Topic 7: Factors That Influence

Learning Introduction
The learning – teaching process is a highly complex one. The complexity arises due to the fact
that many variables interact with each other to enhance or hinder learning. This lesson examines
these factors as they operate inside and outside the classrooms and their effect on learning.

Objectives
By the end of this lesson the learner will be able to
Discuss how each of the following factors operates to either promote or hinder learning
 The teacher
 The learning environment
 The learner
 The subject matter

The factors that influence learning

When we think about learning, the concern is about delivery of content assumably from the
teacher to the learner. The teacher is seen as the source of knowledge and his role is to deliver
the content for learners to imbibe. This lesson intends to bring out the fact that delivery of
content by the teacher or even the imbibing of the same by the learner is not a simple matter. It is
complicated and involves dynamic interactions of multi-faceted variables. This lesson discusses
the following variables and the operation of each one of them in influencing or hindering
learning.

 The teacher
 The learning environment
 The learner
 The subject matter

The teacher

When we look at teacher‟s role in influencing learning, there is need to take into account several
factors. Crucially we should recognize the role of the teacher as a facilitator of learning. As a
facilitator of learning the teacher has the enormous responsibility of ensuring that everything he
does goes a long way in facilitating or hindering learning. Even before we consider the delivery
of content it is imperative to look at other issues pertinent to the teachers role. Some of the issues
may look minor or irrelevant but their impact is not to be ignored. For example

The teachers grooming

This refers to the teacher’s management of self in terms of dressing and general appearance. The
teacher should be consciously aware of his role as a model. While the teacher may not afford
designer clothes, he is required to take good care of what he wears. It should be clear to the
students that the teacher’s takes time every morning to make himself presentable in every
possible way. Any teacher whose personal presentation is shoddy does himself and the student a
disservice. The teacher should dress in a manner that is compliant with expectations of required
decency. Both male and females can be indecent or indecent is relative and therefore leave it to
individual teachers to use their good discretion in order to observe acceptable modes of dress. In
any case the manner of dress and grooming tell about a person. When people first see you as a
teacher, they judge you by you appearance before they know where you can teach or not.

Teachers Competence

The teacher’s competence is considered in several issues. First among them, is his ability to
handle the subject matter and secondly his classroom management skills. Thirdly but not the least
in importance is his communication ability. The teacher’s competence in these areas is paramount
because it can determine the amount of learning that takes place.
We need to be emphatic that the teacher should be well informed regarding the subject matter,
conversant and comfortable with its scholarship and methods of delivery.

Classroom Management

Classroom management is a lecture discussed in this module and therefore it cannot be covered in
any depth here. However it should suffice to say that a good teacher is a good classroom
manager. He knows what to do when confronted with the specific challenges that present
themselves in any classroom manager is a good organizer. He is organized in his daily operations
and in the classroom.
Good organization helps to save time and other resources.

The teachers Communication Ability

Good communication is an art. It does not necessarily require the teacher to use huge bombastic
words so that pupils know that he went to school. It does not require him to be walking dictionary
either. It calls upon the teacher to gauge the weight of his words depending on the recipients‟
level. He should be fluent clear and simple. Of course we do realize that each subject has its own
technical jargon. The teacher should ensure that these technical words are well understood by the
learners. A good teacher is a good businessman. He has something to sell and the buyers are the
learners.

A good teacher is a good businessman. He has something to sell and the buyers are the
learners. For this reason he should maintain a pleasant atmosphere and not show hostility.
Some teachers behave as if the classroom is a war zone and sometimes they have a good reason
to do so. If the teacher knows that he is unprepared for the lesson or lacks the necessary mastery
of content he may result to the use of defense mechanisms like fault finding, being excessively
punitive among other negative practices. One important aspect of teacher behaviour is his attitude
towards the profession, the school, the pupils, or even himself. If the teacher’s general attitude is
positive he will most likely maintain conditions favorable for learning.

The Learning Environment

The learning environment refers to the facilities available for use by the learners. These are: the
classrooms, the field, the laboratories, the dining room and dormitories. The issues of concern
here are appropriateness or inappropriateness, over crowdedness, ventilation and the psychosocial
environment.

