Learning and Maturity

Learning in an individual starts as soon as he is born or even before he is born, in the womb
of the mother. Learning in an individual continues throughout his life. It is a process of
acquiring new skills, knowledge, understanding, behaviours, values, preferences and
attitude. Learning modifies the behaviour of an individual and considerable change in it.

According to Crow and Crow, “learning is the acquisition of habits, knowledge, and attitude.
T involves a new way of doing things, and it operates in an individual attempt to overcome
obstacles or to adjust to new situations.”

According to Woodworth, “Any activity can be called learning so far as it develops the
individual (in any respect, bad or good) and makes him alter behaviour and experiences
different from what they would otherwise have been.”

Characteristics of Learning:

● Learning facilitates both the physical and mental development of the learner.
● Learning enables a person to face new problems and situations and helps him to
encounter them. Learning lets the individual adjust to new situations.
● Learning is purposive in nature.
● Learning is the synthesis of old experiences with new ones.
● Learning is given more importance than teaching. Learning by doing is an important
principle of education and the basis of progressive education.
● Environment plays an important role in the learning of individuals. A child learns
from the objects and the individuals present in the environment. Therefore, a child’s
environment should be healthy to facilitate the right learning.
● Learning differs from person to person and hence the teaching-learning situation is
approached differently by each learner.
● Learning is social. It occurs in response to the environment in which there are other
individuals.
● Learning is a process of self-activity, self-direction, and self-realization of an
individual’s highest potentialities.
● Learning is transferable. Skill gained in one context affects another situation.

Types of learning:
 ● Motor learning- Motor learning involves muscular coordination. E.g.- walking,
skating, driving, walking, climbing, running etc. It includes most of our day-to-day life
activities.
● Concept learning- Concept learning involves high order mental processes like
thinking, reasoning, intelligence and reasoning. This learning is useful in recognising
and identifying things.
● Verbal Learning- Verbal learning includes the language spoken and also other
communication devices like signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sound etc.
● Discrimination Learning- discrimination learning is the learning that helps to
differentiate between stimuli and also showing appropriate response to these
stimuli.
● Attitude Learning- Attitude determines and direct one’s behaviour. Children develop
different attitude from their childhood about people and objects. It could be a
negative or positive attitude.
● Perceptual learning: It consists of making sense out of sensory stimuli. An example
of perceptual learning would be a child learning to recognize the letters of the
alphabet. Association is made between the visual stimulus and the concept of the
letter that is being built up in the child’s mind.
● Conceptual Learning: This type of learning involves students engaged in quality
learning experiences based around the key concepts and central ideas rather than
using the more traditional method of focusing on learning.

Factors affecting Learning:

I. Factors related to the learner-

● Individuals physical factor such as nutrition, health, physical development,
visual and physical defects.
● The mental factor is an important factor at the time of learning. The right
attitude is important to learn.
● Learning also defers on the basis of individual mental level. Some people face
difficulty in learning because of low intelligence or intellectual disability.
● Learning is also influenced by the intent to learn. When an individual has an
intent or purpose to learn, then they learn rapidly and the learning is
permanent.
● Maturation is also a factor that affects the learning of an individual. Learning
becomes more effective when appropriate maturity is attained by the
individual.
● Learning is also affected by the motivation and readiness of the individual.
 II. Factors related to teachers-
● The personality of the teacher plays an important role in the learning of the
children. The teacher is the role model for his students.
● The subject knowledge of the teacher affects learning. If the teacher lacks
knowledge in the subject, that dearth the understanding that is passed from
the teacher to the student. The effectiveness of teaching-learning depends
upon the mastery over the subject matter demonstrated by the teacher in the
class.
● The teaching skills used by the teacher also affects the learning of the
students as sharing, communicating and interacting various experience
related to the learning of the subject.

III. Factors related to society-

● Schools also affect the learning of students. It includes classrooms, textbooks,
equipment, school supplies, and other instructional materials.
● Peer pressure also affects the learning individuals
● The financial condition of the learner’s family also influence it’s learning as
learners from financially well family tends to get a better education. Whereas,
students from financially weaker family lack support and this affects their
learning ability negatively.

Maturity
It is the process of maturing and growing. It is a process in which a person grown, change
and develop throughout their life. It is a mental, physical and biological process and can be
categorised into two types i.e. cognitive maturity and physical maturation. Physical
maturation refers to the physical change or development in the body. Eg- grow tall or
increase in weight, development of motor skills, going through hormonal changes when
reached puberty. Cognitive maturation refers to the ability to learn to think, learn and
interact with people and situations. Eg- language acquisition, development of reasoning
skills etc.

According to Woolf and Woolf, “Maturation means that children are able to do at a certain
stage of development certain task that they could not do previously.”

