THE LEARNING PROCESS Retrieved from http://www.dynamicflight.com/avcfibook/learning_process/ Accessed February 1, 2011 To learn is to acquire knowledge or skill.

Learning also may involve a change in attitude or behavior. Children learn to identify objects at an early age; teenagers may learn to improve study habits; and adults can learn to solve complex problems. Pilots and aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs) need to acquire the higher levels of knowledge and skill, including the ability to exercise judgment and solve problems. The challenge for the aviation instructor is to understand how people learn, and more importantly, to be able to apply that knowledge to the learning environment. This handbook is designed as a basic guide to educational psychology. This chapter addresses that branch of psychology directly concerned with how people learn. Learning Theory Learning theory may be described as a body of principles advocated by psychologists and educators to explain how people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Various branches of learning theory are used in formal training programs to improve and accelerate the learning process. Key concepts such as desired learning outcomes, objectives of the training, and depth of training also apply. When properly integrated, learning principles, derived from theories, can be useful to aviation instructors and developers of instructional programs for both pilots and maintenance technicians. Over the years, many theories have attempted to explain how people learn. Even though psychologists and educators are not in complete agreement, most do agree that learning may be explained by a combination of two basic approaches: behaviorism and the cognitive theories. Behaviorism Behaviorists believe that animals, including humans, learn in about the same way. Behaviorism stresses the importance of having a particular form of behavior reinforced by someone, other than the student, to shape or control what is learned. In aviation training, the instructor provides the reinforcement. Frequent, positive reinforcement and rewards accelerate learning. This theory provides the instructor with ways to manipulate students with stimuli, induce the desired behavior or response, and reinforce the behavior with appropriate rewards. In general, the behaviorist theory emphasizes positive reinforcement rather than no reinforcement or punishment. Other features of behaviorism are considerably more complex than this simple explanation. Instructors who need more details should refer to psychology texts for a better understanding of behaviorism. As an instructor, it is important to keep in mind that behaviorism is still widely used today, because controlling learning experiences helps direct students toward specific learning outcomes. Cognitive Theory

Much of the recent psychological thinking and experimentation in education includes some facets of the cognitive theory. This is true in basic as well as more advanced training programs. Unlike behaviorism, the cognitive theory focuses on what is going on inside the student's mind. Learning is not just a change in behavior; it is a change in the way a student thinks, understands, or feels. There are several branches of cognitive theory. Two of the major theories may broadly be classified as the information processing model and the social interaction model. The first says that the student's brain has internal structures which select and process incoming material, store and retrieve it, use it to produce behavior, and receive and process feedback on the results. This involves a number of cognitive processes, including executive functions of recognizing expectancies, planning and monitoring performance, encoding and chunking information, and producing internal and external responses. The social interaction theories gained prominence in the 1980s. They stress that learning and subsequent changes in behavior take place as a result of interaction between the student and the environment. Behavior is modeled either by people or symbolically. Cultural influences, peer pressure, group dynamics, and film and television are some of the significant factors. Thus, the social environment to which the student is exposed demonstrates or models behaviors, and the student cognitively processes the observed behaviors and consequences. The cognitive processes include attention, retention, motor responses, and motivation. Techniques for learning include direct modeling and verbal instruction. Behavior, personal factors, and environmental events all work together to produce learning. Both models of the cognitive theory have common principles. For example, they both acknowledge the importance of reinforcing behavior and measuring changes. Positive reinforcement is important, particularly with cognitive concepts such as knowledge and understanding. The need to evaluate and measure behavior remains because it is the only way to get a clue about what the student understands. Evaluation is often limited to the kinds of knowledge or behavior that can be measured by a paper-and-pencil exam or a performance test. Although psychologists agree that there often are errors in evaluation, some means of measuring student knowledge, performance, and behavior is necessary. Combined Approach Both the behavioristic and the cognitive approaches are useful learning theories. A reasonable way to plan, manage, and conduct aviation training is to include the best features of each major theory. This provides a way to measure behavioral outcomes and promote cognitive learning. The combined approach is not simple, but neither is learning. Definition of Learning The ability to learn is one of the most outstanding human characteristics. Learning occurs continuously throughout a person's lifetime. To define learning, it is necessary to

analyze what happens to the individual. For example, an individual's way of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and doing may change as a result of a learning experience. Thus, learning can be defined as a change in behavior as a result of experience. This can be physical and overt, or it may involve complex intellectual or attitudinal changes which affect behavior in more subtle ways. In spite of numerous theories and contrasting views, psychologists generally agree on many common characteristics of learning. Retrieved from http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/221824/a-view-learning-process Accessed February 1, 2011