Over crowdedness

Speaking to teachers reveals that many classrooms in Kenyan schools are overcrowded.
In some classrooms the teacher does not have space to stand or even move around. This means
ha cannot monitor learner’s behaviour effectively. A classroom that is overcrowded is
uncomfortable for both the teacher and the learners. Over crowdedness is a factor causing
maladjusted behaviour. If the teacher is unable to access every pupil in the classroom there those
pupils who will engage in divergent acts like writing letters, reading novels, dozing or even
daydreaming while the lesson is in progress.

Appropriateness

There are learning environments, which are inappropriate for use, for example:
 Lesson that are scheduled in the dining hall next to the school kitchen. In this
environment learners are exposed to the various stages of food preparation as well as the
foods get ready. Hungry learners will not be motivated to be very attentive during the last
two lessons just before lunchtime break.
 Also there are schools whose locations are inappropriate, her I have in mind those
schools in the middle of towns sandwiched between bars, hotels and noisy operations that
go on in the heart of town. These school locations are a big hindrance to learning.
 Ventilation
Ventilation refers to the amount of air circulating in the classroom. Fresh air is important because
it burns food into energy. If there is enough air circulating in the classroom the pupils are likely
to be dull, lethargic and inattentive. Poor ventilation can be caused by overcrowded- ness and
inappropriateness of a learning environment. For learning to be influenced positive by then the
issue of proper ventilation should be addressed in every school facility.

Quality of buildings

The overall quality of the school buildings is an important factor in either promoting or hindering
conditions for learning. Buildings provide security and warmth. Properly constructed buildings
keep the natural elements away i.e. the rain, the wind, the sun, the cold.
 If the school buildings are not firm the wind blows away the roofs and sometimes children
are harmed or even killed.
 During rainy seasons children feel unsafe particularly in lightening prone areas. If no
highlighting arrestors are installed then children live in fear because they know they are
likely to be harmed or even killed by highlighting. Even issues such as ensuring that the
classroom has a ceiling can affect learning.
 Without a ceiling the classroom can become unsafe particularly when it is raining. Pupils
can have most of the rainy afternoon wasted because the teacher’s voice gets drowned in
the din of the raindrops on the iron roofs.
 Sometimes pupils learn in buildings that have been condemned and therefore unusable.
They may be afraid that walls or roofs will cave in and injure them.

The learner characteristics

The learner is the person for whom the learning process is intended. The teacher should always
bear in mind the fact that learners bring to class a wind range of differences in any one classroom
situation. These differences are bound to influence learning. In this lesson the following learner
characteristics are addressed:

 Personality dispositions
 Intellectual giftedness
 Motivational levels
 Conflicts of interest
 Social-economic backgrounds.

Personality Dispositions

Some of the personality dispositions of learners that the teacher needs to understand are the
following: emotionality, sociability, and ability to cope with stress and even learners management
of problem situations.
There are learners who have serious problems managing anger, frustration and other emotions
they experience and as a result learning is affected negatively. Also there are those pupils who
have problems making and keeping friends due to deficiency and social skills. They may be constant
conflict with peers and classmates a situation which will affect learning of them and their peers.
Coping with stress and even managing problems situations cause difficulties for some pupils.
Basically, the teacher should be aware that if there are problems emanating from any of this issue,
learning will not be promoted.

Intellectual Giftedness

Learners bring to class differences in intellectual giftedness. There is the high, the average and
low intellectual giftedness. Sometimes teacher may run a lesson that favours the highly gifted
learners. It is the intention of this lesson to remind the teacher that every leaner has the right to
benefit from classrooms interaction. Every learner should be given a chance to benefit from the
lesson .the view that the classroom is owned by a few learners while the majority of learners is
there to warm the classroom for the gifted ones should be discarded. The teacher should cater for
individual differences to ensure that every learner is attended to. The teacher should also make
sure that each learner is helped to realize their potential so that an “A” student gets the “A” the
“B” student gets the “B” and so on. Any “A” student who gets a “B” is under achieving and any
“B” student who gets a “C” is under achieving and this situation should not be accepted nor
allowed. If a learner is under achieving proper investigation as to why this is happening should
be carried out.

