EDUC 220 Final Flashcards
Operant conditioning
Learning in which voluntary behaviour is strengthened or weakened by consequences or antecedents.
Antecedents
Events that precede an action.
Consequences
Events that follow an action.
Reinforcement
Use of consequences to strengthen behaviour.
Positive reinforcement
Strengthening behaviour by presenting a desired stimulus after the behaviour.
Negative reinforcement
Strengthening behaviour by removing an aversive stimulus when the behaviour occurs.
Continuous reinforcement schedule
Presenting a reinforcer after every appropriate response.
Intermittent reinforcement schedule
Presenting a reinforcer after some but not all responses.
Cueing
Providing a stimulus that “sets up” a desired behaviour.
Prompt
A reminder that follows a cue to make sure the person reacts to the cue.
Applied behaviour analysis
The application of behavioural learning principles to understand and change behaviour.
Behaviour modification
Systematic application of antecedents and consequences to change behaviour.
Shaping
Reinforcing each small step of progress toward a desired goal or behaviour.
Successive approximations
Small components that make up a complex behaviour.
Task analysis
System for breaking down a task hierarchically into basic skills and subskills.
Response cost
Punishment by loss of reinforcers.
Social isolation
Removal of a disruptive student for five to 10 minutes.
Group consequences
Rewards or punishments given to a class as a whole for adhering to or violating rules of conduct.
Token reinforcement system
System in which tokens earned for academic work and positive classroom behaviour can be exchanged for some desired reward.
Self-reinforcement
Controlling your own reinforcers.
Phonological loop
Part of working memory. A speech- and sound-related system for holding and rehearsing (refreshing) words and sounds in short-term memory for about 1.5 to 2 seconds.
Visuospatial sketchpad
Part of working memory. A holding system for visual and spatial information.
Episodic buffer
The process that brings together and integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory under the supervision of the central executive.
Cognitive load
The volume of resources necessary to complete a task.
Extraneous cognitive load
The resources required to process stimuli irrelevant to the task.
Germane cognitive load
Deep processing of information related to the task, including the application of prior knowledge to a new task or problem.
Levels of processing theory
Theory that recall of information is based on how deeply it is processed.
Chunking
Grouping individual bits of data into meaningful larger units.
Declarative knowledge
Verbal information; facts; “knowing that” something is the case.
Procedural knowledge
Knowledge that is demonstrated when we perform a task; “knowing how.”
Self-regulatory knowledge
Knowing how to manage your learning, or knowing how and when to use your declarative and procedural knowledge.
Implicit memory
Knowledge that we are not conscious of recalling, but that influences our behaviour or thought without our awareness.
Schemas (singular, schema)
Basic structures for organizing information; concepts.
Script
Schema or expected plan for the sequence of steps in a common event such as buying groceries or ordering pizza.
Priming
Activating a concept in memory or the spread of activation from one concept to another.
Elaboration
Adding and extending meaning by connecting new information to existing knowledge.
Spreading activation
Retrieval of pieces of information based on their relatedness to one another. Remembering one bit of information activates (stimulates) recall of associated information.
Mnemonics
Techniques for remembering; the art of memory.
Distributed practice
Practice in brief periods with rest intervals.
Massed practice
Practice for a single extended period.
Metacognition
Knowledge about our own thinking processes.
KWL
A strategy to guide reading and inquiry: Before—What do I already know? What do I want to know? After—What have I learned?
Learning strategies
A special kind of procedural knowledge—knowing how to approach learning tasks.
Production deficiencies
Failing to activate a learning strategy—a production—when it is appropriate and useful to use the strategy.
Schema-driven problem solving
Recognizing a problem as a “disguised” version of an old problem for which one already has a solution.
Algorithm
Step-by-step procedure for solving a problem; prescription for solutions.
Heuristic
General strategy used in attempting to solve problems
Means-ends analysis
Heuristic in which a goal is divided into subgoals.
Working-backward strategy
Heuristic in which one starts with the goal and moves backward to solve the problem.
Analogical thinking
Heuristic in which one limits the search for solutions to situations that are similar to the one at hand.