According to Garry and Kingsley, “Maturation is the process whereby behaviour is modified
as a result of growth and development of the physical structure.”
Characteristics of Maturation:

● Maturation is an automatic process of mental, somatic, physiological differentiation

and integration
● Maturation is the consolidation of mental, emotional and social development and
growth.
● Maturation is the basis of learning. It makes human development complete.
● Maturation is the modification from within and the innate development of capacities
of the organism.
● Maturation means the growth and development hat is necessary before the learning
of a particular behaviour or before the unlearnt behaviour can be learned.

Learning Curve
A learning curve is the graphical representation of the rate at which a person make progress
in learning new information.
Learning Curve was first coined in the year 1885, by Hermann Ebbinghaus. He tested the
theory by memorising the series of nonsense syllables and documented his success by
reciting it back. As a result, he was more likely to remember and less likely to forget.

Types of Learning Curves:

1) Convex curve (Negative accelerated curve)

● This type of curve shows rapid initial improvement in learning that decreases with
time. In the initial stage, the rate of progress maybe faster, but at the final it slows
down.
● It occurs in the learning situations where the task or content is simple or learner has
had previous practice on similar task or content.

2) Concave curve (Positive accelerated curve)

 ● This type of curve shows slow initial improvement in learning that increases with
time leading towards the mastery of learning content.
● It often occurs in the learning situation where the task is new or difficult one to the
student at the beginning.
● In positive accelerated curve, with increased practice an individual can achieve
mastery at the end.

3) S curve/Mixed curve (Sigmoid Curve)

It measures performance of a person who is new to the task. The bottom of the curve
indicates slow learning as an individual works to master the skills required and takes more
time to do so.
The latter half of the curve indicates that the learner now takes less time to complete that
task as he/she becomes proficient in the skills required.
4) Straight line curve
It shows constant rate of improvement. This type of curve is rarely found.
Learning Plateau
Learning Plateau is a long and flat horizontal stretch in the learning curve, which represents
that no progress in learning is recorded. This means that the learning is in a stationary stage.
Learning Plateau represents a period when no improvement in learning occurs even with
any ‘n’ number of practices.
The reason for no improvement of learning is major because of lack of motivation or the
practice is not done efficiently.

Transfer of learning
Transfer of learning involves the use of previously acquired knowledge and skills in a new
learning situation. Here, past learning is used for the present acquisition. Eg- for a person
who knows how to drive a moped can easily learn to drive a Scotty.

Types of transfer of learning-

Positive Transfer- when learning of one situation helps in the learning of another situation is
known as the positive transfer of learning. Eg- command over mathematics will help in
understanding physics numerically.
Negative Transfer- when learning of one task make another task harder. Eg- dribbling a
basketball with the right hand will hinder the dribbling of the ball with the left hand in the
initial stage. The negative transfer of learning can be further divided into following
categories:
Retroactive transfer
In this type of learning, present learning obstructs previous learning.
For example, learning a new language may confuse the pronunciation of English words
previously learned. It may also cause the meaning and the use of the previous language to
be forgotten due to the learning of the new language.
Proactive transfer
In this type of learning, previous learning obstructs present learning. For example, previous
knowledge of English words can obstruct in learning of new words. It may also cause
forgetting of the new words.
Zero Transfer- When learning of one activity neither facilities nor hinder the learning of a
new task. E.g.- knowledge of chemistry has no effect on learning rock climbing.
Lateral Transfer (Horizontal transfer)
Learning of one kind facilitates learning of the same level in other situations or in another
context.
When learning of one subject helps in learning another subject.
It also occurs when experience in solving problems in one situation can be applied in solving
problems of a similar kind in a new environment.
Knowledge and attitudes taught at school are applicable at home. For example, cleaning
room at home after learning a lesson on cleanliness in school.
Vertical Transfer
Learning at the lower level helps in learning at a higher level.
It includes knowledge acquired during childhood applied by an individual during adulthood.
It occurs when knowledge is applied to other learnings of higher levels.
For example, form one mathematical series is a foundation for form two, form three, and
form-four mathematics.
Theories of Transfer of Learning:

Theory of Mental Discipline:

● This theory is also known as the faculty theory.
● According to this theory, learning and training is a mental process.
● Basic in the transfer of learning is understanding of classical knowledge which
includes logic, science, grammar, and mathematics.
● If a person learns logic then he/she can use logical skills in solving math problems.

