Glossary

Alternative Assessment: any form of assessment that requires students to produce a response rather than select from a list of possible responses

Cognitive Apprenticeship: learning through guidance in social activities that extend one’s skill and understanding of cultural tools

Discourse: oral or written interaction of people in face-to-face settings, through asynchronous correspondence (such as letters or email), or in virtual settings (as in on-line communities).

Domain Knowledge: knowledge that people have about particular areas of study or activity. It is differentiated from general knowledge, which is broad knowledge that transcends specific domains.

Knowledge Construction: a process in which students must actively try to make sense of information and the world around them by seeking meaningful relationships and connections between their prior knowledge and understanding and new knowledge

Learning Communities: a progressive approach to education that seeks to break down barriers that isolate classrooms and schools from interaction with the wider community. It also seeks to create an environment where authentic instruction produces both learning and valued product and a culture of learning is nurtured.

Metacognition: knowledge about cognition, or concerning one's own cognitive processes

Metamemory: knowledge about one’s own memory

Procedural Knowledge: knowledge about how to do things that is implicit, meaning that we are not consciously aware of it and we usually cannot report or describe it

Social Knowledge Construction: a process of bringing knowledge and ideas of individuals to contribute to a broader understanding among a group of people.

Self-Efficacy: beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.” (Bandura. A. 1997, p. 2, cited in Pajares, 1996, p. 544.)

Self-Regulated Learning: an approach to learning involving goal setting, strategy use, self-monitoring, and self-adjustment to acquire a skill, such as improved vocabulary.” (Zimmerman, B. J., Bonner, S., and Kovach, R. 1996, p. 141.)

Self-Regulation: self-regulated thoughts, feeling, and actions that are directed toward attainment of one’s education goals.” (Zimmerman, B. J., Bonner, S., and Kovach, R. 1996, p. 141.) The construct of self-regulation refers to the degree that individuals are metacognitively, motivationally and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process. (Zimmerman, 1994, p. 3.)

Strategies: organizational approaches to problem-solving in a given domain