PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

Introduction

The learning of our students is our foremost concern. How To do we define learning?
Learning is the acquisition of a knowledge-base used with fluency to make sense of the
world, solve problems and make decisions.

Let us break the long definition for analysis. The key words are: 1) acquisition of a
knowledge-base, 2) fluency, and 3) make sense of the world, 4) solve problems and 5)
make decisions. The definition implies that learning begins with knowledge acquisition.
This knowledge learned must be used with ease or fluency because it has been
mastered. This knowledge is applied in problem solving, in decision-making and in
making meaning of this world. Knowledge that is just acquired without being utilized is
what American philosopher North Whitehead referred to as "inert ideas". These are
"ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilised, or tested, or thrown
into fresh combinations."

Principles of Learning

By knowing some principles on how learning takes place, we will be guided on how to
teach. Below are some principles of learning from Horne and Pine (1990):

1. Learning is an experience which occurs inside the learner and is activated by

the learner. The process of learning is primarily controlled by the learner and not by the
teacher (group leader)... Learning is not only a function of what a teacher does to, or
says to, or provides for a learner. More significantly, learning has to do with something
which happens in the unique world of the learner. It flourishes in a situation in which
teaching is seen as a facilitating process that assists people to explore and discover the
personal meaning of events for them.

Then it must be wise to engage the learners in an activity that is connected to

their life experiences. It is unwise to impose learning on our students. No amount of
imposition can cause student learning.

2. Learning is the discovery of the personal meaning and relevance of ideas.

Students more readily internalize and implement concepts and ideas which are relevant
to their needs and problems. Learning is a process which requires the exploration of
ideas in relation to self and community so that people can determine what their needs
are, what goals they would like to formulate, what issues they would like to discuss and
what content they would like to learn. Within broad programmatic boundaries, what is
relevant and meaningful is decided by the learner, and must be discovered by the
learner.

It is necessary that teacher relates lessons to the needs, interests and problems of the
learners.

3. Learning (behavioral change) is a consequence of experience.

People become responsible when they have really assumed responsibility, they
become independent when they have experienced independent behavior: they become
able when they have experienced success; they begin to feel important when they are
important to someone tells somebody; they feel liked when someone likes them. People
do not change their behavior merely because them to do so or tells them how to
change. For effective learning, giving information is not enough, e.g.. people become
responsible and independent not from having other people tell them that they should be
responsible and independent but from having experienced authentic responsibility and
independence.

If experience is the best teacher, then a teacher should make use of experiential
learning. Experiential learning makes use of direct as well as vicarious experiences. We
don't have to experience everything in order to learn. We learn from other people's
experiences, too, good as well as not so good experiences.

4. Learning is a cooperative and collaborative process. Cooperation fosters

learning. "Two heads are better than one." People enjoy functioning interdependently
but they also enjoy functioning interdependently. The interactive process appears to
"scratch and kick" people's curiosity, potential, and creativity. Many times you are
reminded of something because of what you hear from the group.

Cooperative approaches are enabling. Through such approaches people learn to define
goals, to plan to interact and to try group arrangements in problem solving.
Paradoxically, as people invest themselves in collaborative group approaches they
develop a firmer sense of their own identification. They begin to realize that they count,
that they have something to give and to learn. Problems which are identified and
delineated through cooperative interaction appear to challenge and to stretch people to
produce creative solutions and to become more creative individuals.

5. Learning is an evolutionary process. Behavioral change requires time and

patience... Implicit in all the principles and conditions for learning is an evolutionary
model of learning. Learning situations characterized by free and open communication,
confrontation. acceptance, respect, the right to make mistakes, self-revelation,
cooperation and collaboration, ambiguity shared evaluation, active and personal
involvement, freedom from threat, and trust in the self are evolutionary in nature.

Change takes time. Let us not expect results overnight. Rome was not built in
one day. Then as teachers and learners, let us learn to be patient. Things that are
Iworthwhile in life take time.

6. Learning is sometimes a painful process. Behavioral change often calls for giving
up the old and comfortable ways of believing, thinking, and valuing. It is not easy to
discard familiar ways of doing things and incorporate new behavior. It is often
"downright" uncomfortable to share one's self openly, to put one's ideas under the
microscope of a group, and to genuinely confront other people. If growth is to occur,
pain is often necessary. However, the pain of breaking away from the old and the
comfortable is usually followed by appreciation and pleasure in the discovery of an
evolving idea of a changing self.

It may be good to make our students realize that learning is a difficult task. It is
accompanied by sacrifice, inconvenience and discomfort. But it leads to inner joy.