Breakthrough Education A view of the learning process By HENRY S. TENEDORO September 23, 2009, 1:34pm "Learning is sometimes defined as the acquisition of information. This is an inadequate definition. Regardless of the personal learning style of each of our students and children - our LEARN-ers learning happens in, or goes through, five stages. Acquisition is just one of those stages. Each of those stages is actually a function of neurology: each bit of information is passed from neuron to neuron until it is firmly lodged, embedded or, using computer jargon, stored in the brain. The first stage in the learning process is called priming. This is when the foundation of neural networks is established through prior learning and preparation. In computer terms, this is the software installation and the booting of the system. The brain, with its vast network of 12-15 billion neurons, is the computer hardware. Teachers may prime their students in any of a number of ways: by recapping the previous lesson, for example; or by making sure that their students are in a proper learning mood; or perhaps simply by giving an overview of the new lesson at hand. The second stage is called acquisition. The term looks at this stage from the point of view of the learner. Looked at from the point of view of the TEACHer, this stage may be called the input stage. Inside the classroom, this is the stage wherein new information is presented (by the teacher) through direct instruction and acquired (by the student). Outside the classroom, a learner can of course acquire new information on his or her own: discovery, through direct experience, or perhaps through reading. In computer terms this stage is the equivalent of encoding a new document. This is also when neural connections are first fired or ignited. The third stage is called elaboration, when neural connections are enhanced. This is when new information is clarified through discussion or, in the case of discovery, through experimentation or perhaps through further research. In computer terms, this is the equivalent of running a spell and grammar check or of editing and refining the document. Thus, teachers should actually welcome and encourage questions from students, because these indicate effort at elaboration.

Ignoring or in any way belittling a students question can have devastating effects in both the shortand the long-run: the elaboration stage is aborted, and the habit of elaboration may be inhibited. In other words, actual learning is frustrated in the now and, in all probability, potential learning may be discouraged in the future. The fourth stage is called incubation. This is when the neural connections are strengthened through repetition, rest and emotional intensity. In computer terms, this is the equivalent of saving the new document. There is simply no way of bypassing or fasttracking this stage: it must be allowed its own time and pace. This is one reason why subjects are generally taught in three one-hour sessions per week. It is entirely possible to teach Math for three straight hours every Monday, for example, and Science for another three-hour set every Tuesday, and so on. Possible, yes. Equally effective, no. The three-installment set-up allows more time for incubation and is, therefore, more effective.The last stage is called integration. This is when the student is able to attach personal meaning to the new information and to make personal use of it, so that it becomes a genuine or real part of his/her life. In computer terms, this is equivalent to printing out the document. This stage is often accompanied by an illumination or an aha! experience: when the new information clicks into place inside the students brain. We must bear in mind, however, that the computer analogy is far from perfect. Because the truth is that the brain is not as tireless or as robotic as a computer. We can hack away at a computer for hours on end, and the computers capability will hardly depreciate. The brain, on the other hand, assimilates information best when it is allowed 2-5 minutes of rest after a maximum processing chunk of 20-25 minutes. This is the focus-diffusion aspect of learning. The rest or diffusion need not be a formal break at all. It can simply be a joke or side-story, or perhaps a stretching exercise or a song. Failure to provide for diffusion results in boredom. Clearly, boredom does not aid learning. Teachers sometimes forget this simple guideline. Many speakers seem totally unaware of it. The author Henry S. Tenedero is the president of the Center for Learning and Teaching Styles, an affiliate of the International Learning Styles Network, based at St. Johns University in New York. He is a graduate of the AIM Masters in Development management and of the Harvard Graduate School for Professional Educators. He can be reached at htenedero@yahoo.com Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/532189_3 Accessed February 1, 2011 Teaching Strategy Options. Regardless of whether a "sink or swim" or a "manipulated structure" approach is used, several specific strategies of teaching are useful for all levels of learners. Modeling is an effective teaching strategy (Irby, 1995). The preceptor demonstrates his or her clinical expertise when seeing patients while the beginning learner observes this process. This approach allows the student to see the reality of classroom education applied to actual patients. Modeling allows the more advanced learner to observe more subtle aspects of patient interaction, such as how one approaches difficult issues of potential physical abuse, problematic behaviors, developmental delays, and serious illness. Observation and modeling provide the preceptor and the student with the opportunity to share impressions, think through cases together, and develop differential diagnoses. It is often during this modeling experience that the preceptor may be

challenged to answer the "why" questions of adult learners. However, modeling and observation are relatively passive; learners need to actually apply skills themselves to achieve mastery. Case presentations reflect the student's ability to obtain critical histories, report pertinent physical findings, generate reasonable differential diagnoses, and develop fitting management and follow-up plans. Discussing cases allows the preceptor to determine if the student is able to incorporate past experience and schemata into new clinical situations and assess the student's level of expertise in dealing with a range of patients (Coralli, 1989; Wolpaw, Wolpaw, & Papp, 2003).

Retrieved from http://www.annakatharinamd.com/2010/08/24/nursing-case-presentation-format/ Accessed February 1, 2011

Nursing case presentation by student nurses is an effective tool in acquiring knowledge about diseases, enhances critical thinking, practices their ability to apply the nursing process and improves their communication skills. A very important component of a nursing case presentation is the collection of data about the client both subjective and objective. This means a thorough Nursing Health history, physical assessment and the results of laboratory test and diagnostic procedures.