass) resist it; magnets have north and south poles, and like poles repel.

Map essentials: title, legend/key, scale, compass rose, grid; latitude lines run east-west and measure north-south position, longitude lines run north-south and measure east-west position.

The Equator is 0 degrees latitude; the Prime Meridian is 0 degrees longitude; the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn lie at about 23.5 degrees north and south.

Three branches of U.S. federal government: legislative (Congress, makes laws), executive (President, enforces laws), judicial (courts, interprets laws); checks and balances prevent any branch dominating.

The Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments; the First Amendment protects speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.

Ancient river civilizations: Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates), Egypt (Nile), India (Indus), China (Yellow/Huang He); each depended on irrigation and surplus agriculture.

Economic concepts: scarcity forces choice; opportunity cost is the next best alternative forgone; supply and demand set market price; goods are tangible, services intangible.

Primary sources are firsthand (letters, artifacts, diaries); secondary sources interpret them (textbooks, encyclopedias); both require sourcing and corroboration.

Cultural universals include government, economy, religion, language, education, and family structures; they provide a framework for comparing societies.

The five health-related fitness components: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

The FITT principle: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type; the target heart-rate range is roughly 60-85 percent of maximum heart rate, and maximum heart rate is about 220 minus age.

Skill-related fitness components: agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, speed.

Aerobic activity uses oxygen over sustained periods (running, swimming); anaerobic activity is short and high intensity (sprinting, heavy lifting).

Nutrient classes: carbohydrates and fats supply energy, protein builds and repairs tissue, vitamins and minerals regulate body processes, water transports and cools.

MyPlate proportions: about half the plate fruits and vegetables, one quarter grains, one quarter protein, with a dairy serving alongside.

Communicable diseases spread via pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites) through contact, airborne droplets, or vectors; noncommunicable diseases (diabetes, heart disease) are not transmitted.

Physical-education lesson structure: warm-up, fitness or skill development, game or application, cool-down; moderate-to-vigorous physical activity should occupy most of the lesson.

First aid basics: RICE for sprains (rest, ice, compression, elevation); burns are cooled with running water, not ice; universal precautions require gloves for body-fluid contact.

Elements of art: line, shape, form, color, value, texture, space; principles of design: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity.

Color theory: primary colors (red, yellow, blue in traditional pigment theory), secondary colors made by mixing two primaries, complementary colors opposite on the color wheel, analogous colors adjacent.

Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) appear to advance; cool colors (blue, green, violet) recede; value means lightness or darkness, and tint adds white while shade adds black.

Art media distinctions: drawing uses dry media (pencil, charcoal, pastel), painting uses wet media (watercolor, tempera, acrylic), sculpture is three-dimensional (additive or subtractive).

Music elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, timbre, form; a steady beat underlies rhythm, and meter organizes beats into groups (2/4, 3/4, 4/4).

Instrument families: strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion; the conductor communicates tempo and dynamics through gesture.

Dance elements use the acronym BASTE: body, action, space, time, energy; locomotor movements travel (walk, hop), nonlocomotor movements stay in place (bend, twist).

Drama terms: tableau (frozen picture), improvisation (unscripted scene), pantomime (silent action), stage directions, and the actor's tools of voice, body, and imagination.

Responding to art uses description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment, in that order, moving from observable evidence to evaluation.

A functional behavior assessment identifies the antecedent, behavior, and consequence (ABC) and the likely function of behavior: attention, escape, access to tangibles, or sensory stimulation.

Positive behavior supports emphasize prevention: clear expectations, explicit routines, high supervision, and a ratio of roughly four positive interactions to each correction.

Reinforcement schedules: continuous reinforcement extinguishes fastest when stopped; variable-interval and variable-ratio schedules produce the most persistent behavior.

Least-restrictive-intervention principle: begin with proximity, redirect, or private prompt before escalating to removal from the setting.

Formative assessment informs instruction during learning; summative assessment measures achievement at the end of a unit; both should align to stated objectives.

Backward design order: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, then plan learning experiences and instruction.

Confidentiality rules: student records are shared only with those having a legitimate educational interest, and suspected abuse must be reported to designated authorities.

Differentiation can modify content, process, product, or environment; accommodations change how a student learns, modifications change what is expected.

Fair and valid grading reflects achievement of standards, not behavior or effort alone, and rubrics make criteria transparent to students.