Basic conditions of Learning

Learning is possible under certain desirable conditions, such as physical, psychological and
sociological.

 About Conditions of learning :

 Circumstances under which the learning occurs.
 Factors which influence learning.
 E.g. : Age, sleep, safety, motivation

Gagne describes two different types of conditions that exist in learning : internal
and external.

 Internal conditions : Capabilities that already exist in a learner before any new learning
begins make up the internal conditions necessary for learning.
 External conditions : External conditions include different stimulus’s that exist outside the
learner such as the environment, the teacher and the learning situations.

Gagne’s condition of Learning

Internal condition External condition
__________________________________________________________________________________

MOTIVATION ENVIRONMENT

ATTENTION SAFETY

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE FEEDBACK

READINESS INSTRUCTIONS

MATURATION METHODS & TECHNIQUES

INTEREST/DISCIPLINE REINFORCEMENT

Gagne’s nine events of instructions.

 Gain the attention of learners ( Reception ) : Show students a short interesting film
related what they are about to learn, pose them an intriguing question or give them a case
study.
 Inform learners of the objectives (Expectancy ) : Tell students what they will learn by
the end of the course.
 Stimulate recall of prior knowledge ( Retrieval ) : Activate student’s prior knowledge by
posing related questions.
 Present stimulus material ( Selective perception ) : Present the material to the students
and use additional materials like timelines, various examples, concept maps, diagrams and
encourage students to engage in the discussion.
 Providing learning guidance ( Semantic encoding ) : Give students time for discussion,
answer their questions and offer them additional materials on the topic. Be available to the
students also when not in the class.
 Eliciting performance ( Responding ) : Give students a brief test after each unit to let
them check their own knowledge and see if they understand everything before moving on.
 Provide feedback ( Reinforcement ) : Discuss quiz results with students. Answer student’s
questions, also ones posed through e-mail, but instead of giving them a direct answer, give
them hints or guidelines that will lead them to the answer.
 Assessing performance ( Retrieval ) : Either by a test at the end of course, seminar, case
study, assess student’s performance to see if the course objectives defined at the beginning
have been accomplished.
 Enhancing retention and transfer ( Generalization ) : Provide student’s with real-life
examples or contexts in which they can use the acquired knowledge.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS :

 Readiness :
It refers to a learner’s mental, emotional, and sometimes even physical preparedness to
engage with new information and skills. T he degree of inquisitiveness to learn.

Learning readiness characteristics of the students / Factors influencing readiness :

 Attention span
 Memory
 Motivation
 Self-regulation
 Developmental stage
 Social-Emotional development
 Cognitive development
 Prior knowledge
 Language development

Law of readiness by El Thorndike :

E.L. Thorndike, an American psychologist has developed three primary laws of learning in his
“Trial & Error” Theory. Law of readiness is one of them.

* When the organism id ready to do some work, the act of doing is satisfying and not doing is
annoying.

* When he doesn’t want to work forcing him to work is dissatisfying.

* If students are not willing to learn forcing them to learn will cause dissatisfaction and
annoyance.

Maturation
 Maturation means that children are able to do certain task at certain stages of development.
 Maturation is the natural development or an increase in competency and adoptability in
certain stages.
 Garry and Kingsley, “ Maturation is a process whereby behavior is modified as a result of
growth and development of physical structure”.

Characteristics of Maturation :
 Maturation is primarily based on heredity.
 Maturation is an automatic process for behavioral change.
 There is age limit for the process of maturation.
 Motivation is no effect on maturation.
 It involves both structural and functional changes or performance.
 Unconscious and uncontrolled process of behavioral change.

Difference between Maturation and Learning

Maturation Learning
Based on heredity Based on environment

Motivation is not necessary Motivation is necessary

Age limitation No age limitation

Automatic process Planned goal directed process

Unconscious Conscious

Uncontrolled process of behavioral change Controlled process of behavioral change

It is through growth and development It is through practice and training

Maturation as a conditions for Learning ;

 Maturation is an essential condition of learning
 Learning must begin when the child is mature enough
 If learning precedes maturation, there is more wastage of time and energy
 Maturation makes learning possible
 Maturation sets limit to what a person can be or become.
 Motivation :
Motivation is an inner state that energizes, activates, or moves and directs or channels
behavior goals. Motivation means the driving force within individuals that impels them to
take action.
 A person’s feelings or desires motivate him to perform a particular task.
 Motivation is goal oriented.
 It is a continuous process.
 Motivation is related to satisfaction.
 Motivation can be positive and negative.
Types of motivation :
1. Intrinsic motivation :
Intrinsic motivation is the act of doing something for internal satisfaction without any
obvious external rewards. It is enjoyable and interesting.
E.g. : Participating in a sport because it’s fun and you enjoy.
Travelling because you want to explore different cultures.
2. Extrinsic motivation :
Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards. It is induced by
outside forces, commonly of financial nature or reward is called as extrinsic motivation.
 E.g. : Studying because you want to get a good grade.
Helping others you hope for praise.

