Self-Activity, the Basis of All learning

There is a great need for activity in

effective learning.
Too much emphasis cannot be placed on
the importance of activity in the
learning process on the fact that the
learning is promoted by action alone, for
the speed and the precision of learning
becomes most effective only in direct
proportion to the amount of activity that
is aroused during the process.

 There are varying degrees of activity.

Listening to a lecture in an activity,
but experiencing, reciting and
discussing involve more activity.
Activity does not necessarily involve
muscular movement, one can be
mentally active as well.

 Learning as its best is the process of

discovering by ones self. It is an
active and continuous process.
Learning proceed rapidly in direct
proportion to active participation.
Teacher- plays an important part in
the educative process by furnishing
the conditions that stimulate the
desired physical, mental, social and
emotional experiences.

Methods of Self-Activity
Teaching is practised by people with
varying points of view and varying
degrees of understanding.
Activity teaching places less
emphasis upon memorizing and more
on thinking, less on merely
accumulating facts and more on
understanding facts collected, less
learning through coercion and more
through genuine interest.

 Self-activity, in the sense of ability to

educate oneself, should be an
objective of all teaching.
Extreme coercion is an antagonistic
to the development of interest as
well as independent ability.
Independent ability is only realized
when it is made a special objective
when pupils are gradually thrown
upon their own responsibility and
guided in their efforts to utilize
fruitful technique.

 Self-activity is not a particular

method and it should be a definite
objective of all teaching methods.

Importance of Self-Activity in
Thinking
The principle of self-activity is of particular
importance in teaching pupils to reason.
Pupils will only learn to think reflectively by
going through experiences of reasoning.
School work is mere repetition of what has
been read or heard and involves little real
thinking on the part of the pupils.
Reflective thinking results in the solution of
a problem or from dealing with a situation
in which pupils must use the raw data or
facts as found in the problems or situation.

 Classroom teacher should make his

thinking situations in school
approximate as nearly as possible
the situation of everyday life. Class
experiences furnish thinking situation
in so far as they provide
opportunities for getting meanings,
evaluating, comparing, estimating,
generalizing, and organizing
materials and relationship, etc.

Importance of Self-Activity in
Acquiring Specific Motor Activities
In acquiring specific motor abilities, it is
necessary that the pupil experiences
each sets of muscular movements
essential to the development of the
ability.
Verbal directions, demonstrations or
various kinds of illustration may help in
guiding the trial-and error of the learning
process but actual doing and repetition
are essential to the mastery of ability.

 The principles of self-activity also

emphasizes the need of having the
learning situations approximate as
nearly as possible the situations on
which the motor ability is used.