Motivational Levels

Motivation refers to the amount of energy and the time the learner puts in an activity. A learner
may be highly motivated and therefore spends a lot of time and energy pursuing a subject.
Another learner may have only average motivation while yet another learner may lack motivation
completely. The teacher should discover ways and means of maintaining the high levels of
motivation in highly motivated learners. He should also find out why learners may lack
motivation to pursue a subject. Motivation and achievement are related in that the highly
motivated learner is expected to show high performance. The teacher should discover both the
teacher and learner factors that cause low motivation. Lesson seven which is on motivation will
help the teacher to develop skills to use to motivate the learners. All the pertinent issues on
motivation are handled in detail in that lesson.

Conflicts of interest
Sometimes learners fail to attend to the learning task even when the teacher is doing his best to
promote conditions for learning. This can happen if the pupil has other interests that conflict with
the learning tasks. Sometimes the pupil has a problem that is social in nature, may be he has been
has received news from home that somebody is unwell or there is disharmony. During the lesson
those home issues distract this particular learner. May be the pupil has quarreled with a friend or
has been wronged by another and tends to focus his interest in this direction other than to the
ongoing lesson. There are many things that could distract a learner at any one time and the
teacher should handle each issue with a lot of sensitivity.
 The Social-Economic Backgrounds

The pupil’s social economic background is a factor that will influence learning one way or the
other. Some learners come from backgrounds where few resources that are needed for learning.
They may not have books or writing materials or even adequate facilities to do their homework or
further study. When these pupils come to school with unfinished work, untidy work or even late,
the teacher should handle each situation with sensitivity because at times the teacher’s approach to
a problem may actually aggravate it instead of easing it.

The subject Matter

Many years ago Ausubel, (1978), Burner, (1960) stated that schools exist to foster intellectual
growth by transmitting knowledge and basic skills. They further acknowledge that learning
should facilitate intellectual growth. For this reason it is important to discover those factors that
coupled with those discussed above will facilitate learning in the classroom situation. Of course,
when the teacher goes to any classroom with the purpose of holding a teaching-learning session
he takes with him some content. The content can refer to as subject matter, which in turn can be
transmitted to mean certain facts, principles, skills or procedures. These could be from any
subject, topic or sub-topic. If all other factors are considered, that is, the learning environment,
the teacher characteristics, the .learner characteristics and so on then the teacher turns his focus
on what should be done to make the content learnable. The teacher must ensure that the content
must be presented in such a way that the learners can imbibe ort assimilate it into their cognitive
structure. The most important factor to consider here is ensuring that the learner finds the content
meaningful. Meaningfulness of content is a critical issue in the sense that it leads to
understanding. Indeed meaningfulness and understanding are the essence of classroom learning.

Meaningfulness of Material

The important of meaningfulness of content lies in the fact that, what is meaningful is easy to
process mentally. It rends itself easy for storage in memory. It is easier to retrieve.
It makes the learner comfortable and ready for further learning. This reduces frustration for both
the learner and the teacher. This fact has been demonstrated amply in experiments where learners
are exposed to meaningless content by rote. When memory of content is tested one thing comes
out crystal clear. That is, learners will remember meaningful content better. They will have
problems remembering meaningless content.

I am sure that you have discovered that it is difficult to process and remember content A while
content B poses no problem at all whatsoever. The same thing happens to the pupils. If they find
the content meaningless, they are unable to process it and to remember it. For this reason the
teacher should make every possible effort to ensure that the learner finds content meaningful. In
order to achieve this goal the teacher could try the following suggestions.
Expose the learner to potentially meaningful material. This refers to ensuring that the content has
the potentiality of being meaningful to the learner. This can be tricky at times. Sometimes the
teacher himself may experience difficulty processing content and finding it meaningful. If the
teacher does not find the content meaningful, then it becomes difficult to help the learner to find
 it meaningful. This is allegorical to the blind man who cannot lead another. Of course a teacher
will never admit that he finds content difficult.

At best he will deal with it superficially, or skip it all together. Some teachers will ask learners to
make notes from textbooks. I tend to assure the teacher that he can avoid embarrassing situations
while dealing with content. He should admit it to himself that work needs to be done to make
content meaningful to himself. He should follow the suggestions given below.

