Factors influencing scholastic learning

Factors influencing scholastic learning

Learning, as we know, can be considered as the process by which skills, attitudes, knowledge and concepts are acquired, understood, applied and extended. All human beings, engage in the process of learning, either consciously, sub-consciously or subliminally whether grownups or children. It is through learning that their competence and ability to function in their environment get enhanced.

Learning is an interactive and intraactive activity, meaning that it depends on one hand on the student, on his internal characteristics like: the biophysical ones (genetic potential, normal physical development, physiological balance) and the psycho individual ones (the quantity and quality of the previous experience, purposes, reasons, aspiration levels, learning skills, the characteristics of the intellective processes), but on the other hand on external factors, like: the educational ones (the character, volume, the structuring and difficulty degree of the learning content, the teachers personality), social ones (the climate and family conditions, general - historical conditions, the adjustment to the new social structure, acculturation), or psychosocial ones (the group, the interpersonal relations, the groups climate, interpersonal communication, social - emotional) and last but not least the ergonomic and hygienic ones.

Attention

Attention is always present in conscious life and is common to all types of mental activity. It is the characteristics of all conscious life. Every activity of yours is based on interest and attention. You can succeed in achieving your goals only when your attention is directed towards learning. Attention is defined as the act of selective consciousness-Ross Dumville defined Attention as the concentration of consciousness upon one subject rather than another.

Characteristics of Attention

• Attention is focusing consciousness on one object. One object is the focus of attention. All other objects are in the margin of attention.

(Right now, what is the focus of your attention? what objects are in the margin of your attention?)

 • Attention is selective. We choose to attend to one object in preference to others.

• Attention is constantly shifting from focus to margin

• Attention is a state of preparedness where the muscles and sense organs ready themselves for attending • Attention cannot be divided between two mental tasks.

It is basic need for all types of learning. Every moment of yours is attracted by many stimuli of the environment. Your mind is not able to concentrate on all the stimuli at the same time. It is because of attention that you are able to concentrate on important aspect of a single object. Consider a classroom, where there are lot of things like, desk, bench, chalk, black board, duster, fan and charts. When a teacher shows you a particular chart, you pay attention to that. It shifts the focus of learner to the chart this helps them to learn more about it.

Therefore, it can be said that attention helps you to clear the vivid objects.

• It arouses interest in learners to learn a particular thing.

• It increases efficiency of the learner

 • It motivates learners to learn more

• It make the learners ready to learn

• It brings a state of alternates in learners for doing task

• It helps the learner to perceive events or ideas.

Thus, attention is a necessary condition for any task in the classroom. It is the hub of entire learning process. It is essential for learning as well as understanding well. Attention is an essential factor for teachers as well as students. If you are attentive in classroom, you are fully prepared to receive any stimulus. It enables you to learn properly within a period. It helps you to achieve the target within short period and with reasonable amount of effort.

Motivation

Motivation is defined as an inspiration that propels someone into an action. It is an internal state or condition that activates and gives direction to our thoughts, feelings, and actions (Lahey, 1995). In the opinion of Oladele (1998), motivation is a process by which the learner’s internal energies are directed toward various goal objects in his/her environment. These energies or arousals push an individual in achieving his goals.

An individual may be highly motivated to perform well in a task and completely unmotivated in another. This means that when people are motivated, they will work tirelessly to achieve their aspirations.

Types of Motivation There are two types of motivation or arousals. They can either be internally or externally driven. The desire for food or sex arises from within us (intrinsic), while the yearning to obtain recognition or approval is influenced by the conditions in our environment (extrinsic).

It is important for the teacher to know the basic needs of his/her students and cater for these according to level of their important. For example, the teacher needs to think first of students’ food, rest or health before thinking of teaching them.

• When the teacher praises his/her students for doing well in their study or assignment, they will be spurred to sustain that effort.

• A classroom, which is well decorated or adorned with beautiful charts, and learning materials will be students’ friendly. The students’ minds will always be attracted to the activities in a beautifully adorned classroom.

• In the classroom, students like being recognized or respected. When their views are recognized or respected, they will have their confidence boosted and developed.

From the beginning of the lesson, the teacher should endeavour to make his/her students know possible outcome of the lesson. It is when the students know what they are likely to achieve from the lesson that their attention will be arrested and sustained.

 • Feedback is necessary if the interest of the students must be sustained in the classroom. So the teacher should always strive to let them know how they are performing in the teaching/learning activities.

• The teacher should also provide/plan for extra-curricular activities for his/her students. When the teacher does this, the students will have opportunity of establishing a genuine interaction among them. Besides, they will be able to display their hidden talents.

 • When dealing with the students in the classroom, the teacher should take into consideration, the developmental changes and differences in the students before deciding on the particular motivation pattern to be employed.

Readiness

It refers to the fact that learning takes place only when the learner is prepared to learn. No amount of efforts can make the child learn if the child is not ready to learn. The dictum that ‘you can lead a horse to the pond but you can’t make it drink water unless it feels thirsty’ goes very well with this law. In other words, if the child is ready to learn, he/she learns more quickly, effectively and with greater satisfaction than if he/she is not ready to learn.

Thus, Readiness means mental preparation for action. It is not to force the child to learn if he is not ready. Learning failures are the result of forcing the learner to learn when he is not ready to learn something. It draws the attention of teacher to the motivation of the child. The teacher must consider the psycho-biological readiness of the students to ensure successful learning experiences. Curriculum / Learning experiences should be according to the mental level of maturity of the child. If this is not so, there will be poor comprehension and readiness may vanish.

Readiness to learn occurs when a child has achieved cumulative learning of component subskills and the developmental maturity necessary to integrate these subskills into the desired skill. Readiness is relative. However, not only to the skill, but also to the technique of instruction. Thus readiness for learning a particular skill by different techniques may come at different times. Attempting to force instruction on a child who is not ready can cause the child either to learn the skill by a more primitive technique (one which has little transfer value to other learning) or to turn off to learning altogether. "Turning off means extinction or inhibition of behaviors necessary to learning, such as attention and active involvement. Many school learning problems, particularly those of disadvantaged children, might be avoided if more attention were paid to readiness in the primary grades. When the danger of "turning off because of lack of readiness is greatest.