Achievement Test

 Test designed to evaluate mastery of a given body of material. Grades are generally based on achievement tests. The SAT (Stanford Achievement Tests) is an example of an achievement test. See also Aptitude Test


Aptitude Test

 Test designed to predict how well students are likely to perform in some subsequent educational setting. The most common examples of aptitude tests are teh SAT-I and the ACT, both of which attempt to forecast how well high school students will perform in college. See also Achievement Test.


Assessment

 1. Evaluation of student performance. 2. A component of the instructional environment that provides feedback which can be used to improve teaching and enhance learning. Assessment activities ought to help us improve the learning experience and validate what appears to be working successfully. Assessments activities are often categorized as "formative" or "summative".


Critical Thinking

 The art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it (Foundation for Critical Thinking).


Cronbach alpha

 Cronbach's alpha is a measure used to assess the reliability, or internal consistency, of a set of scale or test items. In other words, the reliability of any given measurement refers to the extent to which it is a consistent measure of a concept, and Cronbach's alpha is one way of measuring the strength of that consistency. See more here: Virginia stat Consulting or here (Wikipedia).


Epistemology

The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion (Wikipedia).


Knowledge

 That, which is discovered and used to change one's life or the life of others.


Learning

 The process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience (Kolb, Experiential Learning; Experience as the Source of Learning and Development).


Stereotype Threat

 The term refers to being at risk [given a specific set of contextual circumstances] of confirming a negative stereotype about one's social group as a self-characteristic [i.e., a personal trait]. For example, Let's say that you find yourself in a situation in which you realize that someone may have a steretotype about you [because of you physical appearance, gender or any other general characteristic of social group] and there is a part of you that is afraid that your [about to be undertaking] action and behavior will prove to that person that the stereotype is true. The concept was first introduced in seminal publication of Steele and Arsonson (1995) (see also ResearchGate link).


System Thinking

 A set of synergistic analytic skills used to improve the capability of identifying and understanding systems, predicting their behaviors, and devising modifications to them in order to produce desired effects (Arnold and Wade, 2015)