FACTORS INFLUENCING LEARNING
INTRODUCTION
Learning
is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing existing, knowledge, behaviours,
skills, values, or preferences which may lead to a potential change in
synthesizing information, depth of the knowledge, attitude or behaviour
relative to the type and range of experience. The ability to learn is possessed
by humans, animals, plants[2] and some machines. Progress over time tends to
follow a learning curve. Learning does not happen all at once, but it builds
upon and is shaped by previous knowledge. To that end, learning may be viewed
as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge.
Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are
relatively permanent.
Human
learning may occur as part of education, personal development, schooling, or
training. It may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. The study of
how learning occurs is part of educational psychology, neuropsychology,
learning theory, and pedagogy. Learning may occur as a result of habituation or
classical conditioning, seen in many animal species, or as a result of more
complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals.
Learning may occur consciously or without conscious awareness. Learning that an
aversive event can't be avoided nor escaped is called learned helplessness.
There is evidence for human behaviourallearning prenatally, in which
habituation has been observed as early as 32 weeks into gestation, indicating
that the central nervous system is sufficiently developed and primed for
learning and memory to occur very early on in development.
Play
has been approached by several theorists as the first form of learning.
Children experiment with the world, learn the rules, and learn to interact
through play. Lev Vygotsky agrees that play is pivotal for children's
development, since they make meaning of their environment through playing
educational games.
FACTORS INFLUENCING LEARNING
There
are several internal factors that influence learning. They are,
Goals
or purposes: Each and everyone have a goal. A goal should be set to each pupil
according to the standard expected to him. A goal is an aim or desired result.
There are 2 types of goals called immediate and distant goals. A goal that
occurs or is done at once is called an immediate goal, and distant goals are
those that take time to achieve. Immediate goals should be set before the young
learner and distant goals for older learners. Goals should be specific and
clear, so that learners understand.
Motivational behaviour: Motivation means to
provide with a motive. Motivation learners should be motivated so that they
stimulate themselves with interest. This behaviour arouses and regulates the
student's internal energies.
Interest: This is a quality that arouses a
feeling. It encourages a student to move over tasks further. During teaching,
the instructor must raise interests among students for the best learning.
Interest is an apparent behaviour.
Attention: Attention means consideration.
It is concentration or focusing of consciousness upon one object or an idea. If
effective learning should take place attention is essential. Instructors must
secure the attention of the student.
Drill or practice: This method includes repeating
the tasks "n" number of times like needs, phrases, principles, etc.
This makes learning more effective.
CONCLUSION
Learning
is the process of acquiring the skills knowledge. That is, the ability to
acquire meaning from effective learning sources. For an adult who is a fairly
good reader, learning seems like a simple, effortless and automatic skill but
the process builds on cognitive, linguistic, and social skills development in
learners.