Verbalization
Putting your problem-solving plan and its logic into words.
Functional fixedness
Inability to use objects or tools in a new way.
Response set
Rigidity; the tendency to respond in the most familiar way.
Representativeness heuristic
Judging the likelihood of an event based on how well the events match your prototypes—what you think is representative of the category.
Availability heuristic
Judging the likelihood of an event based on what is available in your memory, assuming those easily remembered events are common.
Belief perseverance
The tendency to hold on to beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence.
Confirmation bias
Seeking information that confirms our choices and beliefs, while disconfirming evidence.
Critical thinking
Evaluating conclusions by logically and systematically examining the problem, the evidence, and the solution.
Argumentation
The process of debating a claim with someone else.
Transfer
Influence of previously learned material on new material; the productive (not reproductive) uses of cognitive tools and motivations.
Learning sciences
An interdisciplinary science of learning, based on research in psychology, education, computer science, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, neuroscience, and other fields that study learning.
Constructivism
View that emphasizes the active role of the learner in building understanding and making sense of information.
First-wave constructivism
A focus on the individual and psychological sources of knowing, as in Piaget’s theory.
Radical constructivism
Knowledge is assumed to be the individual’s construction; it cannot be judged right or wrong.
Second-wave constructivism
A focus on the social and cultural sources of knowing, as in Vygotsky’s theory.
Constructionism
How public knowledge in disciplines such as science, math, economics, or history is constructed.
Community of practice
Social situation or context in which ideas are judged useful or true.
Situated learning
The idea that skills and knowledge are tied to the situation in which they were learned and that they are difficult to apply in new settings.
Social negotiation
Aspect of learning process that relies on collaboration with others and respect for different perspectives.
Multiple representations of content
Considering problems using various analogies, examples, and metaphors.
Spiral curriculum
Bruner’s design for teaching that introduces the fundamental structure of all subjects early in the school years, then revisits the subjects in more and more complex forms over time.
Inquiry learning
Approach in which the teacher presents a puzzling situation and students solve the problem by gathering data and testing their conclusions.
Problem-based learning
Methods that provide students with realistic problems that don’t necessarily have “right” answers.
Reciprocal teaching
Designed to help students understand and think deeply about what they read.
Cooperative learning
Situations in which elaboration, interpretation, explanation, and argumentation are integral to the activity of the group and where learning is supported by other individuals.
Reciprocal questioning
Students work in pairs or triads to ask and answer questions about lesson material.
Jigsaw classroom
A learning process in which each student is part of a group and each group member is given part of the material to be learned by the whole group. Students become “expert” on their piece and then teach it to the others in their group.
Structured controversy
Students work in pairs within their four-person cooperative groups to research a particular controversy.
Embodied cognition
Theory stating that cognitive processes develop from real-time, goal-directed interactions between humans and their environment.
Cognitive apprenticeship
A relationship in which a less experienced learner acquires knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert.
Social learning theory
Theory that emphasizes learning through observation of others.
Social cognitive theory
Theory that adds concern with cognitive factors such as beliefs, self-perceptions, and expectations to social learning theory.
Triarchic reciprocal causality
An explanation of behaviour that emphasizes the mutual effects of the individual and the environment on each other.
Vicarious reinforcement
Increasing the chances that we will repeat a behaviour by observing another person being reinforced for that behaviour.
Self-reinforcement
Controlling (selecting and administering) your own reinforcers.
Self-efficacy
A person’s sense of being able to deal effectively with a particular task.
Human agency
The capacity to coordinate learning skills, motivation, and emotions to reach your goals.
Mastery experiences
Our own direct experiences—the most powerful source of efficacy information.
Arousal
Physical and psychological reactions causing a person to feel alert, excited, or tense.
Vicarious experiences
Accomplishments that are modelled by someone else.
Modelling
Changes in behaviour, thinking, or emotions that happen through observing another person—a model.
Social persuasion
A “pep talk” or specific performance feedback—one source of self-efficacy.
Self-regulation
Process of activating and sustaining thoughts, behaviours, and emotions in order to reach goals.
Volition
Willpower; self-discipline; work styles that protect opportunities to reach goals by applying self-regulated learning.
