MODULE 1

NATURE
OF LEARNING
 LESSON 1

THE NATURE OF LEARNING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

After going through this lesson, the students are expected to:

1. give own definitions of learning;

2. explain learning as a process;

3. identify situations that may facilitate or hinder learning, and

4. explicate the uses of theory.

INTRODUCTION

Why it is important for educators to know what learning is? The quick and easy answer to

this question is because every time we teach, we are aspiring for students’ learning. In

order to optimize learning, knowing the motivations of learning and how individuals

learn is necessary. It is helpful in understanding something, to ask questions like a

reporter: when, where, why, who, and how. If we know these questions about a learner

we can affect the learning process they go through.

To effectively help our students learn, we should have enough knowledge what learning

is and how learning occurs. We need to know how learners acquire learning. Learners

acquire different types of learning and we, teachers, should tailor all possible
opportunities to help then acquire these. This part of the paper aims to help educators see

the nature of learning and to help learners acquire learning.

Definitions of Learning

Below are definitions of learning given by different authors and educators:

1. “A change in human disposition or capability that persists over a period of time and is
not simply ascribable to processes of growth.”
— From The Conditions of Learning by Robert Gagne

2. “Learning is the relatively permanent change in a person’s knowledge or behavior due

to experience. This definition has three components: 1) the duration of the change is
long-term rather than short-term; 2) the locus of the change is the content and
structure of knowledge in memory or the behavior of the learner; 3) the cause of the
change is the learner’s experience in the environment rather than fatigue, motivation,
drugs, physical condition or physiologic intervention.”
–From Learning in Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Richard E. Mayer

3. “We define learning as the transformative process of taking in information that—when

internalized and mixed with what we have experienced—changes what we know and
builds on what we do. It’s based on input, process, and reflection. It is what changes
us.”
–From The New Social Learning by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner

4. “It has been suggested that the term learning defies precise definition because it is put
to multiple uses. Learning is used to refer to (1) the acquisition and mastery of what is
already known about something, (2) the extension and clarification of meaning of
one’s experience, or (3) an organized, intentional process of testing ideas relevant to
problems. In other words, it is used to describe a product, a process, or a function.”
–From Learning How to Learn: Applied Theory for Adults by R.M. Smith

5. “Acquiring knowledge and skills and having them readily available from memory so
you can make sense of future problems and opportunities.”
 - From Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry
L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

6. “A process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increases
the potential of improved performance and future learning.”
- From How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching
by Susan Ambrose, et al.

7. “The process of gaining knowledge and expertise.”

- From The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles

8. “Learning involves strengthening correct responses and weakening incorrect

responses. Learning involves adding new information to your memory. Learning
involves making sense of the presented material by attending to relevant information,
mentally reorganizing it, and connecting it with what you already know.”
- From eLearning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth C. Clark and Richard E.
Mayer

9. “A persisting change in human performance or performance potential…[which] must

come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world.”
- From Psychology of Learning for Instruction by M. Driscoll

10. “Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core
elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as
actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a
database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections
that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.”
- From Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age by George Seimens

11. Learning is “a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result

of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future
learning” The change in the learner may happen at the level of knowledge,
attitude or behavior. As a result of learning, learners come to see concepts, ideas,
and/or the world differently. (Ambrose et al, 2010, p.3).

Other Definitions of Learning

(Source: Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, 2013)

1. Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge or skill through study, experience, or

teaching.

2. Learning is experience that brings about a relatively permanent change in behavior.

3. Learning is a change in neural function as a consequence of experience.

4. Learning is the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge.

5. Learning is an increase in the amount of response rules and concepts in the memory of
an intelligent system.

The Learning Process

(Source: IGI Global)

1. A process that people pass through to acquire new knowledge and skills and ultimately
influence their attitudes, decisions and actions.

2. Activities carried out to achieve educational objectives. They are carried out
individually, although this takes place in a cultural and social context, in which people
combine their new knowledge with their previous cognitive structures.

3. It is the process of in which an individual or group uses, adapts and reproduces

structures or appropriates the structures

4. A process that consists of several mental processes. It results in changed behavior.

5. This is the activities carried out by students to achieve educational objectives. They are
carried out individually, although this takes place in a cultural and social context, in
which students combine their new knowledge with their previous cognitive structures.

Learning As A Process
(Source: Dr. Elizabeth Suba)

Most learning theorists view learning as a process that mediates behavior. For
them, learning is something that occurs as the result of certain experiences and precedes
changes in behavior. In such a definition, learning is given the status of an intervening
variable. An intervening variable is a theoretical process that is assumed to take place
between the observed stimuli and responses.

