1.1 Characteristics of the learning process

When asked to provide a definition of 'learning' teachers usually offer such responses as:

Knowing something you didn't know before.

Gaining knowledge and skills.

Acquiring information that you can use in new situations.

Benefiting from instruction.

Developing your intelligence.

There is a great deal of truth and value in all these suggested definitions. But how do educational psychologists define the phenomenon of learning? Some of the common definitions of learning from the field of educational psychology include the following:

1.1 Characteristics of the learning process

1.1 Characteristics of the learning process

There have been many and varied attempts to categorize examples of learning. The most obvious categories that appeal to common sense comprise:

Knowledge.

Skills.

Attitudes and values.

These three broad categories or domains have provided the basic framework for planning a wide variety of learning objectives within school curricula, as reflected in the vast literature on educational programming and curriculum design. Most schools would readily acknowledge their responsibility to facilitate learning in the three domains.
There are some other more detailed ways of analyzing learning that subdivide the three broad domains into specific categories of learning. For example, Gagne, Briggs and Wager (1992) developed a taxonomy using five (5) main categories of learning:

1.1 Characteristics of the learning process

Figure 1: Five (5) main categories of learning by Gagne, Briggs and Wager.

1.1 Characteristics of the learning process

The stages through which a learner progresses when acquiring new knowledge, skills, and attitudes can be summarized as follows:

Attention to task or to the content.

Acquisition of the knowledge or skills or attitudes.

Application:: Performing the processes slowly and somewhat laboriously, making frequent errors and needing

corrective feedback.

Fluency (automaticity):Performing the same process rapidly and accurately.

Maintenance:Constant practice through application and regular rehearsal and review ensure that the skill is

maintained over time.

Generalization:Student recognizes any situation or problem where the same information, skill or strategy can

be applied.

Adaptation:Fully mastering the concept and skill and modifying it to suit the changing demands of different

situations and new contexts.