Read several sources of particular information. Different sources highlight different angels of a
situation. After reading those sources the teacher will be more enlightened.

The teacher could also consult colleagues, who will share their own experiences, their approach
even sources they have found helpful. By the foregoing the teacher is required to be resourceful
and not rely on a single textbook or some notes made many years ago.

The teacher should keep a breast with current developments in the content area. He should have
more in his bag of tricks so that at no time should he find himself inadequate.
The teacher who finds content meaningful goes a step further to ensure that the learner is helped
to find meaningfulness as well. In this context the teacher should select the content, organize it in
a potentially meaningful way. To do this the teacher ensures that the content is consistent with
the learner’s developmental level. This means that before content is presented to the learner, the
teacher has already gauged the readiness level of the learner. This refers to cognitive or mental
ability of the learner to imbibe the content. Here, the learner‟s motivation also counts. By learner
motivation we refer to the learners desire to want to know.

Readiness of the Learner

It is important to look at the role of the teacher closely in this context. The first thing he should
do is to assess the readiness of the learner by identifying the knowledge the learner already
possesses, the learners abilities, motivates and experiences and make those starting point.
Secondly, present the material in a style that captures the students‟ motivation. In doing this, the
teacher ensures that the content is well linked with the learner’s experiences and where examples
are given they should be derived from the learner’s world. Problems are experienced in some
cases when teachers make the subject matter abstract. Abstract content has no bearing in the lives
and experiences of the learners. It is irrelevant and therefore learning it becomes difficult.
Bringing out the usefulness of content is an important concept. This is the idea of making the
content relevant to the needs of the learner making him perceive it as useful to him.

Activity
Think about a particular topic in any of your teaching subjects identifying ways and means of bringing out
its usefulness or relevance in the lives of learners. What is it about the content that should make learners
want to learn it?

 Every year a question is always set from the topic in the KCSE examination
 The content is useful every day to day life of the learner and with examples
 The content helps in understanding other concepts in the same subject or in other subjects
 A.C.A.T. will be set from the topic.
 The concept is interesting in its own right.
 Discovery learning
Still on the issue of encouraging meaning and understanding the teacher should encourage
discovery learning. This can be done by giving learners assignments that require them to do their
individual or group projects in the library or in the field. In this area the teacher should refer
learners to specific sources of information with enough guidance that spells out the concepts,
meanings, and relationships to be discovered. Once learners have done their projects, they can
present their findings in class for the purposes of enriching each pupils or groups finding by
integrating all the findings. This way each on the principle that knowledge that is self-discovered
is more significant to the learner and is remembered better.

Concept Learning

Concept learning too enhances both meaningfulness of content and understanding for the benefit
of enhancement of learning.
The learner should not be exposed to facts that are isolated. Instead he should be helped to
perceive relationships and classifications. In other words, he should be exposed to the big picture
and not small unrelated pictures. If the learner can understand a concept then he can also transfer
the knowledge to future situations.

Summary

In this lecture we have looked at factors that influence learning. We have identified the role
played by the following specific factors.
 Learning mainly deals with delivery of content
 There are teacher characteristics, which could operate to enhance or hinder learning.
 There are characteristics of the learning environment, which will learn.
 Learner characteristics with a focus on differences that exist among learners.
 The characteristics of the subject matter dwelling on meaning an understanding.

Key Words

Imbibe – to assimilate knowledge

 Intellectual giftedness – refers to the variations in intelligence that occurs in any one classroom
situation. Some learners have high IQ score others are average and others low.

Learning environment– any environmental factor that affects learning. It can refer to the
physical environment or the social environment.

Motivational levels – the amount of energy a learner directs towards he learning task.

Rote – memorization of meaningless content that the learner does not really understand.

Subject Matter - content or the, facts, principles that the teacher intends to deliver.

Teacher characteristics – any teacher factor that influences learning. The characteristics have to
do with teacher personality, mastery of content, classroom management, attitudes etc.

Review/Discuss Questions
Discuss how the following factors are likely to have a positive effect on
learning:
 Grooming
 Mastery of content
 Positive attitudes towards learners

Explain what schools should do to ensure following environmental conditions facilitate learning:

 The classrooms
 The location of the school

1. Outline what you should do in order to ensure that learners find content meaningful.
2. In your own opinion, which factors predominate to determine what learners will learn
easily and what they will find difficult to learn?

