Learning About Learning
Glossary
This glossary explains terms used in Learning about Learning. It is not intended to be exhaustive in educational terms, nor does it include an explanation of every word used in the documents and movies. Instead, it seeks to clarify meanings in order to remove potential barriers to understanding and help the reader to appreciate the messages intended more fully.
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| Mastery | Command of or a great skill and knowledge of some subject or activity. |
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| Media literacy | The ability to read, analyse, evaluate and produce communication in a variety of media forms (television, print, radio, computers, etc.). |
| Memory | Memory is generally defined as the processes of encoding, storing and retrieving information in our brains. |
| Metacognition | The process of thinking about thinking, or the recognition on the part of the learner that learning has taken place, or is taking place. It involves understanding and appreciating the factors that make learning possible and one's own strategies and processes of learning. Black and Wiliam stressed that opportunities for self-assessment and reflection are crucial for improving learning and there is a range of research evidence indicating that metacognition tends to be associated with effective learning. |
| MI | Multiple Intelligences. Based on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory, where all human beings possess different forms of intelligence or ability. Gardner's original model described seven different types of intelligence: linguistic, logical, visual/spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and bodily kinaesthetic. |
| Mind Map® / Mind Mapping | A graphic technique developed by Tony Buzan in the late 1960s to help students learn by creating a visual representation of links between ideas, including the association of new ideas with existing knowledge and experience. This may involve the use of colour and images, as well as key words/phrases. |
| Monitoring | A classroom management technique undertaken by staff members to review and evaluate specific aspects of learning and teaching activities to see if they are going to plan. |
| Musical intelligence | The ability to produce and appreciate music. These musically inclined learners think in sounds, rhythms and patterns. They immediately respond to music either appreciating or criticising what they hear. Their skills include singing, playing musical instruments, recognizing sounds and tonal patterns, composing music and remembering melodies. |
| Myers-Briggs type indicator | A learning styles model that classifies students according to their preferences on scales derived from psychologist Carl Jung's theory of psychological types. Learners may be: Extroverts or Introverts Sensors or Intuitors Thinkers or Feelers Judgers or Perceivers |