Theories of Motivation
Content Theories Process Theories

Maslow’s need hierarchy theory Equity theory ( Adams )

Erg Theory ( Alderfer ) Expectancy theory ( Vroom )

Herzberg’s Two factory theory Goal-setting theory ( Lock )

McClelland theory of need Reinforcement theory ( B.F. Skinner )

Porter and Lawler theory

1. Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchical Needs

Abraham Maslow postulated that a person will be motivated when all his needs are fulfilled. People
do not work for security or money, but they work to contribute and to use their skills. He
demonstrated this by creating a pyramid to show how people are motivated and mentioned that
ONE CANNOT ASCEND TO THE NEXT LEVEL UNLESS LOWER-LEVEL NEEDS ARE FULFILLED. The lowest
level needs in the pyramid are basic needs and unless these lower-level needs are satisfied people do
not look at working toward satisfying the upper-level needs.

Below is the hierarchy of needs:

 Physiological needs: are basic needs for survival such as air, sleep, food, water, clothing, sex,
and shelter.

 Safety needs: Protection from threats, deprivation, and other dangers (e.g., health, secure
employment, and property)

 Social (belongingness and love) needs: The need for association, affiliation, friendship, and
so on.

 Self-esteem needs: The need for respect and recognition.

 Self-actualization needs: The opportunity for personal development, learning, and

fun/creative/challenging work. Self-actualization is the highest-level need to which a human
being can aspire.
2. Hertzberg’s two-factor Theory
Hertzberg classified the needs into two broad categories; namely hygiene factors and motivating
factors:

 poor hygiene factors may destroy motivation but improving them under most circumstances
will not improve team motivation

 hygiene factors only are not sufficient to motivate people, but motivator factors are also
required

Herzberg’s two-factor principles

Influenced by Hygiene Factors (Dis- Improving motivator factors Influenced by motivator factors
satisfiers) increases job satisfaction (Satisfiers)
 Working condition  Achievements
 Coworker relations  Recognition
 Policies & rules Improving the hygiene factors  Responsibility
 Supervisor quality decreases job dissatisfaction  Work itself
 Personal growth
3. McClelland’s Theory of Needs
McClelland affirms that we all have three motivating drivers, which do not depend on our gender or
age. One of these drives will be dominant in our behaviour. The dominant drive depends on our life
experiences.

The three motivators are:

 Achievement: a need to accomplish and demonstrate own competence. People with a high
need for achievement prefer tasks that provide for personal responsibility and results based
on their own efforts. They also prefer quick acknowledgment of their progress.

 Affiliation: a need for love, belonging and social acceptance. People with a high need for
affiliation are motivated by being liked and accepted by others. They tend to participate in
social gatherings and may be uncomfortable with conflict.

 Power: a need for controlling own work or the work of others. People with a high need for
power desire situations in which they exercise power and influence over others. They aspire
for positions with status and authority and tend to be more concerned about their level of
influence than about effective work performance.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory

C. P. Alderfer, an American psychologist, developed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into

a theory of his own.

His theory suggests that there are three groups of core needs: existence (E),

relatedness (R), and growth (G). These groups are aligned with Maslow’s levels of

physiological needs, social needs, and self-actualization needs, respectively.

Existence needs concern our basic material requirements for living, which include

what Maslow categorized as physiological needs such as air, sleep, food, water,

clothing, sex and shelter and safety-related needs such as health, secure

employment, and property.

Relatedness needs have to do with the importance of maintaining interpersonal

relationships. These needs are based on social interactions with others and are

aligned with Maslow’s levels of love/belonging-related needs such as friendship,

family, and sexual intimacy and esteem-related needs such as gaining the respect of

others.
Growth needs describe our intrinsic desire for personal development. These needs

are aligned with the other part of Maslow’s esteem-related needs such as self-

esteem, self-confidence, and achievement, and self-actualization needs such as

morality, creativity, problem-solving, and discovery.