Transfer of Learning

Introduction

Knowledge that is learned in school is intended to prepare the student for life outside school.
Content learned in one context can be applied in another context within the same subject or in
another subject. For example, learning how to sew a shirt on a sewing machine during home
economics lessons should help a student to sew a skirt at how.

Also learning English grammar should help a student write correct English. Therefore transfer of
learning is key concept. It refers to the ability to apply knowledge from situation to situation
learning will have little purpose. In this lesson I have discussed transfer of learning focusing on
the definition of the term, aspects of transfer, teaching for transfer.
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson the learner will be able to:

 Define the concept transfer of knowledge
 Explain the importance of transfer of learning
 Describe aspects of transfer of learning
 Outline three types of transfer
 Describe two methods of teaching for transfer

Definition of Transfer of Learning

We shall first look at situations that help us transfer of learning takes place we could say that
transfer of learning occurs when previously learned content influences current learning positively
or negatively. For example, when students learn a mathematical principle, which can be used to
solve a physics problem, this is positive transfer.
From the foregoing we can define transfer of learning as the process that enables us to make
previously learned responses in new situations. Transfer results in the ability to perform sensibly
and adequately in a new task as a result of having performed other tasks previously.
Put simply, transfer of learning is to apply mathematical formulae to compute mathematical
problems or, the ability to use knowledge in mathematics to understand balancing equations in
chemistry or physics.
Aspects of Transfer

There are two basic aspects of transfer. These are

 Discrimination
 Generalization
Discrimination

When the learner is exposed to knowledge or skills that are similar he should understand all the
specific features so that he applies in each situation only those aspects that are applicable and
leaves out those features that are not applicable. Ivan Pavlov illustrated the idea of discrimination
when conditioning dogs to respond to bell tones. In discrimination training he would give the
dog food and therefore it‟s salivated when the particular tone was presented. Likewise when it
comes to transfer of learning the pupil should be able to pick out specific features from the
general features and use them. A good illustration here is the use of the following documents: the
dictionary, the catalogue and the directory. These documents have general and specific features;
the general features are found in the arrangement of content. All documents have their contents
arranged alphabetically and therefore require the same skill in their usage. However the aspect of
discrimination comes in when we consider the type of information found in each document.

When we want to look up meanings of words we pick out the dictionary. When we wish to get
some address or telephone number we pick out the dictionary and when we wish to locate some
basic information can be applied. There are general guidelines that are used to produce bread or
cakes but when the baker wants to bake bread with raisins or fruitcake or even teacake he applies
very specific features by using discrimination.

Discrimination is an aspect used every day in computer programming. There are general features
and specific feature in computer operations for example; all computer programs have an
interaction interface. These are specific features like calculations, typing documents carrying out
simultaneous and so on. It is the user who determines the specific feature to use depending on the
task to be performed.

Discrimination as e have noted requires the ability to pick out the difference, i.e. what we apply
in a specific situation and what not to. This involves the understanding of specific features.

Generalization

This means understanding the general features, the similarities or sameness of information or
skills. For example: the dictionary, directory and catalogue are similar in the information but the
similarity ends there. In baking there are similar procedures of making ingredients and using
baking pans and ovens for the product.

In computer operations the skills used to open the computer and to access information is the
same. In generalization therefore, the learner understands the general features.
Pavlov conditioned dogs to acquire generalization training. He would call different tones and
give the dog food every time a tone was sounded. This dog knew that as long as there was a tone
no matter which one food was on the way. This dog knew that as long as there was a tone no
matter which one food was on the way. Similarly, learners can acquire generalization in transfer
of learning.

This means understanding the general features, the similarities or sameness of information or
skills. For example the dictionary, directory and catalogue are similar in the way information is
arranged alphabetically. These documents use the same skills to search for information but the
similarity ends there. In baking there are similar procedures of making ingredients and using
baking pans and oven for the final products. In computer operations the skills used to open the
computer and to access information is the same. In generalization therefore the learner
understands the general features.

