Education Glossary (A to Z)
Written and peer-reviewed by PhD-Level Academics
21st Century Learning
Definition: 21st Century Learning emphasizes skills and knowledge essential for success in the modern world, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital literacy.
Active Learning
Definition: Active learning is an instructional method where students engage in activities that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of class content.
Andragogy
Definition: Andragogy refers to the method and practice of teaching adult learners, with a focus on the learner’s experience, self-direction, and readiness to learn.
Assertive Discipline
Definition: Assertive discipline is a structured, systematic approach designed to assist educators in running an organized, teacher-in-charge classroom environment.
Asynchronous Learning
Definition: Asynchronous learning occurs when students learn from online resources, emails, or other course materials on their own schedule, without real-time interaction.
Authentic Assessment
Definition: An ascribed status is a social status that you didn’t choose and is usually given to you from birth.
Banking Model of Education
Definition: This term, coined by Paulo Freire, refers to a traditional education model where the teacher is viewed as the knowledge holder and deposits information into passive students.
Behavior Modeling
Definition: Behavior modeling involves demonstrating desired behavior as a way to teach it effectively.
Behaviorism
Definition: Behaviorism is a theory of learning focused on observable behaviors and the responses to environmental stimuli.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Definition: Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification system used to define and distinguish different levels of human cognition—thinking, learning, and understanding.
Centration (Piaget)
Definition: In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, centration is a tendency of young children to focus on one aspect of a situation while neglecting others.
Classroom Management
Definition: Classroom management refers to the techniques and strategies that teachers use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, and on task.
Cocurricular Activities
Definition: Cocurricular activities are programs and learning experiences that complement, in some way, what students are learning in school.
Cognitive Development
Definition: Cognitive development refers to the progression of learning and development of thinking skills from infancy through adulthood.
Collaborative Learning
Definition: Collaborative learning is an educational approach involving groups of students working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product.
Constructivism
Definition: Constructivism is a learning theory that posits learners construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
Cooperative Learning
Definition: Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy where small groups of students work together on a common task.
Differentiated Instruction
Definition: Differentiated instruction is a teaching approach that tailors instruction to meet individual needs.
Digital Literacy
Definition: Digital literacy encompasses the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to use technology effectively.
Direct Instruction
Definition: Countercultures are groups of people who attempt to challenge the prevailing cultural norms, assumptions, trends, or ideologies of a society.
Education for Sustainable Development
Definition: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an approach to education that emphasizes the importance of humans living in harmony with the earth.
Emergent Curriculum
Definition: Emergent curriculum is a way of planning curriculum based on the students’ interests and passions as well as the teachers’ guidance and provocation.
Experiential Learning
Definition: Experiential learning is a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting.
Explicit Instruction
Definition: Explicit instruction is a structured, clear, and direct approach to teaching that includes both instructional design and delivery procedures.
Flipped Classroom
Definition: A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy that reverses the traditional learning environment by delivering instructional content, often online, outside of the classroom.
Forest Schools
Definition: Forest schools are a type of outdoor education in which children visit forests/woodlands, learning personal, social, and technical skills.
Formative Assessment
Definition: Formative assessment is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures used by teachers during the learning process.
Game-Based Learning
Definition: Game-based learning involves the use of games to enhance the learning experience.
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Definition: This instructional model involves a shift from teacher-centered instruction to student-centered learning over a series of steps.
Growth Mindset
Definition: A growth mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work.
Guided Practice
Definition: Guided practice is an instructional strategy where a teacher leads students through a new skill or concept and gradually shifts the responsibility of learning to the students.
Guiding Questions
Definition: Guiding questions are open-ended, thought-provoking questions used by educators to prompt deeper inquiry, encourage discussion, and stimulate critical thinking.
Hidden Curriculum
Definition: The hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school.
High-Stakes Testing
Definition: High-stakes testing refers to tests that have significant consequences for the test-taker, such as graduation or grade promotion.
