I'll try to answer your question without being to lengthy:
The overall reaction order for an elementary(!) reaction is equal to the sum of the coefficients of the reactants. Some examples:
2 H
H
2 has a reaction order of 2
H + Cl
HCl has a reaction order of 2 (1 + 1)
aA + bB
A
aB
b has a reaction order of (a +b)
You can also talk about the reaction order of a specific reactant in a reaction. This is equal to the coefficient of that particular reactant.
H + Cl
HCl has a reaction order of one with respect to H
An elementary reaction is a simple reaction, where the whole reaction takes place in one step. Generally, the overall reaction order of an elementary reaction is no higher than two. But how do you know that a reaction is an elementary one? Well, you often can't say by simply looking at the reaction formula.
Most reactions are complex, and complex reaction can be divided into elementary steps. Complex reactions does not have to have to reaction orders implied by the stoichiometry. I simply assumed that the reaction of Hydrogen Peroxide was elementary, which may be completely wrong. Reactions can be described by reaction paths, which is the way the reaction is assumed to happen (for H
2O
2, it could be that one molecule dissociate to water and an oxygen atom, and that two oxygen atoms then form an oxygen molecule, or it could be that two H
2O
2 molecules collide, and form the products.) When you have an assumed reaction path, you can work out what order of reaction of the reactants that path would lead to. You can then compare to measured results (you can for example plot the rate of the reaction to the concentration of the reactant) to those that you predicted, and see if they fits.
You can do this because for a reaction, complex ones too, the reaction order of a reactant corresponds to the relationship between the concentration of that reactant and the rate of reaction.
So to sum it up: A zero order reaction with respect to a reactant is one where the concentration of the reactant doesn't matter, a first order is where the concentration is proportional to the rate of reaction and a second order is one where the relationship between rate of reaction and concentration is rate=constant * concentration
2.
If you want a more substantial knowledge of reaction orders etc you should find a general chemistry textbook at a library or search the net.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_rate for example