The independent variables cause a change in the intervening variable (learning),

which, in turn, causes a change in the dependent variable (behavior). The situation can be
diagrammed as follows:

Independent Intervening Dependent

Variable Variable Variable

What Learning Is Not

Not all behavioral changes can be considered as learning. Those changes in behavior
that do not constitute learning are:

● changes caused by maturation or growth processes

● innate tendencies like reflexes, and
● temporary conditions caused by fatigue, drugs and diseases

In addition, changes produced by learning are not always positive in nature.

People learn bad habits and as well as good behavior. In fact, faulty learning is the major
cause of maladaptive or abnormal behavior according to the behaviorist model.

Characteristics of Learning

(Source: iEduNote)

Learning is the process by which one acquires, ingests, and stores or accepts
information. The main characteristic of learning is that it is a process of obtaining
knowledge to change human behavior through interaction, practice, and experience.
Our experiences with learned information compose our bodies of
knowledge. Learning is a process unique to each individual. Some learn quickly,
scanning the information and mastering the concept or skill seemingly effortlessly.
Others stumble while processing information, taking longer to grasp the concept of
requiring numerous exposures over a sustained time.
Characteristics of learning:
1. Learning involves change.
 It is a reconstruction, combined thinking, skill, information and appropriation in a
single unity process.
For example, when a child learns to read they can retain this knowledge and
behavior for the rest of their lives. It is not always reflected in performance. The change
from the learning may not be clear until a situation arises in which the new behavior can
occur.
2. All learning involves activities
These activities involve either physical or mental activity. They may be simple
mental activities of complex, involving various muscles, bones, etc.
So also the mental activities may be very simple involving one or two activities of
mind or complex which involve higher mental activities.
3. Learning Requires Interaction
At the time of learning, the individual is constantly interacting with and
influenced by the environment. This experience makes him change or modify his
behavior to deal effectively with it.
4. Constitute Learning
To constitute learning, the change should be permanent. Temporary changes may
be only reflective and fail to represent any learning.
5. Learning is a Lifelong Process
Learning is a lifelong process of gaining and using the information presented to a
person. It is not static.
A person never stops acquiring new information. It keeps a person’s mind active
and aware but also conscious of the world around them.
6. Learning Occurs Randomly Throughout Life
Some learning occurs randomly throughout life, from new experiences, gaining
information and from our, perceptions, for example: reading a newspaper or watching a
news broadcast, talking with a friend or colleague, chance meetings, and unexpected
experiences.

7. Learning Involves Problems Solving

Learning involves problem-solving i.e. understanding and discovering relations
between different contents in a situation.
8. Learning is the Process of Acquiring Information
Learning is the process of acquiring information, knowledge, wisdom, and skills.
It occurs as a result of interaction with the person’s environment.
9. Learning Involves far more than Thinking
Learning involves far more than thinking: it involves the whole personality –
senses, feelings, intuition, beliefs, values, and will.
If we do not have the will to learn, we cannot learn and if we have learned, we are
changed in some way. If the learning makes no difference it can have very little
significance.
10. Experience is Necessary for Learning
Some sort of experience is necessary for learning. We can get the experience from
direct observation or from formal approaches to learning such as training, mentoring,
coaching and teaching. We can get the experience from direct observation or from formal
approaches to learning such as training, mentoring, coaching and teaching.
Learning is more or less the acquisition of a new discourse, a new way of
speaking, acting, interacting, looking at the world, and knowing it. It will be successful
only when the information gained is used and understood.
It is a continuous process followed by an individual that allows for the acquisition
of information, attitudes, and practices, through observation, seeking previous
knowledge, searching out guides, and looking within as well as without. It is a key
process in human behavior.
If we compare the simple ways in which a child feels and behaves, with the
complex modes of adult behavior, his skills, habits, though, sentiments and the like we
will know what difference learning has made to the individual.

Types of Learning
(Source: Management Study Guide)

There are several ways of classifying learning. It could be based on the

psychological make-up of a person, the context or learning situation, the extent of
learning and others.

1. Motor Learning: Our day to day activities like walking, running, driving, etc, must be
learnt for ensuring a good life. These activities to a great extent involve muscular
coordination.
2. Verbal Learning: It is related with the language which we use to communicate and
various other forms of verbal communication such as symbols, words, languages,
sounds, figures and signs.
3. Concept Learning: This form of learning is associated with higher order cognitive
processes like intelligence, thinking, reasoning, etc, which we learn right from our
 childhood. Concept learning involves the processes of abstraction and generalization,
which is very useful for identifying or recognizing things.
4. Discrimination Learning: Learning which distinguishes between various stimuli with
its appropriate and different responses is regarded as discrimination stimuli.
5. Learning of Principles: Learning which is based on principles helps in managing the
work most effectively. Principles based learning explains the relationship between
various concepts.
6. Attitude Learning: Attitude shapes our behaviour to a very great extent, as our
positive or negative behaviour is based on our attitudinal predisposition.

