PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING

The expert instructor must have a working knowledge of the principles of educational psychology. Only the area that deals directly with the learning process will be discussed here.

First things first - what is a definition of learning? We all know that man learns from the day he is born until the day he dies. What happens to a person when he learns? What process does he go through? The individual, because of a learning experience , may change his way of thinking, feeling, doing, and seeing the world. So basically, learning is a change in behavior as the result of experience. This change, or learning, can be open to view and easy to see, or it can be in the mind or feeling and hard to see.

Psychologists say that certain things must exist within the individual for learning to take place. He must go through certain logical steps to learn. The characteristics of learning, learning concepts and generalizations, the “laws” of learning, factors that affect learning, and the transfer of learning will be briefly discussed. An outline of “Psychology’s Rules of Learning” are included for your future reference. You will increase your chances of creating an effective learning situation by reading these topics, thinking them out and applying them in a classroom situation.

Source: U.S. Navy