The words behind AI and STEAM, explained properly.
31 terms written for parents, teachers and principals. No jargon defended with more jargon.
Quick answer
This glossary defines the 31 terms schools meet most often when starting an AI or STEAM programme, from machine learning and prompt engineering to rubrics and student data privacy. Each entry gives a one-sentence definition, the context behind it, and how the idea appears in a NASCA classroom.
Entries are grouped into AI, Curriculum, Robotics, Assessment, and Data and Safety. Every term links to the NASCA programmes where students meet it.
AI
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is software that learns patterns from data and uses them to make predictions or generate new content, instead of following rules a person wrote by hand.
Read the definitionMachine learning
Machine learning is the part of AI where a model improves at a task by being shown labelled examples, rather than by being programmed with explicit rules.
Read the definitionGenerative AI
Generative AI produces new text, images, audio or code by predicting what should come next, based on patterns learned from very large amounts of training data.
Read the definitionHallucination
A hallucination is when a generative AI states something false as though it were fact, usually because the model is predicting plausible language rather than retrieving verified information.
Read the definitionPrompt engineering
Prompt engineering is the practice of writing instructions that get a reliable, specific result from an AI model, using context, constraints, examples and a clear description of the output you want.
Read the definitionAI literacy
AI literacy is the ability to recognise where AI is being used, understand roughly how it works, judge its output, and decide when using it is appropriate.
Read the definitionTraining data
Training data is the collection of examples a model learns from. Its size, balance and quality set the ceiling on how well the finished model can perform.
Read the definitionModel bias
Model bias is a systematic error that makes an AI system perform worse for some groups than others, usually because the training data under-represented them.
Read the definitionAI ethics
AI ethics is the study of how automated systems should be built and used: who benefits, who is affected, what is disclosed, and who is accountable when the system is wrong.
Read the definitionQuantum computing
Quantum computing uses quantum bits, which can hold combinations of states, to attack a narrow class of problems that conventional computers find impractically slow.
Read the definitionCurriculum
STEAM education
STEAM education teaches science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics as one connected practice, usually through projects where students design, build and test something real.
Read the definitionComputational thinking
Computational thinking is a problem-solving approach built on four moves: break a problem down, spot the patterns, ignore what does not matter, and write a repeatable procedure.
Read the definitionDesign thinking
Design thinking is a structured way to solve problems for real people: understand them, define the problem sharply, generate options, build a rough prototype and test it with users.
Read the definitionProject-based learning
Project-based learning organises teaching around an extended, real task that students complete and present, with content taught at the point it is needed.
Read the definitionCapstone project
A capstone project is a substantial final piece of work where a student applies everything learned across a programme to one problem of their own choosing.
Read the definitionCoding
Coding is writing instructions a computer can execute, typically starting with block-based tools in primary school and moving to text languages such as Python by middle school.
Read the definitionPython
Python is a general-purpose programming language with readable syntax and the largest ecosystem of data science and AI libraries, which makes it the standard first text language in schools.
Read the definitionApp development
App development is building software people can actually use, covering interface design, logic, data storage and the testing that happens before anyone else touches it.
Read the definitionData science
Data science is the practice of turning raw data into decisions, through cleaning, analysis, visualisation and a clear account of what the numbers do and do not support.
Read the definitionRobotics
Robotics
Robotics is the design and programming of machines that sense their environment, decide what to do and act on it, combining mechanics, electronics and code.
Read the definitionSensors and actuators
Sensors convert something physical, such as light or distance, into data a computer can read. Actuators do the reverse, turning a computer's decision into movement or output.
Read the definitionInternet of Things
The Internet of Things is a network of everyday devices fitted with sensors and connectivity, so they can report data and be controlled remotely.
Read the definitionMechatronics
Mechatronics is the engineering discipline that combines mechanical design, electronics, control systems and software into a single working machine.
Read the definitionElectronics
Electronics is the study of circuits that control the flow of electricity, covering components, measurement and the safe design of working boards.
Read the definitionAssessment
Portfolio assessment
Portfolio assessment judges a student on a curated body of real work produced over time, rather than on a single timed examination.
Read the definitionRubric
A rubric is a published table that sets out what is being assessed and what each level of performance looks like, so students and teachers judge work against the same standard.
Read the definitionFormative assessment
Formative assessment is low-stakes checking during learning, used to adjust teaching while there is still time to act, as opposed to summative assessment which reports at the end.
Read the definitionWSF accreditation
World STEM Federation accreditation is external recognition that a STEM programme's curriculum, delivery and assessment meet a published international standard.
Read the definitionData & Safety
Cyber security
Cyber security is the practice of protecting systems, devices and data from unauthorised access, covering both technical controls and the human habits that defeat them.
Read the definitionStudent data privacy
Student data privacy covers how a school and its partners collect, store, share and delete information about children, under frameworks such as India's DPDP Act, the GDPR and FERPA.
Read the definitionBlockchain
A blockchain is a shared record of transactions, copied across many computers and chained together cryptographically so that earlier entries cannot be altered unnoticed.
Read the definition