Categories Based on Functioning

Learning is categorized depending on the three major facets of one’s functioning

i.e. cognitive (mental/perceptual), affective (social/emotional) and psychomotor
(physical/developmental).

1. Psychomotor - this type of learning starts at birth and continues throughout the
developmental stages. Maturation plays an important role because the learning of
psychomotor skills involves the use of muscles and glands.

2. Cognitive- this learning category gives emphasis on mental development. The

acquisition of knowledge and skills occur through mental processes.

3. Affective -this type of learning involves the heart and emotions as values and
attitudes are inculcated in the person. It leads to creativity learning, discovery and
appropriate expression of feelings. The internalization process comes in, putting into
practice what one has learned.

Some schools focus only on the psychomotor and cognitive aspects of learning, to
the neglect of this one important factor in the psychological make-up of a person, the
affective domain.

Factors that Affect Learning Process

(Source: Puja Mundal)
 Learning is either facilitated or hindered by several factors which may be intrinsic
or extrinsic to the individual learner. These factors that affect learning may be grouped
into three categories namely the learner, the teacher and the environment/culture.

Important Factors that May Affect the Learning Process

1. Intellectual factor:
The term refers to the individual mental level. Success in school is generally
closely related to level of the intellect. Pupils with low intelligence often encounter
serious difficulty in mastering schoolwork. Sometimes pupils do not learn because of
special intellectual disabilities.
A low score in one subject and his scores in other subjects indicate the possible
presence of a special deficiency. Psychology reveals to use that an individual possess
different kinds to intelligence. Knowledge of the nature of the pupil’s intellect is of
considerable value in the guidance and the diagnosis of disability.
The native capacity of the individual is of prime importance in determining the
effectiveness of the, learning process.
2. Learning factors:
Factors owing to lack of mastery of what has been taught, faulty methods of work
or study, and narrowness of experimental background may affect the learning process of
any pupil. If the school proceeds too rapidly and does not constantly check up on the
extent to which the pupil is mastering what is being taught, the pupil accumulates a
number of deficiencies that interfere with successful progress.
In arithmetic, for instance, knowledge of basic addition is essential to successful
work in multiplication. Weakness in addition will contribute directly to the deficiency in
multiplication. Likewise, failure in history may be due to low reading ability or weakness
in English.
Similarly, because of faulty instruction, the pupil may have learned inefficient
methods of study. Many other kinds of difficulty which are directly related to learning
factors may interfere with progress.
3. Physical factors:
Under this group are included such factors as health, physical development,
nutrition, visual and physical defects, and glandular abnormality. It is generally
recognized that ill health retards physical and motor development, and malnutrition
interferes with learning and physical growth.
Children suffering from visual, auditory, and other physical defects are seriously
handicapped in developing skills such as reading and spelling. It has been demonstrated
that various glands of internal secretion, such as the thyroid and pituitary glands, affect
behavior. The health of the learner will likely affect his ability to learn and his power to
concentrate.
4. Mental factors:
Attitude falls under mental factors attitudes are made up of organic and
kinesthetic elements. They are not to be confused with emotions that are characterized by
internal visceral disturbances. Attitudes are more or less of definite sort. They play a
large part in the mental organization and general behavior of the individual.
Attitudes are also important in the development of personality. Among these
attitudes aw interest, cheerfulness, affection, prejudice, -open mindedness, and loyalty.
Attitudes exercise a stimulating effect upon the rate of learning and teaching and upon the
progress in school.
The efficiency of the work from day to day and the rapidity with which it is
achieved are influenced by the attitude of the learner. A favorable mental attitude
facilitates learning. The factor of interest is very closely related in nature to that of
symbolic drive and reward.

