AAER-Word of the Day

Behaviors that challenge authority and leadership to test the limits of group

commitments.

Reinforcement that occurs only in the presence of a particular

stimulus in order for the subject to discriminate the occasions when a reward will occur and when it will not.

The organization of knowledge around fundamental themes and principles rather than discrete facts.

A variety of teaching methods that make explicit to learners at the outset of a lesson the academic competencies, strategies, generalizations, or procedures to be taught.

A period of development during which a person’s physical, mental, or psychological functioning is different from the periods preceding and following it.

The variable that is the presumed effect of an independent variable.

A theory of motivation that posits that humans have an innate hierarchy of needs that drives all activity.

A theory that holds that information dissolves or dissipates from our working memory unless it is rehearsed.

The goal of designing instruction to incorporate relevant features of the learners’ culture.

A numerical index on a −1.0 to +1.0 scale that indicates the degree to which two sets of scores are related.

A teaching method that uses heterogeneous groups of learners who are responsible for one another’s learning with respect to a common goal.

Reinforcement of every occurrence of a behavior.

An approach to learning in which learners are provided the opportunity to

construct their own sense of what is being learned by building internal connections or relationships among the ideas and facts being taught.

Communication that uses statements that are directed at a learner’s actions, that reflect an accurate or honest evaluation of learner performance, that help learners believe in themselves and their own abilities, and that attribute learner achievement to internal rather than external factors.

In classical conditioning, a response that is elicited by some previously neutral stimulus; occurs by pairing the neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.