Theory of Identical Elements:

● The theory of Identical Elements was formulated by Thorndike.
● According to this theory, the amount of transfer depends upon the identical
elements that are common in both situations.
● For example, a student who has learned geometry, measuring angles or sides of
figures can also apply this concept in the actual work of carpentry or masonry.
● Identical elements such as:
Content
 Actions
Method
Attitude present in both situations facilitate learning
Aim
Principles or techniques

Theory of Generalization:
● It was formulated by Charles H. Judd.
● The knowledge gained through memorization can be related and associated with
many other experiences and practices.
● It puts emphasis upon the value to understand, organize, and generalize specific
experiences.
● It means that experiences obtained in one situation are applicable to another
situation.
● It occurs by using memorized knowledge to other situations through a general
understanding of an idea from one or more situations.

Transposition
● Transposition was first studied by Gestalt psychologists.
● It is an understanding of the relationship between facts, process and principles are
the real basis of transfer.
● Transfer of learning occurs when a person is able to understand the information or
idea, its meaningfulness, and its application.
● This depends on the learners’ ability to understand the meaning of the concept in
one situation and understanding its application in other situations.
● For example, learning how to prepare manure in biology, a child understands that
he/she is going to use it in agricultural activities.

Theory of Ideals:
● This theory was propounded by Bagley.
● Bagley believed that ideals are deeper than generalization. Hence ideals are the basis
of transfer.
● Ideals once adopted, are applicable to all situations.

अधिगम और परिपक्वता
 Classification
Classification means to pick the term given in the question
which is different from the given options. The three of the
options share some common quality, and the other one lacks a
common quality.
• To ‘classify’ means to assign some particular characteristic
to the various member/part of a group and identify them
based on those particular characteristics only.
• Classification questions aim to test the skills of a
candidate in determining the features of various things
and candidate has to answer which one is odd-one from
the group of 4 options. The odd-one option shouldn’t
possess the skill which must be common among the other
four options.
• Such questions are scoring as they require minimum
calculations (if verbal). So, let’s understand how to solve
various types of ‘Classification’ questions. Some common
type of odd element which asked in the exam are –
• Odd country – Nepal, Ireland, Indonesia, Afghanistan –
(Ans- Ireland)
• Odd currency - Bangladesh: Taka, Malaysia : Ringgit,
South Korean: Rupiya, Russia : Ruble (Ans - South
Korean: Rupiya)
• Antonyms, Synonyms – Lenient, Pliable, Gentle, Putrid
(Ans- Putrid)
• Odd Game – Snooker, Table tennis, Hockey, Billiards ( Ans
– Hockey)
• Odd Organs – Liver, Heart, lungs, Nose (Ans- Nose)
• Odd Study – Lawyer, Doctor, Engineer, Education (Ans –
Education)
Some of the common types of classification/ odd one out
categories are –
1. Odd word
2. Odd word pair
3. Odd letter
4. Odd letter pair
5. Odd number
6. Odd number pair Odd word/ Odd word pair

1. In the following question, select the odd word from the given
alternatives.
a. Bodo
b. Dogri
c. Maithili
d. Sattriya

Ans. D
Solution – Bodo - Bodo is spoken in the northeastern Indian
states of Assam and Meghalaya and in Bangladesh
Dogri - Dogri, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five
million people in India and Pakistan
Maithli - Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian
subcontinent, mainly spoken in India and Nepal.
Sattriya – It is a dance and is originated in the eastern state of
Assam. Sattriya is a dance form while all others are languages.
Hence, option (D) is different from the rest.

2. In the following question, select the odd word pair from the
given alternatives.
a. Bhopal : Lake City
b. Jodhpur : Sun City
c. Bangalore : Blue City
 d. Jaipur : Pink City

Ans. C
Solution – Except for Bangalore: Blue, all show relationship as
Indian City Name: Its nickname. Bangalore is also known as
the silicon valley of India. Hence, the correct answer is option
C.

3. Three of the following four letter-clusters are alike in a

certain way and one is different. Pick the number that is
different.
a. Assam
b. Patna
c. Bihar
d. Delhi

Ans. B
Solution – Only option(b) gives name of the city of Indian
State, Bihar, rest options give name of the Indian States.
Hence, option(b) is different from others.

Odd letter/ Odd letter pair

1. Three of the following four letter-clusters are alike in a
certain way and one is different. Find the odd one out
a. AYVQ
b. KIFB
c. USPL
d. OMJF

Ans. A
Solution-
Hence, the correct answer is option A.
2. In the following four letter-group, three letter-groups are
related to one another in a certain manner, and one
letter-group is different. Find the odd letter group.
a. GH-TR
b. CK-XP
c. AE-ZV
d. FJ-UQ
Ans. A
Solution –

Hence, the correct answer is option A.

वर्गीकरण
वर्गीकरण का अर्थ है प्रश्न में दिए गए शब्द को चन
ु ना जो दिए गए विकल्पों से
अलग है । तीनों विकल्पों में कुछ सामान्य गण
ु हैं, और एक में कोई सामान्य
गण
ु नहीं है ।