Learning Process

Question 1

What is the definition of the term ‘learning theory’?

Answer 1

Learning theory is a body of principles used to explain how people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes.

Question 2

What is the definition of learning?

Answer 2

Learning can be defined as a change in a learners behavior as the result of an experience.

Question 3

What are two major learning theories?

Answer 3

1. Behaviorism - Stresses the importance of reinforcing desired behaviors by someone other than the student to shape or control what is learned.
2. Cognitive - Focuses on what is going on inside the student’s mind. More concerned with the process of cognition rather than stimulus and response.

Question 4

What is a perception?

Answer 4

Perceptions result when a person gives meaning to external stimuli or sensations from the five senses. All learning comes from perceptions.

Question 5

What factors affect perceptions?

Answer 5

1. Goals & Values - Every experience or sensation is colored by the individual’s own beliefs and value structures.
2. Self-Concept - A student’s self-image has a great influence on the perceptual process.
3. Time & Opportunity - Learning some things depends on other perceptions that have preceded that learning.
4. Element of Threat - Confronted with a threat, students tend to limit their attention to the threatening object or condition. Narrows the perceptual field.
5. Physical Organism - The ability to use ones senses to sense different stimulus.

Question 6

Define ‘insight’.

Answer 6

Insight involves the grouping of perceptions into meaningful wholes. It is the mental relating and grouping of associated perceptions.

Question 7

How can an instructor ensure that a student develops insight during flight training?

Answer 7

1. Help the student understand how each piece relates to other pieces.
2. Provide a secure, non-threatening training environment.
3. Help the student acquire and maintain a favorable self-concept.

Question 8

How does a student acquire knowledge?

Answer 8

1. Memorization
2. Understanding
3. Application

Question 9

How can an instructor help students in acquiring knowledge?

Answer 9

1. Ask students to recite or practice newly acquired knowledge.
2. Ask questions to probe the students’ understanding.
3. Present opportunities for students to apply what they know to solve problems.
4. Present students with problems to test their knowledge.
5. Demonstrate the benefits of understanding and being able to apply knowledge.
6. Introduce new topics as they support the objectives of the lesson, whenever possible.

Question 10

What are the laws of learning?

Answer 10

1. Readiness - Individuals need to be ‘ready’ to learn. If the student isn’t interested or lacks motivation, they will have a hard time learning.
2. Exercise - What a student learns is strengthened from practice and weakened from disuse.
3. Effect - Learning is strengthened when accompanied with pleasant emotions and weakened when accompanied with negative emotions.
4. Primacy - How it was taught the first time will be best remembered by the student.
5. Intensity - A vivid, dramatic, or exciting learning experience teaches more than a routine or boring experience.
6. Recency - Things most recently learned are best remembered.

Question 11

What are the three domains of learning?

Answer 11

1. Cognitive (thinking) - A grouping of levels of learning associated with mental activity.
2. Affective (feeling) - A grouping of levels of learning associated with a person’s attitudes, personal beliefs, and values.
3. Psychomotor (doing) - A grouping of levels of learning associated with physical skills.

Question 12

What are the four basic levels of learning?

Answer 12

1. Rote - The ability to repeat something back that was learned.
2. Understanding - To comprehend or grasp the nature or meaning of something.
3. Application - The act of putting something to use that has been learned and understood.
4. Correlation - Associating what has been learned, understood, and applied with previous or subsequent learning.

Question 13

What are the basic characteristics of learning?

Answer 13

1. Learning is Purposeful - Each student is a unique individual whose past experiences affects readiness to learn and understanding of the requirements involved.
2. Learning is a Result of an Experience - Learning is an individual process from personal experiences. Knowledge cannot be poured into the student’s head.
3. Learning is Multifaceted - Learning may include verbal elements, conceptual elements, perceptual elements, etc.
4. Learning is an Active Process - Students do not soak up knowledge like a sponge. For students to learn, they must react and respond.

Question 14

What are the three stages to acquiring skill knowledge?

Answer 14

1. Cognitive - Memorizing steps
2. Associative - Student begins to practice, and associate individual steps with likely outcomes.
3. Automatic Response Stage - As procedures become automatic, less attention is required to carry them out, so it is possible to do other things simultaneously.