Higher-Order Thinking
Definition: Higher-order thinking involves the learning of complex judgmental skills such as critical thinking and problem solving.
Humanism in Education
Definition: Humanism in education is a philosophical perspective that emphasizes the personal worth of the individual and the importance of human values.
Independent Practice
Definition: Independent practice is an educational activity that students do on their own, allowing them to apply and reinforce what they have learned without immediate teacher guidance.
Informal Assessment
Definition: Informal Assessment is a less structured, ongoing method of evaluating a student’s learning progress, typically using observations and interactions rather than standardized tests.
Inquiry-Based Learning
Definition: Inquiry-Based Learning is a student-centered approach where learning begins with questions, problems, or scenarios, rather than presentations of established facts.
Instructional Strategies
Definition: Instructional Strategies are techniques teachers use to help students become independent, strategic learners.
Intrinsic Rewards
Definition: Intrinsic Rewards are internal, personal satisfactions derived from accomplishing a task or learning new skills, as opposed to external rewards like grades or prizes.
Kinesthetic Learning
Definition: Kinesthetic Learning is a learning style in which students learn best by physically engaging in activities, often through hands-on tasks and movement.
Learning Objectives
Definition: Learning Objectives are clear, concise statements that define what learners will be able to do or understand at the end of a lesson or course.
Learning Theories
Definition: Learning Theories are conceptual frameworks describing how students absorb, process, and retain knowledge during learning.
Lifelong Learning
Definition: Lifelong Learning is the continuous pursuit of personal and professional development throughout a person’s life.
Logical Consequences
Definition: Logical Consequences are responses or interventions that are directly related to and naturally result from a student’s behavior or action.
Mastery Learning
Definition: Mastery Learning is an instructional strategy where students must achieve a high level of understanding in a given topic before moving on to the next topic.
Microlearning
Definition: Microlearning is a method of delivering education in small, specific bursts, focusing on specific skills or knowledge areas.
Montessori Education
Definition: Montessori Education is an educational approach developed by Maria Montessori, emphasizing independent, self-directed learning, and hands-on, collaborative play.
More Knowledgeable Other
Definition: More Knowledgeable Other refers to someone with a higher level of understanding or ability relative to a learner, often aiding in the learning process.
Multiple Intelligences
Definition: Multiple Intelligences is a theory proposed by Howard Gardner, suggesting that intelligence is multidimensional and includes eight different ‘intelligence’ domains.
Neoliberalism in Education
Definition: Neoliberalism in Education refers to the application of free-market policies and practices to education, emphasizing competition, accountability, and privatization.
Observational Learning
Definition: Observational Learning is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others, as proposed by Albert Bandura.
Open-Ended Questioning
Definition: Open-Ended Questioning involves posing questions that require more elaborate answers and encourage students to think critically and express their thoughts.
Passive Learning
Definition: Passive Learning is a traditional form of instruction where students receive information from the teacher and internalize it, often through listening or reading without active engagement.
Pedagogy
Definition: Pedagogy is the art or science of teaching and educational methods.
Peer to Peer Learning
Definition: Peer to Peer Learning is an educational practice where students interact with other students to attain educational goals.
Performance-Based Learning
Definition: Performance-Based Learning requires students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in context, through activities or performances.
Phenomenon-Based Learning
Definition: Phenomenon-Based Learning is a multidisciplinary approach to teaching, where students explore real-world phenomena and learn across multiple subjects.
Phonics
Definition: Phonics is a method of teaching reading and writing by developing learners’ phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes—in order to teach the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns that represent them.
Place-Based Education
Definition: Place-Based Education is an approach to learning that takes advantage of geography to create authentic, meaningful, and engaging personalized learning for students.
Play Based Learning
Definition: Play Based Learning is an educational approach that uses play as the main method for learning, allowing children to explore, discover, negotiate, take risks, create meaning, and solve problems.
Positive Feedback
Definition: Positive Feedback is a response or information provided by an observer, teacher, or peer that affirms and supports correct behaviors and actions.
