"LAW OF LEARNING"

WHAT IS LEARNING ?
Learning takes place when there is a change in a student's behavior. It may not be directly observable.
Learning is based on observation of behavior changes that result from a person's interaction with their
environment. An individual's learning may involve changes in any of three areas:
1.Manner of perceiving and thinking.
2.Physical behavior (motor skills).
3.Emotional reactions or attitudes.
Learning refers to any of these changes when they occur as a result of an experience. Thus, Learning
cannot be literally described but the conditions under which it occurs can be identified. The instructor
should understand these conditions and apply them when teaching.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS

Purposeful Process
Most people have definite ideas about what they want to achieve. They have goals or clear
objectives. Effective instructors seek ways to create new learning situations to meet the trainees'
goals. Motivation, the force that impels a person toward a goal, is the instructor's most effective tool
to encourage learning. This can be either weak or strong motivation depending on the situation.
Internal Experience
The instructor cannot learn for the trainee, nor can he or she pour predigested learning into the
trainee's head. The trainee can learn only from his or her own experiences. A person's knowledge
is a result of their experiences and manner of perceiving them and reacting to them. No two people
have exactly the same experiences. All learning stems from experience. For example, by repeated
drill, a trainee can learn to repeat a list of words or to recite the principles of leadership. However,
trainees can make the list an actual part of their lives only if the understand them well enough to
apply the ideas that they represent correctly in real situations.
Active Process
Since learning comes only through experience, the trainee must be actively involved in the
experience. This activity can take many forms. Learning is more than simply exposing a trainee to
an idea or a skill. Likewise, one cannot safely assume that trainees can apply what they know just
because they correctly quote a paragraph from a textbook. The trainee must become actively
involved in the learning situation, but just any kind of involving activity will not suffice. The trainee
must engage in the appropriate activity. Obviously, learning a physical skill requires experience in
performing that skill. The instructor should understand, however, that mental habits are always
learned through practice. Even attitudes are developed or modified as an individual reacts
emotionally to a stimulus.

Multidimensional
Learning is Multidimensional. Multidimensional develops new concept .In other words, it is possible
to learn other things while concentrating on or practicing the main subject. While practicing drill, the
trainees learn teamwork and cooperation. While learning dormitory arrangement, they learn
attention to details and following explicit instructions.
Individual Process
All trainees do not learn at the same rate. New instructors are likely to be discouraged when they
discover that a well-planned lesson does not enable them to teach all the trainees with equal
effectiveness. They soon recognize this as a natural and predictable problem because trainees
seldom learn at the same rate. Differences in rates of learning are based on differences in
intelligence, background, experience, interests, desire to learn, and countless other psychological,
emotional and physical factors. Instructors must recognize these differences in determining the
amount of subject matter to teach, the rate of which they will cover the material, and the
appropriate time to teach it. Once the slower trainees are identified, it is up to the instructor to bring
them up to the level of the rest of the flight. You must identify their weak areas, bring the areas to
their attention, and show them how to correct them. You may be fortunate and have some trainees
who excel. These trainees may be used to help others during their practice. This serves a twofold
purpose. The fast learning trainees are relieved from boredom and the slow learning trainees
receive the benefit of the peer's expertise.
Law of Learning

Edward L. Thorndike in the early 1900's postulated several "Law of Learning", that seemed ggenerally
applicable to the learning process. Since that time, other educational psychologists have found that the
learning process is indeed more complex than the "laws" identified. However, the "laws" do provide the
instructor with insight into the learning process that will assist in providing a rewarding experience to the
trainee.
The laws that follow are not necessarily started as Professor Thorndike first started them. Over the years,
they have been restarted and supplemented, but, in essence, they may be attributed to him. The first tree
are basic laws: The Law of Readiness, The Law of Exercise, and the most famous and still generally
accepted, The Law of Effect. The other three laws were added later as a result of experimental studies:
The Law of Primacy, The Law of Intensity, and Law of Recency.
LAW OF READINESS - Responses preceded by readiness are more satisfying than otherwise. This law
stresses the need for adequate motivation and preparation of the learner through building up the proper
background and fostering the proper mind set.
LAWOF EXERCISE - Practice makes perfect. This law has been more or less discredited. The present
concern is that this law operates only indirectly through the fact that practice permits the law of effect to
reinforce the correct responses .

LAW OF EFFECT - This law involves the emotional reaction of the learner. Learning will always be much
more effective when a feeling of satisfaction, pleasantness, or reward accompanies or is a result of the
learning process.
LAW OF PRIMACY - This law states that the state of being first, often creates a strong, almost
unshakeable impression. For the instructor, this means that what they teach the first time must be correct. If
a subject is incorrectly taught, it must be corrected. It is more difficult to un-teach a subject than to teach it
correctly the first time. For the trainees first learning experiences should be positive and functionally related
to training.
LAW OF INTENSITY

- The principle of intensity states that if the stimulus (experience) is real, the

more likely there is to be a change in behavior (learning). A vivid, dramatic or exciting learning experience
teaches more than a routine or boring experience. A trainee will learn more from the real thing than from a
substitute.
LAW OF RECENCY Things most likely learned are best remembered, while the things learned some time
ago are remembered with more difficulty.