Characteristics of Learning

1. Learning is Unitary – the learner responds as a total person in a unified way to the
“whole “ situation or total pattern . Learner responds intellectually , emotionally ,
physically and spiritually . she reacts to the whole learning situation rather to any single
stimuli – is coordinated and integrated manner .
Teaching –Learning is approached differently by each learner with different goals with
the result that each learner responds differently . Learning is individual , through
responses are diverse and are made simultaneously to more than one factor in learning
situation . Learning is complex which include cognitive , conative , affective domains ,
appreciations and habits . An individual response to the total situation .
2. Learning is individual and social - Learning takes place in response to the
environment which includes physical , social and emotional environment . Each learner
is a unique person , they have individualized characteristics in the patterns of living Viz .
Slow learners and fast learners . Learning is influenced by heredity , environment and
self determination like learner’s intellectual intellectual abilities , purposes, aptitudes ,
abilities etc. everything plays vital role . Teacher must understand individual variations
and provide needed assistance based on their needs and abilities .
3. Learning is self active – An individual can learn only through her / his reactions to
situationse by his own efforts . It is the process of self activity , self direction and self
realization . Self development is by self discipline . Teachers through their teaching
motivates the learners to study and understand the subject content , teachers act as
role models , the students will follow the teacher in many ways in their lives .
4. Learning is purposive and active – Learning is active in a specific direction , goal
oriented , goals are determined directly by motives and indirectly by incentives .
motives are the forces that directs that directs the behavior of an individual . Learning
experiences are meaningful when they are related to the individual’s interests ,
intelligent adjustments . Learning is influenced by the intention or will to learn . Man has
a will and he can choose the action he wishes to take .
5. Learning includes a progressive organizing and recognizing of educative
experiences - Learning is goal directed , but the activity in attachment of the goal is
also directed .
6. Learning is gradual and developmental process – the organization and the
reorganization of experience and behavior are accomplished through the process of
differentiation , integration and precision .
7. Learning is more than a process of differentiate and precision , it is also a process of
integration .
8. Learning is creative and selective - Human be creates the unique things in the
world . He/ she has own potentialities , abilities , strengths and actualities . With
expertized knowledge and skills , he will be able to create purposively whatever he/she
intends .
9. Learning is a process of personal choice making , it is the activity in which the learner
through his/ her own experience , he / she learns only that which he / she chooses to
learn . Learner responds to her / his environment .
10. Learning is transferable - The teacher will transmit the knowledge , learning also
affects the conduct of the individual . True learning takes place only when the learner
will acquire the type of knowledge or a skill or change in attitude will takes place .

Factors influencing Learning

1. Internal factors/ subjective factors .

a. Age - age can influence upon capability of learning . a child can learn faster and
an aged person will have difficulty to learn modern ways of knowledge .
b. Intelligence – Learning depends upon mental faculty of an individual .
intelligence effects a lot on learning . If individual has maximum level of
intelligence, she /he learn more and easily at maximum level .
c. Attention –
If a person does not pay attention towards how to learn a specific knowledge,
skill or experience, hash, cannot learn easily but, if the individual pays attention
the results are vice versa. Attention plays an important role in the education and
training process. Without attention, one cannot observe or perceive Attention was
associated earlier with will, judgement, reasoning, etc. But attention is a selective
activiton individuals consciousness. Attention is not a power of the mind. It is not
static. It fluctuates from one object to another, quickly. It is very difficult to prevent
such fluctuations. Only one thing will remain in the conscious mind and all other
inattentive activities in the subconscious mind. Unconscious activities cannot be
recalled at will. Inattention by trainees is a problem for instructors. Trainees are
distracted from instructional activities because of (a) ill health (b) external
disturbances (c) bad instruction (d) lack of motivation(e) monotony of activity (f)
unhygenic conditions (g) improper seating conditions (h) disinterest etc.
Distraction causes a general increase in muscular tension, utilisation of
increased energy in work, nervous restlessness and of adopting defence
movements.
Conditions for attention are classified as:
a. Subjective conditions, e.g. interest, dispositions, moods, urges, needs, habits,
emotional state etc.
 b. Objective conditions, e.g. method of presentation, nature of stimulus and its
intensity, size, novelty, movement , repitation , contrast etc .

d.Interest – effective learning requires assimilation and interest .creating

interest in learning is a principle function of the instructor as interest forms the prime basis of
learning .in the lesson plan , there is special provision for motivating and creating interest in the
trainee .interest should be aroused before learning begins and for satisfactory result it should
be maintained through out the learning .

e. Holistic health - physical (no diseases) , Mental health (lack of fraustration and
conflicts , sound mental health ) promotes effective learning . If an individual does not have
sound mental or physical health , the individual cannot fulfill the demands of learning .

f.Maturation – Learning depends upon mental age . Maturation means mental

ability or maturity , social maturity and psychological readiness .i.e development of physical
factors like sensory and reacting mechanism .Before learning takes place the sensory , motor ,
nervous structure should reach a certain level of maturity . maturation of both muscles and
brain are necessary in any skill learning situation .

g. Observation and learning – The ability for observation is a prerequisite for

good perception and consequently for learning . learning process is affected by observation . An
individual observes process , behavior and phenomena and later copy them in his /her own way
. Thus skill and knowledge are developed by conscious and sometimes unconscious observation
. children learns acquire habits by observation .

h. Fatigue – every physical activity involves consumption of energy . output is

proportional to input i.e.- achievement is proportional to energy spent as input .when an
individual is tired , he /she can not pay a ttention or concentration towards learn something .

