Ch. 7 Student Development and the Learning Process: Terms to Know

Question 1

Accommodation

Answer 1

Responding to a new event or object by changing an existing scheme or creating a new scheme.

Question 2

Assimilation

Answer 2

Responding to a new event or object that is consistent with an existing scheme.

Question 3

Classical Conditioning

Answer 3

Much like Operant Conditioning.

A process of behavior modification by which a person comes to respond in the desired manner to what was once a neutral stimulus. The neutral stimulus has been repeatedly presented along with an unconditioned stimulus that eventually elicits the desired response.

Example: teacher creates a positive, supportive environment that eventually conditions a student with anxiety or fears about speaking in public to find this experience enjoyable.

Question 4

Conservation

Answer 4

Knowing that a number or amount stays the same even when rearranged or presented in a different shape.

Question 5

Constructivism

Answer 5

A philosophy of learning based on the premise that people construct their own understanding of the world they live in through reflection on experiences.

Question 6

Convergent Thinking

Answer 6

A process of gathering several pieces of information together to solve a problem.

Question 7

Creativity

Answer 7

New and original behavior that creates a culturally appropriate product.

Question 8

Declarative, Procedural, and Conditioned Knowledge

Answer 8

Declarative (knowledge of what is)
Procedural (knowledge of how to)
Conditional (knowledge of when again)

A teacher can use these types of knowledge to develop lesson plans that explicitly help students know what they are learning (declarative knowledge), how to complete the thinking procedure or to acquire the content (procedural knowledge), and when students can transfer or use this new knowledge in another situation or experience (conditional knowledge).

Question 9

Discovery Learning

Answer 9

Teaching methods that enable students to discover information by themselves or in groups.

Jerome Bruner

Question 10

Disequilibrium

Answer 10

One’s inability to explain new events based on existing schemes, which is usually accompanied by discomfort.

Question 11

Disposition

Answer 11

A person’s natural tendency to approach learning or problem solving in certain ways.

Important to consider when planning or revising lessons to help students succeed in complex or challenging learning tasks.

Question 12

Distributed Cognition

Answer 12

A process in which two or more learners share their thinking as they work together to solve a problem.

Question 13

Divergent Thinking

Answer 13

The process of mentally taking a single idea and expanding it in several directions.

Question 14

Equilibration

Answer 14

Movement from equilibrium to disequilibrium and then back to equilibrium again.

Question 15

Equilibrium

Answer 15

One’s ability to explain new events based on existing schemes.

Question 16

Long-Term Memory

Answer 16

The part of memory that holds sills and knowledge for a long time.

Question 17

Metacognition

Answer 17

A person’s ability to think about his or her own thinking. A student who demonstrates metacognition is able to explain his or her own thinking and describe which strategies he or she uses to read or to solve a problem.

Question 18

Operant Conditioning

Answer 18

B. F. Skinner

the learner modifies his or her own behavior based on the association of the behavior with a stimulus. For example, when a teacher sets up a system of punishments and reinforcements for classroom behaviors.

Question 19

Problem Solving

Answer 19

To use existing knowledge or kills to solve problems.

Question 20

Readiness to Learn

Answer 20

A context within which a student’s more basic needs (such as sleep, safety, and love) are met and the student is cognitively ready for developmentally appropriate problem solving and learning.

Question 21

Response

Answer 21

a specific behavior that a person demonstrates.

Question 22

Scaffolding

Answer 22

Instructional supports provided to a student by an adult or a more capable peer in a learning situation. The more capable a student becomes with a certain skill or concept, the less instructional scaffolding the adult or peer needs to provide.

Question 23

Schema

Answer 23

A concept in the mind about events, scenarios, actions, or objects that have been acquired from past experience. The mind loves organization and must find previous events or experiences with which to associate the information, or the information may not be learned.

Question 24

Self-Efficacy

Answer 24

a belief that one is capable.

Question 25

self-regulation

Answer 25

the process of taking control of one’s own earning or behavior.

Question 26

stimulus (stimuli)

Answer 26

a specific object or event that influences (positively or negatively) a person’s learning or behavior.

Question 27

transfer

Answer 27

the ability to apply a lesson learned in one situation to a new situation. Positive transfer occurs when something is learned at one point that facilitates learning or performance in another situation. Negative transfer occurs when something learned interferes with the learning or performance in another situation.

Question 28

working memory

Answer 28

the part of memory that holds and actively processes a limited amount of information for a sort amount of time.

Question 29

zone of proximal development

Answer 29

Lev Vygotsky

A key concept in Vygotsky’s theory of learning. The zone of proximal development suggests that students learn best in a social context in which a more-able adult or peer teaches the student something he or she could not learn on his or her own.