Prior Knowledge
Definition: Prior Knowledge refers to the information, understanding, skills, and attitudes that a learner already possesses before they are taught new content or skills.
Problem-Based Learning
Definition: Problem-Based Learning is a student-centered pedagogy where students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem.
Progressive Education
Definition: Progressive Education is a pedagogical movement that emphasizes hands-on, problem-based learning, critical thinking, and the development of a democratic society.
Reciprocal Teaching Method
Definition: The Reciprocal Teaching Method is an instructional activity where students become teachers in small group reading sessions, teaching each other using strategies like summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting.
Reflective Teaching
Definition: Reflective Teaching is an approach where educators critically examine their own practice, typically through self-observation and evaluation of their teaching strategies and their effects on student learning.
Reggio Emilia
Definition: Reggio Emilia is an educational philosophy and practice originating in Italy, focusing on preschool and primary education, characterized by self-directed experiential learning in a relationship-driven environment.
Remedial Education
Definition: Remedial Education involves additional teaching designed to help students who are struggling to meet standard educational benchmarks.
Rote Learning
Definition: Rote Learning is a memorization technique based on repetition, often without an understanding of the reasoning or relationships behind the information.
Scaffolding
Definition: Scaffolding is an instructional technique where a teacher adds support for students in order to enhance learning and aid in the mastery of tasks.
Service Learning
Definition: Service Learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs.
Situated Learning
Definition: Situated Learning is a theory that posits learning is inherently tied to the activity, context, and culture in which it occurs.
Sociocultural Theory
Definition: Sociocultural Theory is a theory of development that stresses the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition.
SOLO Taxonomy
Definition: The SOLO Taxonomy is a model that describes levels of increasing complexity in a learner’s understanding of subjects and is an alternative to Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Spiral Curriculum
Definition: The spiral curriculum is an educational approach where students repeatedly encounter the same topics throughout their school career, with each encounter increasing in complexity and reinforcing previous learning.
Stages of Play (Parten)
Definition: Mildred Parten proposed six stages of play that describe the progression of play behaviors from solitary play through cooperative play.
Standardized Testing
Definition: Standardized Testing involves administering tests, under standardized conditions, designed to measure a student’s academic knowledge, skills, abilities, or other attributes.
Steiner-Waldorf Education
Definition: Steiner-Waldorf is an educational philosophy based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, focusing on holistic and developmental-based approaches to learning.
Student-Centered Learning
Definition: Student-Centered Learning is a learning model that places the student (rather than the teacher) at the center of the learning process.
Summative Assessment
Definition: Summative Assessment is the evaluation of student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
Teachable Moment
Definition: A teachable moment is an unplanned opportunity that arises in the classroom where a teacher has a chance to offer insight to his or her students.
Teaching Philosophy
Definition: A teaching philosophy is a personal statement that describes an instructor’s beliefs about teaching and learning and provides a theoretical framework for their methods.
Teaching Styles
Definition: Teaching styles refers to the different methods and approaches teachers use based on their beliefs, education, and experiences.
Threshold Concepts
Definition: Threshold concepts are core ideas or principles in a discipline that, once understood, transform perception of the subject matter.
Token Economy
Definition: The token economy is a behavioral modification system that utilizes tokens as a form of currency for positive behaviors, which can be exchanged for desired items or privileges.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Definition: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that accommodates individual learning differences and provides opportunities for all students to succeed.
Unstructured Play
Definition: Unstructured play is spontaneous and creative play without predefined rules or goals, allowing children to use their imagination and explore at their own pace.
Visual Learning
Definition: Visual learning is a proposed learning style in which ideas, concepts, data, and other information are associated with images and techniques.
Whole Class Rewards
Definition: Whole class rewards are incentives given to an entire class for achieving a goal or exhibiting desired behaviors. It has both benefits and limitations, discussed in our guide linked below.
Zone of Proximal Development
Definition: The Zone of Proximal Development is a concept developed by Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, referring to the difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.