Types of Transfer

There are three types of transfer:

 Zero transfer
 Negative transfer
 Positive transfer

Zero transfer
This refers to acquiring knowledge, skills or principles that are not transferable from one
situation to another. Therefore, learning one subject has no effect on the other one positively or
negatively. Examples of zero transfer can be illustrated by the learning of mathematics and
Kiswahili. Unless Kiswahili is used as a language of instruction in mathematics there is no other
relationship between the two. Mathematical principles will not help a learner understand
Kiswahili principles or vise versa.

Other examples can be illustrated between geography and music or fine art and biology.
These two pairs of subjects share no meeting ground. Each is independent from the other in
terms of facts, skills, principles and technical jargon. The learning of one is independent from the
learning of the other and does not inhibit nor enhance the other.
Negative transfer

Negative transfer occurs when content in a subject or in two different subjects has a negative
influence one another. This happens when what is learned is one situation hinders or inhibits
what is learned in another situation. For example, if a learner is introduced to two new
languages, which are similar at the same, time experiences difficulties mastering both languages
simultaneously due to inhibition or interference.

English interferes with German and vise versa. Negative transfer operates much the same way as
proactive and retroactive inhibition does. Before mastering of each is achieved there is a lot of
back and forth movement and even mix-up of English and German words.

Consequently this brings about a slowed process or retardation in the learning process.
However with enough practice and mastery of both negative transfers is minimized and even
eliminated all together.

Positive Transfer

Positive transfer occurs, when knowledge acquired is one situation helps the learner to acquire
knowledge, skills or principles in another situation much faster. For example learning of
mathematical principles enables the learner to acquire principles in physics. There are many
illustrations of positive transfer in the school setting, which can be mentioned here: for example,
learning grammar in any language and writing compositions in the language.

The learning of Biology and

Agriculture Learning of Physics and
Mathematics
Learning of Chemistry, Biology and Agriculture, Mathematics, Geography, Business Education,
Chemistry and Physics. Positive transfer indicates a positive relationship between particular topic
areas given subjects or even two or more content areas in different subjects.

Positive transfer can operate at two levels. These are:

 Lateral transfer (horizontal)
 Vertical transfer

Lateral transfer

Lateral transfer occurs when a learner is exposed to content that is applicable to another subject
or situation at the same level. For example, a child who is trying to learn basics in arithmetic
discovers that (4*9=36, 9*4=36), (3+5=8, 5+3=8) is transferring knowledge laterally or
horizontally. Secondly when a learner acquires the basic skills of baking a cake in school he
applies the knowledge to bake at home horizontally. He will use the same ingredients, the same
measures and the same baking methods as learned at school.
Thirdly mathematical skills and principles taught in form one helps the learner to acquire
principles and skills to master form – one physics. So this kind of transfer is applicable at the
same level and basically foundational.
Vertical transfer

Vertical transfer occurs when knowledge is applied to the other learning‟s at a higher level either
in the same subject or in another subject. For example form one mathematical series is
foundation of form two, form three and form four mathematics. This happens at all application of
subject areas in an ascending order. For vertical transfer to occur the subject should be well
mastered at the foundational levels so that learning is given a chance to generalize and become
useful further along the learning process. For example when a pupil masters simple grammatical
rules he is enabled to speak correct English, write competently and to study other subjects in
English as well.

Also when a pupil masters simple arithmetic and numeracy he is able to acquire complex
concepts in mathematics and physics.

Teaching for transfer

There are several basic ways of teaching for transfer

 Substantive (specific).
 Procedural (general) transfer.
 High road transfer.

The substantive method

The substantive method refers to specific transfer of rules, facts or skills. It is direct transfer of
knowledge from one situation to another. For example applying rules of punctuation to write a
job application letter or using the knowledge of the alphabet to find a word in the dictionary. To
facilitate this type of transfer the teacher exposes the learner to the substance of the material to
be applied. This is very common phenomenon in computer programming. If certain computer
program is required in a persons occupation, the person is taught that particular computer
program during training. Also in dress making the person is exposed to actual dress making skills
needed on the job . A surgeon is trained in a hospital setting and performs surgery under
supervision.