I . Insight – Insight also plays an important part in learning. Insight is defined as, “a
sudden flash of thought or solution in mind that helps one to face a problem solving situation”.
It involves Gestalten conception of perception. That is, discovering and making use of means
and relationships in reorganising the psychological field of observation. Problems that are not
within the reach of physical or normal mental tackling are solved by insight. ‘Gestalt’ is a
German word meaning ‘Whole’. The basic principle of Gestalt Ieaming is to study everything as
a whole and observe meaningful connections between different parts and the whole, when
insight into the learning situation is facilitated. Insight is not always available to many and so
cannot be depended on. Foresight is a prominent factor for goal seeking behavior. Without
clear foresight it is not possible to develop behavior towards the goal. Insight learing is based
on the ability of synthesizing the perceived facts and factors. It involves creative and
imaginative thinking.

2. External factors: Knowledge:

a. Knowledge - If knowledge is interesting in nature, any individual can learn it more
efficiently. Recitation: Recitation is more effective tool of learning, if an individual recite
something louder he/she can learn more effectively.
b. Meaningfulness: If the material of knowledge is meaningful, the individual will learn it
more effectively and easily, meaningless material neither can be learnt easily nor kept in
memory on long term basis.
c. Exercise and repetition: Single act is learnt in single trial but complex acts require
repeated trails. Ifa material is difficult to learn it can be learnt through exercises or
repeated trials.
d. By parts learing: If the material is so long it can be divided into small parts, so
individual can learn specific knowledge, skill etc. more effectively.
e. Teaching and learning environment: Each individual has different environment
.The individual internal environment is created by past experience. self attitude, self
concept and involves acquired knowledge, attitudes and skills. The influences from the
learner’s external environment include the learners peer group, family membership,
socioeconomic status. community and school as well as work situations.
f. Learning Situation -Learner should have conducive environmental facilities to learn
which will progress learning process eg, Resources like Textbooks, Lesson Plans, Library
resources, good seating arrangements, adequate ventilation, lighting, no sound. etc.
In nursing education, an effective environment should be created in which the learner
knows that people are more highly valued that procedure. Any practice that contributes
to the erosion of the self image or self esteem must be open to question. This includes
thoughtless remarks by teachers or students about patient and other learners. The
student who has a positive self image will react differently to the same environment
than student whose self image is negative. The teacher should anticipate situation of
this type. The teaching learning environment should be structured to provide
opponunities to cope with student individual difference. The physical learning
environment may be improved by bulletin boards showing materials such as a copy of
the patient‘s bill of rights, displays that carry different relevant message, pictures of
learners teaching patient and other motivating themes, etc.
g. Motivation and Learning - Classroom learning is directly proportional to
motivation. Motivation leads to attain objectives and goals. Mental and bodily physical
activities are dominated by interests. It has been found that our feelings in the form of
attitudes, interests and aspirations have a vital relationship to learning. Timely and
 methodological motivation affect improvement in achievement as it increases the ability
of trainees. We learn more effectively when we have the gratification provided by
knowledge of reasonable success in our efforts. Positive incentives help in the
furtherance of learning while negative incentives has a retarding effect. Favourable
learning conditions are created by means of rewards praising, patting, appreciating,
awards, scholarship and stipends. The powerful motives are Positive reinforcement e.g.
recognition, etc. will motivate the leamcf to leam effectively, Punishments like fine,
marking absent for late coming, making trainees stand in classrooms. scolding, corporal
punishment, etc. lead to diminishing ‘learning process. The presence or absence of
reward can affect learning, generally, reward is more effective in promoting learning
than is punishment, the latter does have some effects on learning, it tends to repress a
desired response then to extinguish it. Thus instructors should motivate learners so that
they should feel that what they learn are going to be useful in their life and they will be
benefitted by it by way of higher ability, higher emoluments etc.
h. Clarity – The ability of the learner to clearly see , hear , and understand what is being
said . “ threats to clarify include small fonts , jargon , slurred speech , obstructions to
sight and ambiguous language . clarity was found to be the number one factor in
improving learning .
i. Task orientation – people tend to learn better when they are engaged in a task . if
they spend time with introductions . attendance or other “housekeeping “ chores , they
have less time to spent on task . Teachers and presenters who keep guiding their
students and audience back to the topic have a better chance of achieving their
objectives .
j. Student opportunity – students and audience members should be given the
opportunity to engage the material . This could mean that the speaker is quiet at times
to allow the listener to digest what they have heard , or may be there is an activity
where the listener writes something or discusses an issue with the person next to them .
k. Variety – some people learn better by listening , some by seeing and some by doing .If
you are teaching persons how to properly install a protective hearing device , you might
wish to show a short video . use a large illustration of an ear , hand out a broucher with
text and graphics and have everybody practice .
l. Teacher enthusiasm – the enthusiasm of a teacher or presenter is contagious . If the
teacher show interest in a topic the audience / learners are more likely to be interested
.If teacher apologize for how boring a topic is , do not expect learners to stay awake or
listen to you any more .
Components of Learning
These include the following:

Observation - noting details, attending seeing what is going on in a course of

experience, an event, a situation.

Description- recalling and verbalizing what went on, telling it to someone; writing it
down; in other words, it is the collection of data of experience.

Analysis - identifying possible and significant meaning, abstracting the essence forms a
variety of details, comparing and noting similarities and dissimilarities.

Validation of the learning product -checking the meaning and the inferences derived by
the Ieamer with other readings etc. To see if there is agreement

Evaluation - testing the learning products through us