Tag Archives: cognition/learning/understanding

Term of Art: Selective Attention

Posted on January 16, 2026 | Leave a comment

“selective attention: Picking out the most relevant cue among stimuli in the environment, and excluding the rest. It is well established that people do not pay attention to everything; for example, at a party an individual can focus on the voice of one person with whom he or she is conversing.

Yet while it is clear that people do filter out a great number of stimuli, it is not at all clear how this is done, nor what information is noted unconsciously. In an attempt to find out, psychologist have often used dichotic listening experiments (that is, two different messages are presented separately to each ear), roughly along the lines of the situation at a party.

If a child’s ‘attention’ problems are selective—that is, appearing only in certain subjects—it suggests that he or she is capable of paying attention when the subjects are comprehensible and meaningful.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Term of Art: Socializing Intelligence

Posted on January 9, 2026 | Leave a comment

“socializing intelligence: The expectation that students can be taught to think intelligently by developing ‘habits of mind’ to solve problems, not just to stockpile tidbits of knowledge.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

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Concepts in Sociology: Action Research

Posted on January 9, 2026 | Leave a comment

“action research: Conventional social science research is concerned to describe, analyze and explain phenomena. The role of the researcher is detached, in order to minimize disturbance of the phenomena under investigation. In action research, however, the research role is involved and interventionist, because research is joined with action in order to plan, implement and monitor change. Researchers become participants in planned policy initiatives and use their knowledge and research expertise to serve a client organization.”

Excerpted from: Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan S. Turner. Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Penguin, 2006.

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Term of Art: Saliency

Posted on December 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

“saliency: The relevance of an item or phenomenon to a task or activity. For example, the homework excitement that a teacher writes on the blackboard is highly salient to a student in the class, while the sounds of an activity out in the hallway are nonsalient. Problems with determining saliency (what is relevant or important to a particular task) are a significant issue in individuals with attention disorders.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Cultural Literacy: Stanford-Binet Scale

Posted on December 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

If you can use it, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Stanford-Binet Scale. As you probably know, this instrument purports to measure intelligence and rate it using an “Intelligence Quotient“–which gives us “IQ.” Over time, there have been questions (as well their should be) about the validity of this scale.

I can’t really comment on that. What I can tell you is that this is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. This is just the sparest of introductions to this high-stakes assessment, about which the late Steven Jay Gould (for which I thank him) had some things to say.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Term of Art: Self-Regulation

Posted on October 16, 2025 | Leave a comment

“self-regulation: The ability to regulate and monitor a person’s own actions and behavior. Problems with effective self-regulation are a primary struggle for students with attention and executive function problems.

Effective self-regulation depends on a complex interaction of thinking, feeling, and perception.

Problems with self-regulation may stem from many different sources. Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder typically have problems with self-regulation due to underlying brain processing difficulties with memory, attention, and executive function, particularly as these affect the ability to control impulses and restrain and monitor internal thoughts. Problems with self-regulation also may be caused by other psychological conditions, such as bipolar disorder, conduct disorders, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Development of more effective ways to self-regulate is part of an effective coaching and strategy development program for individuals with ADHD. In general, while self-regulation may be seen as an underlying brain function, it is also learned behavior. Therefore, it is possible to teach individuals how to change patterns of impulsive and reckless behavior.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Cultural Literacy: SAT

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the SAT. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and four comprehension questions. This document may be a bit crowded in this half-page formatting. But since this document (as just about everything here on Mark’s Text Terminal) is in Microsoft Word, you can adjust it to your students’ needs.

And, editorially, I must say once again that the editors of The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy have done a nice job with their modest but effective critique of the SAT in this reading. And I like their use of purportedly in the first sentence.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Term of Art: Socialization

Posted on August 22, 2025 | Leave a comment

“socialization: A process by which people learn to cooperate with others toward common goals, or at least to act appropriately when placed in contact with others.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

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Term of Art: Self Esteem

Posted on August 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

“self esteem: A particularly positive way of experiencing the self that involves emotional, evaluation, and thinking components.

Self-esteem is the ability to experience oneself as being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life, and of being worthy of happiness. By extension, it is confidence in the ability to learn, to make appropriate choices and decisions, and respond effectively to change, It also involves the experience that success, achievement, fulfillment, and happiness are right and natural.

While many things can make a person feel good temporarily, if self-esteem is not grounded in reality, it is not self-esteem.

If a teacher treats students with respect, avoids ridicule, deals fairly, and projects a benevolent conviction about every student’s potential, then that teacher is supporting both self-esteem and the process of learning and mastering challenges. On the other hand, if a teacher tries to nurture self-esteem by empty praise that bears no relationship to the students’ actual accomplishments, then self-esteem is undermined and so is academic achievement.

Research indicates that there is a significant relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement, and that if a student’s self-esteem can be improved, academic achievement tends to follow. Many factors influence self-esteem, including parents, teachers, and other adults, and biology and life experiences.

Many students with a learning disability experience low self-esteem due to years of academic failure. This is why it is especially important to build positive self-esteem by creating opportunities for success, giving sincere praise, and cultivating talents and strengths in individuals with learning disabilities.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Term of Art: Self-Efficacy

Posted on August 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

“self-efficacy: The belief that an individual can produce effects through personal effort. Like self-esteem, self-efficacy is important in setting and meeting goals for students of all ages.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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