Question 15

How does a student develop and become proficient at a skill?

Answer 15

Practice

Question 16

Why is it important for a flight instructor to always make certain that a student is aware of their progress?

Answer 16

It’s important for students to know when they are right and when they are wrong. Students should not be allowed to practice mistakes.

Question 17

What is a learning plateau?

Answer 17

A learning plateau is a learning phenomenon where progress appears to cease or slow down for a significant period of time before once again increasing.

Question 18

What are three types of practice?

Answer 18

1. Deliberate - Practice aimed at a particular goal. The student practices specific areas for improvement and receives specific feedback after practice.
2. Blocked - Practicing the same drill until the movement becomes automatic. Bad for long term performance.
3. Random - Mixing up the skills to be acquired throughout the practice session, which results in better retention.

Question 19

What is scenario-based training and what makes a good scenario?

Answer 19

SBT is a training method that uses a highly structured script of real-world experiences to address aviation training objectives in an operational environment. A good scenario has a clear set of objectives, is tailored to the needs of the student, and capitalizes on the nuances of the local environment.

Question 20

What are the characteristics of a good scenario?

Answer 20

A good scenario :

1. Is not a test
2. Will not have a single correct answer
3. Does not offer an obvious answer
4. Engages all three learning domains
5. Is interactive
6. Should not promote errors
7. Should promote situational awareness and opportunities for decision-making.

Question 21

What are two kinds of errors?

Answer 21

Slip - Occurs when a person plans to do one thing but then inadvertently does something else. Error of action.
Mistake - Occurs when a person plans to do the wrong thing and succeeds. Error of planning.

Question 22

What are several ways to reduce errors?

Answer 22

1. Learning & Practicing
2. Taking Time
3. Checking for Errors
4. Using Reminders
5. Developing Routines
6. Raising Awareness

Question 23

How can a student making errors be a valuable learning resource?

Answer 23

Students naturally make errors, which instructors can utilize to help students learn while being careful not to let the student practice doing the wrong thing. It is useful to ask the student why the error happened, and what could be done differently to prevent the error from happening again in the future.

Question 24

Define ‘Memory’.

Answer 24

The ability of people to encode, store, and retrieve information.

Question 25

What are the three types of memory?

Answer 25

1. Sensory Memory - Receives and processes input from the environment according to the individual’s pre-conceived concept of what is important.
2. Short-Term Memory - The part of the memory where information is stored briefly (30 seconds), after which it may rapidly fade or be put into long-term memory.
3. Long-Term Memory - Relatively permanent storage of unlimited information.

Question 26

The ability to retrieve knowledge from memory depends on what two things?

Answer 26

1. Frequency - How often the knowledge has been used in the past.
2. Recency - How recently the knowledge has been used.

Question 27

What are several threats to remembering what has been learned during training?

Answer 27

1. Lack of frequent usage in the past

2. Lack of understanding

Question 28

Why do students forget information?

Answer 28

1. Fading - A person forgets information that is not used
2. Interference - People forget because a certain experience has overshadowed it.
3. Repression or Suppresion
4. Retrieval Failure - ‘tip of tongue’

Question 29

What principles facilitate retention of learning or remembering?

Answer 29

1. Praise - Stimulates remembering
2. Association
3. Attitudes - Favorable attitudes aid retention
4. Senses - Learning with all senses is most effective.
5. Repetition

Question 30

What is meant by the term “transfer of learning”?

Answer 30

Transfer of learning is defined as the ability to apply knowledge or procedures learned in one context to new contexts.

Question 31

What are the two types of transfer of learning?

Answer 31

Positive - Occurs if learning of skill A helps to learn skill B
Negative - Occurs if the learning of skill A hinders the learning of skill B

Question 32

How can an instructor help students remember what they have learned?

Answer 32

The instructor should :

1. Discuss the difference between short-term memory and long-term memory.
2. Explain the effect of frequent and recent usage of knowledge on remembering and forgetting.
3. Explain the effect of depth of understanding on remembering and forgetting.
4. Encourage student use of mnemonic devices while studying.
5. Explain the benefits of studying at regularly spaced intervals, and the disadvantages of ‘cramming’.