7. One of the richest resources for learning is the learner himself. In a day and age
when so much emphasis is being placed upon instructional media, books and speakers
as resources for learning, we tend to overlook perhaps the richest source of all the
learner himself. Each individual has an accumulation of experiences, ideas, feelings
and attitudes which comprise a rich vein of material for problem solving and learning. All
too often this vein is barely tapped. Situations which enable people to become open to
themselves, to draw upon their personal collection of data, and to share their data in
cooperative interaction with others maximize learning.

As a teacher, you must draw these learners' ideas, feelings and experiences. You
midwife the birth of ideas.

8. The process of learning is emotional as well as intellectual. Learning is affected

by the total state of the individual. People are feeling beings as well as thinking beings
and when their feelings and thoughts are in harmony, learning is maximized. To create
the optimal conditions in a group for learning to occur, people must come before
purpose. Regardless of the purpose of a group, it cannot be effectively accomplished
when other things get in the way. If the purpose of the group is to design and carry out
some tasks, it will not be optimally achieved if people in the group are fighting and
working against each other.
 If the purpose of the group is to discuss current issues and problems in a given
field with reason and honesty, then it will not be achieved if people are afraid to
communicate openly. Barriers to communication exist in people and before we conduct
"official business." we need to work with the people problems that may exist in a group.
It might be said that in any group, regardless of the people problems which exist,
enough group intellectual capacity remains intact for members of the group to acquire
information and skills. However, to maximize the acquisition and internalization of ideas
it seems reasonable that the people problems would have to be dealt with first.

9. The process of problem solving and learning is highly unique and individual.
Each person has his own unique styles of learning and solving problems. Some
personal styles of learning and problem solving are highly effective, other styles are not
as effective, and still others may be ineffective. We need to assist people to define and
to make explicit to themselves the approaches they ordinarily use so that they can
become more effective in problem solving and learning. As people become more aware
of how they learn and solve problems and become exposed to alternative models used
by other people, they can refine and modify their personal styles so that these can be
employed more effectively. (Source: Gerald J. Pine and Peter J. Horne, (1990).

It pays to allow students to learn in accordance with their unique learning styles and
multiple intelligences.

Laws of Learning

It is worth including other principles / laws of learning by Thorndike (1932). Give

the teaching implications of the following laws of Thorndike:

Law of Effect

● Learning is strengthened when accompanied by a pleasant. or satisfying feeling.

● Learning is weakened when associated with an unpleasant feeling.

● Learning takes places properly when it results in satisfaction and the learner
derives pleasure out of it.
Law of Exercise

● Things most often repeated are best remembered.

● Students do not learn complex tasks in a single session.

Law of Readiness

Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally
ready to learn, and they do not learn well if they see no reason for learning.

Additional Laws (Principles)

Law of Primacy

● Things learned first create a strong impression.

● What is taught must be right the first time.

Law of Recency

Things most recently learned are best remembered.

Law of Intensity

The more intense the material taught, the more it is likely learned.

Law of Freedom

● Things freely learned are best learned.

● The greater the freedom enjoyed by the students in the class, the greater is the
intellectual and moral advancement enjoyed by them.
Summary

We teach effectively when we consider how learning takes place as stated in the
following principles of learning.

 Only the learner can learn for himself. It is wise to make him/ her do the learning
activity himself/herself.

 Learning is discovering the meaning and relevance of ideas. Let's relate what we
teach to the life experiences and needs of the learners.

 Learning (behavioral change) comes as result of experience. Let us make

learners go through the experience of learning, if feasible. If not, learning from
other people's experiences as of the learners recorded in history will suffice.

 Cooperative and collaborative learning are enabling. Let us use more

collaborative and cooperative approaches in the classroom.

 Learning does not take place overnight. Like the process of evolution, it is
gradual. Let us be patient. Learning takes time.

 Learning poses inconvenience, discomfort, giving up our old ways of thinking and
doing things because something new is far better.

 Very much forgotten is the fact that the learner is one of the richest resources of
learning. Consult him/her.

 Learning is not only a cerebral process. It is not only thinking but also feeling. It
involves the heart. In fact, learning takes place best when our hearts are stricken.

 No two individuals learn in the same way. Each person has a unique way of
learning. Let us not impose our way of learning on others. Let us give
considerations to multiple intelligence and varied learning styles.

Thorndike's laws/ principles of learning are still relevant. The primary laws
include 1) the law of exercise, 2) the law of effect and 3) the law of readiness. Other
laws are the: 1) law of primacy, 2) law of recency, 3) law of intensity and the 4) law of
freedom.
ACTIVITY OUTPUT

1. Illustrate each principle with a pictograph or images.

2. You may draw it or from electronic sources.
3. Place the principle above the illustration.
4. Submit online.