5. Emotional and Social factors:

Personal factors, such as instincts and emotions, and social factors, such as
cooperation and rivalry, are directly related to a complex psychology of motivation. It is a
recognized fact that the various responses of the individual to various kinds of stimuli are
determined by a wide variety of tendencies.
Some of these innate tendencies are constructive and others are harmful. For some
reason a pupil may have developed a dislike for some subject because he may fail to see
its value, or may lack foundation. This dislike results in a bad emotional state.
Some pupils are in a continuing state of unhappiness because of their fear of being
victims of the disapproval of their teachers and classmates. This is an unwholesome
attitude and affects the learning process to a considerable degree. This is oftentimes the
result of bad training.
Social discontent springs from the knowledge or delusion that one is below others
in welfare.
6. Teacher’s Personality:
The teacher as an individual personality is an important element in the learning
environment or in the failures and success of the learner. The way in which his
personality interacts with the personalities of the pupils being taught helps to determine
the kind of behavior which emerges from the learning situation.
The supreme value of a teacher is not in the regular performance of routine duties,
but in his power to lead and to inspire his pupils through the influence of his moral
personality and example. Strictly speaking, personality is made up of all the factors that
make the individual what he is, the complex pattern of characteristics that distinguishes
him from the others of his kind. Personality is the product of many integrating forces.
In other words, an individual’s personality is a composite of his physical
appearance, his mental capacity, his emotional behavior, and his attitudes towards others.
Effective teaching and learning are the results of an integrated personality of the teacher.
Generally speaking, pupils do- not like a grouchy teacher who cannot control his
temper before the class. It is impossible for a teacher with a temper to create enthusiasm
and to radiate light and sunshine to those about him.
Pupils love a happy, sympathetic, enthusiastic, and cheerful teacher. Effective
teaching and learning are the results of love for the pupils, sympathy for their interests,
tolerance, and a definite capacity for understanding.
The teacher must therefore recognize that in all his activities in the classroom he
is directly affecting the behavior of the growing and learning organism.
7. Environmental factor:
Physical conditions needed for learning is under environmental factor. One of the
factors that affect the efficiency of learning is the condition in which learning takes place.
This includes the classrooms, textbooks, equipment, school supplies, and other
instructional materials.
In the school and at the home, the conditions for learning must be favorable and
adequate if teaching is to produce the desired results. It cannot be denied that the type and
quality of instructional materials and equipment play an important part in the
instructional efficiency of the school.
It is difficult to do a good job of teaching in a poor type of building and without
adequate equipment and instructional materials. A school building or a classroom has no
merit when built without due regard to its educational objectives and functions.

Learning Theory

Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge
during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior
experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed
and knowledge and skills retained (Wikipedia).

Definition of Theory
 A theory is a principle or idea that explains or solves a problem. Theories
typically address a collection of issues. The theory of evolution, for example, is a general
theory that helps to explain where humans came from, the relationships between species,
and the changes in species over time (PsychPedia).

Theories explain observable events in a meaningful way. Theories are not as

specific as hypotheses, which are so specific that we use them to make predictions in
research. Theories are more general explanations about behaviour and events
(AlleyDog.com).

A theory is a coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena.

Although theories can take a variety of forms, one thing they have in common is that they
go beyond the phenomena they explain by including variables, structures, processes,
functions, or organizing principles that have not been observed directly (Smyth, 2002).

To evaluate the utility of a theory, we need to apply suitable criteria, asking

questions about theory so that we can understand its usefulness. Murray Sidman (1960)
identifies six such criteria; inclusiveness, consistency, accuracy, relevance, fruitfulness,
and simplicity (see table). Although some of the definitions and uses of these criteria
may overlap, each is an important indicator of how well a theory measures up.

Sidman’s Six Criteria for judging a Theory

Criterion Question

Inclusiveness How many different phenomena does the theory address?

Consistency How well can the theory explain new things without having its
basic assumption changed?

Accuracy How well can the theory predict future outcomes and explain past
ones?

Relevance How closely is the theory related to the information collected

within that theory? That is, how well does it reflect the pacts?

Fruitfulness How well does the theory generate new ideas and directions for
inquiry?

Simplicity How simple or unencumbered is the theory? That is, how easy is it
to understand?
 Tria et. al. (1998) defines a theory as a set of interrelated constructs, concepts
principles and hypotheses which attempt to explain, predict, or control a set of
phenomenon.
Within this view, a learning theory can be defined as a formulation of the
conditions and principles that lead to learning that would explain the nature of the
learning process. It involves systemized interpretations of observations about learning,
attempting to explain the “hows” and “whys” of learning. It presents, describes, explains,
or predicts conditions under which learning would or would not occur.

Each factor may facilitate or hinder learning. For each factor, think of situations which
may facilitate and hider learning.

REFERENCES

Books.

1. Domjan, M. (1993) The Principles of Learning and Behavior 3rd ed.,

California: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
2. Santrock, John W. (2001) Educational Psychology, New York: McGraw Hill,
New York.
3. Woolfolk, Anita, E, (1998) Educational Psychology. Massachusetts: Allyn and
Bacon.

On-line References

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