The Steps in the Learning Process
Learning is a process and knowing the various aspects of learning helps the teacher in ensuring & making the learning effective.
- Need: Learning takes place as a result of response to some stimulation. Unless the individual has some unsatisfactory need or derive which causes him to act in an attempt to satisfy the need, no learning will take place. When the need of the learner is strong, the learner sets definite goals for achievement of his needs & this makes learning more concrete.
E.g. A student, who wants to score a good grade, starts working right from the beginning.
Need should be made by the teacher by creating interest. The teacher should also help the child in setting attainable goals for himself.
- Readiness: Every child is not ready to learn at a particular time. The child needs physical & mental maturity in order to learn. There should be mental & physical willingness to learn. We tend to pay less attention to this type of maturity. Many a time, we impose learning situations on a child before he is ready.
E.g. Public speaking cannot be taught to I std. child.
- Situation: Learning depends on the situation provided at school & at home. In school, the learning environment should be conducive or congenial. The teacher’s attitude should be encouraging & the teacher should use suitable teaching methods & techniques. The type of situation provided by the teacher contributes towards the speed & quality of learning. E.g. Special methods can be provided depending upon the age of the child. In K.G. classes, training is generally given by the play way method.
- Interaction: The child with is needs & goals learns to interact in a learning situation. Interaction is a process of responding to a situation and getting a feedback from it. Interaction may be in the form of observations, emotional reactions, verbal reactions or physical reactions. Teacher should find ways & means to involve the students in the learning activity / process.
- Exploration of the situation: Exploration is the way the learner explores / interprets the stimuli in the environment. The correct responses cannot be determined at once. They require to be thought over; i.e. the whole situation needs to be explored. After trial & error, the learner comes to the right solution.
- Perception: Perception is to give some meaning to what you are seeing. Sensing + Meaning = Perception. Each one perceives the environment differently. As a teacher, one wants the class to perceive uniformly, so the teacher should use visual aids, diagrams, etc. Because of the individual differences among the students, each student perceives whatever is taught, differently, so teacher should cater to the need of every individual.
- Response: Response is the actual outcome of the learner. It is the outcome of interaction, exploration & perception of the situation. He may give a trial by direct attack to overcome the barrier in his way.
- Reinforcement: If the response is successful in action, in satisfying the need, that response is reinforced and on subsequent occasions the individual will tend to repeat it.
- Integration: Learning implies the selection & organization of correct responses. The last step of the learning process consists in integrating the successful responses of the individual’s previous learning, so that it becomes part of a new functional whole.