Co-regulation
A transitional phase during which students gradually appropriate self-regulated learning and skills through modelling, direct teaching, feedback, and coaching from teachers, parents, or peers.
Shared regulation
Students working together to regulate each other through reminders, prompts, and other guidance.
Self-regulated learning
A view of learning as skills and will applied to analyzing learning tasks, setting goals and planning how to do the task, applying skills, and especially making adjustments about how learning is carried out.
Self-instruction
Talking oneself through the steps of a task.
Intrinsic motivation
Motivation associated with activities that are their own reward.
Extrinsic motivation
Motivation created by external factors such as rewards and punishments.
Locus of causality
The location—internal or external—of the cause of behaviour.
Humanistic interpretation
Approach to motivation that emphasizes personal freedom, choice, self-determination, and striving for personal growth.
Expectancy × value theories
Explanations of motivation that emphasize individuals’ expectations for success combined with their valuing of the goal.
Sociocultural views of motivation
Perspectives that emphasize participation, identities, and interpersonal relations within communities of practice.
Legitimate peripheral participation
Genuine involvement in the work of the group, even if your abilities are undeveloped and contributions are small.
Need for autonomy
The desire to have our own wishes, rather than external rewards or pressures, determine our actions.
Goal orientations
Patterns of beliefs about goals related to achievement in school.
Mastery goal
A personal intention to improve abilities and learn, no matter how performance suffers.
Performance goal
A personal intention to seem competent or perform well in the eyes of others.
Social goals
A wide variety of needs and motives to be connected to others or part of a group.
Epistemological beliefs
Beliefs about the structure, stability, and certainty of knowledge, and how knowledge is best learned.
Attribution theories
Descriptions of how individuals’ explanations, justifications, and excuses influence their motivation and behaviour.
Mastery-oriented students
Students who focus on learning goals because they value achievement and see ability as improvable.
Failure-avoiding students
Students who avoid failure by sticking to what they know, by not taking risks, or by claiming not to care about their performance.
Failure-accepting students
Students who believe their failures are due to low ability and there is little they can do about it.
Authentic task
Tasks that have some connection to real-life problems the students will face outside the classroom.
Goal structure
The way students relate to others who are also working toward a particular goal.
Cognitive evaluation theory
Suggests that events affect motivation through the individual’s perception of the events as controlling behaviour or providing information.
Pedagogical content knowledge
Teacher knowledge that combines mastery of academic content with knowing how to teach the content and how to match instruction to student differences.
Lesson study
As a group, teachers develop, test, improve, and retest lessons until they are satisfied with the final version.
Instructional objectives
Clear statements of what students are intended to learn through instruction.
Taxonomy
Classification system.
Cognitive domain
In Bloom’s taxonomy, memory and reasoning objectives.
Affective domain
Objectives focusing on attitudes and feelings.
Psychomotor domain
Realm of physical ability and coordination objectives.
Direct instruction or explicit teaching
Systematic instruction for mastery of basic skills, facts, and information.
Scripted cooperation
Learning strategy in which two students take turns summarizing material and criticizing the summaries.
Convergent questions
Questions that have a single correct answer.
Advance organizer
Statement of inclusive concepts to introduce and sum up material that follows.
Divergent questions
Questions that have no single correct answer.
Differentiated instruction
Teaching that takes into account students’ abilities, prior knowledge, and challenges so that instruction matches not only the subject being taught but also students’ needs.
Within-class ability grouping
System of grouping in which students in a class are divided into two or three groups based on ability in an attempt to accommodate student differences.
Flexible grouping
Grouping and regrouping students based on learning needs.
Adaptive teaching
Provides all students with challenging instruction and uses supports when needed, but removes these supports as students become able to handle more on their own.
Pygmalion effect
Exceptional progress by a student as a result of high teacher expectations for that student; named for the mythological king Pygmalion, who made a statue, then caused it to be brought to life.
Sustaining expectation effect
Student performance maintained at a certain level because teachers do not recognize improvements.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A groundless expectation that is confirmed because it has been expected.
Seatwork
Independent classroom work.