Alderfer is of the opinion that when a certain category of needs is not being met,

people will redouble their efforts to fulfill needs in a lower category.

Maslow’s theory is very rigid and it assumes that the needs follow a specific and

orderly hierarchy and unless a lower-level need is satisfied, an individual cannot

proceed to the higher-level need i.e., an individual remains at a particular need level

until that need is satisfied.

Whereas, according to Alderfer’s theory, if a higher-level need is aggravated, an

individual may revert to increasing the satisfaction of a lower-level need. This is

called the frustration-regression aspect of ERG theory. ERG theory is very flexible as

Alderfer perceived the needs as a range/variety instead of perceiving them as a

hierarchy i.e., an individual can work on growth needs even if his existence or

relatedness needs remain unsatisfied.

For e.g., when growth needs aggravate, then an individual might be motivated to

accomplish the relatedness need and if there are issues in accomplishing

relatedness needs, then he might be motivated by the existence needs. Hence in

this manner, frustration or aggravation can result in regression to a lower-level

need.

Another example could be, if someone’s self-esteem is suffering, he or she will invest

more effort in the relatedness category of needs.

4. Vroom’s Theory of Expectancy

Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation says that an individual’s motivation is affected by their
expectations about the future. In his view, an individual’s motivation is affected by –

 Expectancy: Here the belief is that increased effort will lead to increased performance i.e., if
I work harder then it will be better. This is affected by things such as:

o Having the appropriate resources available (e.g., raw materials, time)

 o Having the appropriate management skills to do the job

o Having the required support to get the job done (e.g., supervisor support, or correct
information on the job)

 Instrumentality: Here the belief is that if you perform well, then the outcome will be a
valuable one for me. i.e., if I do a good job, there is something in it for me. This is affected by
things such as:

o A clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcomes –

e.g., the rules of the reward ‘game’

o Trust in the people who will take the decisions on who gets what outcome

o Transparency in the process decides who gets what outcome

 Valence: is how much importance the individual places upon the expected outcome. For
example, if someone is motivated by money, he or she might not value offers of additional
time off.

Motivation = V * I * E

The three elements are important when choosing one element over another because they are clearly
defined:

 E>P expectancy: our assessment of the probability that our efforts will lead to the required
performance level.

 P>O expectancy: our assessment of the probability that our successful performance will lead
to certain outcomes.

Reinforcement Theory
Reinforcement theory says that the way we respond to an individual’s
actions and behaviors has the ability to change their behaviors in the
future. This process is known as operant conditioning. You might also be
interested in checking out classical conditioning.

When individuals experience positive outcomes as a result of a behavior

or action, they are more likely to perform that action in the future. These
positive outcomes are known as “reinforcements”.

Similarly, when individuals experience a bad outcome as a result of an

action or behavior, they are less likely to perform that action or behave in
that way in the future. These negative outcomes are known as
“punishments”.

Both reinforcements and punishments can consist of both positive and

negative reinforcement. This is a bit too convoluted to explain here in
detail. What it essentially means is that you can affect an individuals
behavior by either adding or taking away a good thing, or adding or taking
away a bad thing.

Adams’ Equity Theory of Motivation

J. Stacey Adams’ equity theory is a process model of motivation. It says that the level of reward we
receive, compared to our own sense of our contribution, affects our motivation. The theory
considers the concept of equality and fairness, as well as the importance of comparison to others.

At its core, Adams’ theory says that individuals want a fair relationship between inputs and outputs.
What this means is that they want the benefits (rewards) they receive from work to seem fair in
relation to the inputs (contribution) that they provide. Similarly, they want the rewards that others
receive for their work to be similar to the rewards that they themselves would receive for the same
level of contribution.

Put simply, Adams’ equity theory says that people want fair compensation for inputs across the
working population of which they are members. When this is the case, individuals may remain
motivated. When it ceases to be the case, individuals may cease to be motivated.

Locke and Latham’s Goal Setting Theory

Locke and Latham worked both independently and collaboratively in their efforts to study goal-
setting. In the 1968, Locke published their findings. These findings showed that individuals are
motivated by both appropriate goals and by feedback. A few years later Latham published further
results that corroborated Locke’s conclusions.

