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
| Scaffolding | A strategy of guided learning where the teacher continually adjusts the level of tutoring to match the pupil’s level of performance. Scaffolding derives from ideas about learning and culture put forward by Lev Vygotsky and elaborated by Jerome Bruner. They key idea is that, to learn from new experiences, young children/learners use the support of adults/teachers, who mediate to them the culture in which they live. Scaffolding is the support provided when setting pupils new, challenging work, with the intention that, in due course, they will establish independent command of the learning without the aid of the scaffolding. |
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| School climate | School climate is the social atmosphere in a school that covers different aspects of its culture. These include the disciplinary culture, how well teachers and students get along, the expectations of the staff and pupils, how strongly pupils identify with their school, how motivated and dedicated the staff are. |
| Self-assessment | Pupils are involved in self-assessment when they look at their own work in a reflective way and identify aspects that are good and others which need to be improved. Black and Wiliam highlighted this as an important part of learning. One way of doing this is by traffic lighting, where pupils are asked to assign red, amber and green colours to their work to indicate their level of confidence. Like peer assessment, self-assessment benefits if teachers explain and demonstrate it and ensure pupils have a clear understanding of learning objectives and criteria of success. |
| Self-esteem | The inner perception people have as being more or less valuable, worthy and important in the world. |
| Semantic memory | Semantic memory relates to our knowledge and concepts about the world we live in, and involves the ability to store and recall information in the form of numbers, words, facts and rules. Semantic memories are not formed automatically - they require motivation and they are easy to lose. |
| Semiotic languages | The use of signs and symbols to replace words. |
| Short term memory | Memory is generally defined as the processes of encoding, storing and retrieving information in our brains. It is thought to begin with the encoding or converting of information into a form that can be stored by the brain and this system is usually referred to as short-term memory. |
| Small steps learning intentions | For younger pupils and those with ASN these may be the first point of reference in planning and beginning a lesson. They are useful in focusing pupils, motivating them and helping the learning process to be more effective. They are related to the 'Big Picture' learning intention – the teacher encourages learners to say what is entailed. Suggestions form a list of smaller learning intentions; the teacher and pupils then discuss possible success criteria for each of these small step learning intentions. For example, OURSELVES - Body Parts/Senses/Keeping Healthy - keeping clean/taking exercise/balanced diet (For more information, see 'Enriching Feedback in the Primary Classroom' Clarke S., 2003, page 17) |
| Sociology | The scientific study of the human mind and mental states, and of human and animal behaviour. |
| Solution procedures | Problem solving technique that begins with defining and analysing the problem, investigating possible solutions, selecting a solution then evaluating. |
| Standardised test | A formal, norm-referenced test, for example in mathematics, reading, 'general intelligence' and so on. In a test that has been 'standardised', a mean score and typical pattern of performance has been established by setting it to a large random sample of the population. When the test is subsequently taken by groups or individual pupils, their performance is reported in relation to the mean and/or distribution of scores in the standardising sample. |
| Streaming video | A means of delivering video or multimedia over the internet. |
| Success criteria | Statements of standards from which success in an activity, for example a test/examination or a development plan, can be measured. They specify the acceptable evidence that the aim(s) of the enterprise has/have been achieved. |
| Summative assessment | Assessment designed to establish the extent to which pupils have achieved the learning aims of a programme of work. It can take various forms: a review of a significant body of classwork evidence to establish whether learning aims/criteria of success have been achieved, an end-of-unit test to check whether key points have been understood/key skills have been acquired; a pass/fail criterion-referenced test or examination in which the pupil demonstrates whether he or she can meet the success criteria for a longer period of work (for example, a term or a year); or an examination which samples a representative range of a large programme of work and grades pupils' performance. Feedback is usually in the form of a mark or a pass/fail or achieved/not achieved statement, without comment on strengths and future learning needs or next steps. However, it is often possible to use summative assessments formatively - for example, to identify areas of understanding or skill which need more attention. |