PSYC*3800 Psychology and Education Condensed Final Exam Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering research methods, cognitive and social-emotional development, learning theories, motivation, and assessment from PSYC*3800 lecture notes.

Experimental design

A research design where the researcher manipulates an independent variable, randomly assigns participants, controls alternatives, and measures a dependent variable to support causal conclusions.

Quasi-experimental design

A design that compares existing groups or uses an intervention without true random assignment, often more feasible in schools but with weaker causal certainty.

Correlational design

Measures the direction and strength of a relationship between variables to predict association, though it cannot establish causation.

Ethnographic design

A qualitative approach where a researcher studies a group or culture in its natural setting through prolonged observation, interviews, and artifacts.

Longitudinal design

Studies the same participants over an extended period to examine stability and change; it establishes time order but is vulnerable to attrition.

Microgenetic design

Observes learners very frequently while a skill or concept is changing to reveal the process and strategies of development.

p-value

The probability of obtaining results at least this extreme if the null hypothesis were true; e.g., a small value like $p < .05$ is evidence against the null.

Teacher self-efficacy

A teacher's task- and context-specific belief that they can organize and carry out actions that promote learning, engagement, and management.

Mastery experience

The strongest source of teacher self-efficacy, consisting of successful teaching with accurate feedback.

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget's stage from birth to about $2$ years where knowledge develops through sensory and motor action, including object permanence.

Preoperational stage

Piaget's stage from about $2$ to $7$ years where symbolic thought expands but reasoning is intuitive, centered, irreversible, and egocentric.

Concrete operational stage

Piaget's stage from about $7$ to $11$ years where logical operations are possible with concrete objects, including understanding conservation and reversibility.

Formal operational stage

Piaget's stage from about $11$ to adulthood where abstract, systematic, hypothetical-deductive reasoning becomes possible.

Assimilation

Interpreting a new experience using an existing schema, such as calling a zebra a horse.

Accommodation (Piaget)

Changing or creating a schema when the old one does not fit, such as learning that zebras form a different category from horses.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The range between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance.

Scaffolding

Temporary, adjustable support from a teacher or more capable peer that is faded as competence increases.

Private speech

Audible self-talk used to guide attention, behaviour, and problem solving; a useful self-regulation tool.

Plasticity

The structural and functional change of the brain with experience, permitting learning throughout life.

Microsystem

The immediate settings and relationships a student directly experiences in Bronfenbrenner's theory, such as family and classroom.

Mesosystem

Connections among microsystems, such as parent-teacher communication or peer influences on school.

Exosystem

Settings a student does not directly enter but that affect them, such as a parent's workplace or school-board decisions.

Macrosystem

Broader cultural values, laws, economic conditions, and ideologies in Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.

Chronosystem

The dimension of time and change in Bronfenbrenner's theory, including life transitions, historical events, and policy changes.

Authoritative parenting

A style characterized by high warmth/responsiveness plus clear, reasonable control and explained expectations.

Authoritarian parenting

A style characterized by low warmth plus high, rigid control and obedience demands.

Preconventional level

Kohlberg's level where moral judgments centre on personal consequences, such as avoiding punishment or self-interest.

Conventional level

Kohlberg's level where moral judgments centre on social approval, maintaining relationships, and following laws to sustain society.

Identity diffusion

Marcia's status characterized by no meaningful exploration and no commitment regarding one's identity.

Foreclosure

Marcia's status where a commitment is made without prior exploration, often adopting family expectations.

Moratorium

An identity status involving active exploration without a stable commitment.

Identity achievement

An identity status involving commitment after meaningful exploration.

Self-concept

A multidimensional mental description of who one is, including academic, social, and physical competence.

Self-esteem

An evaluative judgment of personal worth or how positively one feels about oneself.

Instrumental aggression

Deliberate aggression used as a means to obtain a goal, object, or status rather than for the primary purpose of harm.

Relational aggression

Harm caused to relationships or social standing through exclusion, rumours, or manipulation.

Fluid intelligence

Reasoning and solving novel problems with minimal reliance on learned knowledge; tends to peak earlier in life.

Crystallized intelligence

Accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and culturally learned skills; often increases or remains stable longer with experience.

Standard Deviation (IQ)

A measure of score distance from the mean; for many IQ scales, $\text{mean} = 100$ and $SD = 15$.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

A coordinated, documented plan stating current strengths/needs, goals, services, and assessment methods for a student.

Accommodation (Special Education)

Changes how a student accesses learning or demonstrates the same expectations, such as providing extra time.

Curriculum modification

Changes what the student is expected to learn or the grade-level complexity of the curriculum.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

A prevention-oriented multi-tier system involving universal instruction, targeted small-group intervention, and intensive individualized support.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Proactive design for learner variability through multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression.

Classical conditioning

A process where a neutral stimulus becomes able to trigger an automatic response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally triggers that response.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

The formerly neutral cue that, after learning, triggers a conditioned response (e.g., the sight of a test paper paired with stress).

Positive reinforcement

A consequence that adds a desirable stimulus to increase the future probability of a behaviour.

Negative reinforcement

A consequence that removes an aversive stimulus to increase the future probability of a behaviour.

Response cost

A form of removal punishment in which a student loses a reinforcer already earned, such as a token or privilege.

Premack principle

The principle that a more preferred activity can reinforce a less preferred activity; e.g., 'After practice, you may play the game.'

Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA)

Identifying antecedents, behaviour, and consequences to infer the reason for a behaviour and teach a replacement.

Metacognition

Knowledge about cognition plus the regulation of cognition, including planning, selecting strategies, and monitoring understanding.

Means-ends analysis

A problem-solving strategy that compares the current state with the goal and chooses subgoals to reduce the largest difference.

Embodied cognition

The theory that thinking is influenced by bodily action, perception, and the environment.

Cognitive apprenticeship

Making expert processes visible through modelling, coaching, scaffolding, and authentic participation.

Shanker self-regulation

Understanding behaviour as a response to stress load and energy across biological, emotional, cognitive, social, and prosocial domains.

Zimmerman phase 1 - Forethought

The self-regulation phase involving task analysis, goal setting, and motivational beliefs like self-efficacy.

Zimmerman phase 2 - Performance

The self-regulation phase involving strategy use, attention focus, and self-monitoring during the task.

Zimmerman phase 3 - Self-reflection

The self-regulation phase involving self-evaluation, attribution of outcomes, and adaptive reactions to revise goals.

Sarah Ward 360 Thinking

A framework using future visualization (Get Ready-Do-Done) to externalize planning and task completion.

Reciprocal determinism

Bandura's concept that personal factors, behaviour, and the environment all influence one another.

Self-Determination Theory

A theory focusing on three basic needs: autonomy (choice), competence (effectiveness), and relatedness (connection).

Expectancy-value theory

The theory that motivation is high when students expect they can succeed and find value in the task.

Backward design

An instructional design process that moves from identifying desired results to determining evidence and then planning instruction.

Formative assessment

Assessment that occurs during learning to identify gaps and change the next teaching or learning action.

Summative assessment

Evaluation of achievement after a unit or course for reporting, grading, or certification.

Validity

The degree to which evidence supports the intended interpretation and use of scores based on alignment and consequences.

Reliability

The consistency of scores or measurements across time, forms, or items.