Lock and Latham later collaborated on the topic. In 1990 they published their famous book, “A
Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance”. It’s in this book that they detailed Locke and Latham’s
Goal Setting Theory and their five principles of goal setting. We consider each principle briefly below.

Clarity

For goals to be motivating they need to be clear and they should be concise. Ambiguity or complexity
makes it harder for people to understand goals. This, in turn, makes them less motivating.

Learning Tasks
Learning tasks are opportunities you create for students to engage with the content you are
teaching.

 Enable students to engage intensively in the subject matter and develop their skills,
knowledge and understandings.
 Learning tasks play an important role in instructional settings.
 They serve to activate and control learning processes in order to facilitate successful
learning.
 Learner receives feedback and guidance.

Method
 Approach

Method

Techniques

Important Teaching Methods

1. Lecture Method :
 A lecture is an oral presentation of information by the instructor.
 It is therefore teacher-centred.
 The instructor is very active, doing all the talking.
 Trainees on the other hand are very inactive, doing all the listening.

Advantages Disadvantages
Large audience reach Teacher centred
Cost effective Passive recipients
Time saying One way communication
Many ideas in short time Limited engagement
Teacher as a controller Retention issues

2. Project Method :
 Project method is a purposeful planned and problematic activity which is carried out in
social, natural situations.
 This method was propounded by W.H. Kilpatrick.
 A project is a whole-hearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social environment – W.H.
Kilpatrick.
Steps in project method :
1. Providing a situation.
2. Choosing the project.
3. Planning the project.
4. Executing the project.
5. Evaluation of the project.

Merits of project method Demerits of Project method

It promotes co-operative activity It hampers the completion of syllabus
It keeps the students on freedom of thought It is a time consuming process
and action while doing the work
The students learn by self activity It increases work load of teachers
Problem solving and natural method
Social adjustment

3. Discovery Method :
 A teaching method which enables pupils to find out answer to problems themselves through
active and hands on experience.
 It is inquiry-based learning method that takes a constructivist approach to education, where
students are encouraged to construct their own knowledge through a self-directed learning
process.
 Jerome Bruner is often credited with originating discovery learning in 1960s.

4. Heuristic Method
 Henry Edward Armstrong who introduced this method for teaching.
 A heuristic method of teaching is an instructional approach that emphasizes the use of
problem-solving and discovery-based learning as well as experience-based learning to
facilitate self learning.
5. Team Teaching method
 Team teaching is when two or more teachers plan to teach a class together for some reason.
 In team teaching, a group of teachers work and plan class activities and evaluate students on
an integrated level.
6. Problem Solving Method :
 Problem solving is the act of defining a problem, determining the cause of the problem;
identifying, prioritizing and selecting alternatives for a solution.
 Problem-solving method begins with the statement of a problem that challenges the
students to find a solution.
 Develop critical thinking and decision-making skills.
 Fosters problem-solving abilities.
 Engages students at higher levels.
7 Inquiry-Based Learning
 Inquiry-based learning promotes idea of learning by investigation, where students can
complete projects, ask questions and find answers by themselves.
 Learning at their own pace through active participation.

Flipped Classroom
 Students gain foundational knowledge by watching pre-recorded lectures or reading
materials at home.
 Class time then becomes a space for interactive activities, discussion and applying concepts.

Expeditionary Learning
 An experimental learning through participating in practical experience.
 E.g. Projects, case studies or lab experiments in the classroom or field trips to place around
your school and community.

Brainstorming
 Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion
for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members.
 The term was popularized Alex Faickney Osborn in 1953.

Differentiated instruction
 Differentiated instruction is the process of tailoring lessons to meet each student’s individual
interests, needs, and strengths.
 Differentiation is all about creating a personalized learning experience for each student.

Gamification
 This method incorporates game mechanics like points, badges and leaderboards into
learning activities. It boosts motivation, engagement and makes learning more fun.

Blended Learning
 This combines online and offline learning experiences. Students might access lectures or
practice exercises online, while class time focuses on group work, discussions, or teacher
guidance.

Collaborative Learning
 Collaborative learning theory involves peer-to-peer learning that fosters deeper thinking in
the classroom.
 It suggest that group learning helps students develop their higher-level thinking, oral
communication, self-management and leadership skills.

Feature Collaborative Learning Cooperative Learning

Structure Less structured More structured
Roles Students define roles Teacher assigns roles
Focus Shared inquiry and knowledge Achieving a common learning
construction goal
Example Collaborative research project Group science experiment