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.
Keyword search
| Paired marking | Children need to be trained to become reflective learners through modelling effective feedback that is both constructive and sensitive. Using success criteria, they identify in pairs positive aspects, then successes and where improvement could take place in a piece of work. If ground rules have been decided as a class, this will avoid over criticism and encourage meaningful dialogue between the children. |
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| Paired reading | Paired reading is a reading activity where a learner and a more skilled reader (pupil or parent) read a text together. They follow an established pattern to allow the learner to take over reading in sections where they feel confident. This technique aims to improve the learner's reading and comprehension skills. |
| Parental Involvement | The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 recognises the important part parents play in their children's learning and development. It identifies three key elements where parents can be involved and that schools have a role in promoting and developing: learning at home, home-school partnerships, and/or the new Parent Councils. |
| Parietal lobe | The specialised region of the brain thought to support speech, touch, sensitivity and perception. |
| Peer assessment | Where pupils or colleagues provide feedback on another's work. This works best if the criteria have been shared and fully understood; if the teacher has modelled the process; and if quality is monitored as it is undertaken. Peer assessment can provide the bridge between teacher assessment and self-assessment. That is, it can be a stage in the process of helping pupils become confident and skilled in self-assessment, as opposed to relying always on the teacher. |
| Peer pressure | Influence or pressure on a young person by others who are about the same age or in the same class. |
| Personal learning planning | The process in which pupils, teachers and other relevant stakeholders, including parents and carers, are involved in discussions about an individual's strengths, areas for development and goals for self-improvement. Personal learning planning is key in addressing individual learning needs, and covers concepts such as self-evaluation, identifying and reflecting on the evidence of learning, planning, goal-setting and monitoring. This process feeds into a range of developmental areas including career and personal development. The discussions between the teacher and the learner can help to define objectives, highlight progress and illustrate the way forward (next steps). |
| Pessimism | A belief that things are bad, and more than likely will get worse – the opposite of optimism. A common example used to illustrate optimism is this question: given a glass that has been filled halfway, is it half full or half empty? A pessimist will describe it as half empty. |
| Philosophy | The study of the origin, development, and structure of human societies and the behaviour of individual people and groups in society. |
| PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) | Scotland participates in PIRLS - a five-year cycle of assessments that measures trends in children’s reading literacy achievement at fourth grade and policy and practices related to literacy. It includes information on the impact of the home environment and how parents can foster reading literacy. It assesses two major purposes for reading – to acquire and use information and for literary experience. Staff can use this summative information at any local level to judge their performance relative to the national sample and to plan their next steps. |
| PISA (OECD Programme for International Student Assessment) | A survey carried out every three years, of 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries, which assesses how far students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in society. Staff can use this summative information at any local level to judge their performance relative to the national sample and to plan their next steps. |
| Plenary (questioning) sessions | Time set aside at the end of a lesson for the teacher to discover what pupils have learned and re-emphasise the main points. |
| Plenary sessions | Time set aside at the end of a lesson for the teacher to discover what pupils have learned and re-emphasise the main points. |
| PMI | PMI (Plus/Minus/Interesting) is a decision making tool devised by Edward de Bono. |
| Podcast | An audio file, usually in MP3 format that is available online. The files can be downloaded and listened to at the users convenience. Distributed via rss feeds |
| Podcasting | Production and distribution of a series of audio or video digital-media files which is distributed over the internet through Web feeds,to portable media players and personal computers. |
| PowerPoint | PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft for its Microsoft Office system. |
| Problem solving | The thought processes involved in solving a problem. Critical and creative thinking are closely related to problem solving, which can be described as applied thinking. Problems such as organising the various tasks we have to do each day or weighing up different viewpoints on a moral issue, all require a mixture of critical and creative thinking. |
| Procedural memory | Procedural memory is our memory of how to do things, for example, playing an instrument, kicking a ball, reading or solving problems. Such memories are formed through the repeated practice of actions or skills and are the most durable of our memories. |
| Productive climate | The social atmosphere in a school, determined by the management team and the staff, that encourages goal orientation, personal development and self-enhancement of all members of the school community. |
| Psychology | The shared beliefs and practices of the school or educational establishment. |