There are many examples that can be cited. The most important concept here is the exposure of
the substance of material to be applied and lots and lots of practice.

High road transfer.

This is training learners consciously apply abstract knowledge learned in one situation to
different situations. There are two methods of doing this;”
 Forward reaching method
 Backward reaching method.

1. Foward reaching method

This method is when a learner intends to use principle or strategy in future. He plans transfer in
advance. For example a surgeon taking theory and practical during subsequent semesters may
do some forward planning . during the theory semester he may search for and collect all the
relevant skills and procedures from the surgeons‟ literature with the intention of applying them
during practical or “hands-on” sessions. Also a teacher preparing for teaching practice may
search for principles about teaching and learning (pedagogical skills) he may search in the focus
areas like how to motivate learners, the art of classroom management and so on with the
intention of applying the same during actual teaching. This kind of transfer is forward reaching
in the sense that the person looks forward to applying it in future situations.

2. Backward reaching transfer

This method is used when the learner is faced with a problem situation that requires some prior
knowledge. The person has to look back on what he has been learned in previous situation to
help to solve the new problem. This method requires the person to search for other related
situation that might provide clues to the situation of the current problem.
The most important thing in this kind of transfer is mindful abstraction or deliberate
identification of a principle or main idea. Strategy or procedure that can apply to many
situations. This guides future learning and problem solving.

The procedural method

This method is useful when applying knowledge about hoe principles and rules apply across a
wide variety of situations . it includes the learning of broadly applicable concepts, principles
and procedures for example when pupils learn the meaning of words such as untie, unfair, is
useful to learning that prefix un means not or contrary to.

A activity
1. Apply the rule about the prefix un to find the meaning of the following words:
Unaccompanied, unarmed, unlocked, unfastened, uncooked, unbalanced and
unsteady.

2. Add the prefix un before the following words and explain their meaning :
fortunate, do, pack, ravel, accomplished, deterred, detected, focused.

To train learners to use this method the teacher should present them with a wide array of
examples in which they can see how new principals and techniques are used. The examples
should be drawn from real world settings.

Note

In order to ensure that transfer is given all the probability to occur. The teacher should ensure the
following:
1. That training situation are made as similar to the real world situations as possible. if
the real world is not accessible to the student it should be described to them.
2. Provide many practicals on the original task before the transfer task is attempted.
3. Stress transfer both inside and outside the classroom. This means that when teaching.
Transfer should always be in focus.
4. The teacher should use specific, concrete examples from television, newspapers,
schools activities, current events and life in general.
5. The teacher should advise projects and competitive games that foster, transfer.
 6. Finally the teacher should always test for transfer.

Summary

This lecture has focused on the learning. Transfer of learning is the application of use of the
acquired knowledge in different situations.
Transfer of learning has two aspects
 Generalization and discrimination.
 Type of transfer identified is.
- Zero which occurs, when
- Negative- which has a negative effect
- Positive
. Lateral horizontal
. Vertical at higher levels
 Methods of teaching for transfer
- Substantive method
- High road method
. Forward reaching
. Backward reaching
- Procedural method.

Key words

Discrimination: - Ability to apply specific elements of a situation leaving out what is not
applicable.

Generalization: - ability to apply general or similar features of situation

Highroad transfer :- Training learners to consciously apply knowledge either forward or

backward.

Horizontal transfer:- Occurs when knowledge is applicable at the same level.

Negative transfer :- occurs where two content areas affect the learning of each through a
process similar to inhibition. When the learning of particular content has a negative effect on the
learning of another content area.

Procedural transfer: - applying broadly applicable at the same level.

Substantive transfer: - Application of knowledge directly.

Transfer of learning – The usage of application of acquired knowledge skills or procedures in

new situations.

Vertical transfer: - occurs when content is applicable higher along the learning process.
 Zero-transfer: - occurs when two content areas are unrelated and therefore have no effect on
each other.

Review/ discussion questions

Imagine two novel situations that you would require your students to show:
a) Discrimination
b) Generalization

Bring out the difference between zero and negative transfer clearly

With examples show illustrations of:

(A) Lateral transfer.
(B) Vertical transfer.

Individual Differences in Learning

Introduction

This lesson shifts its focus on a question that every teacher must ask all the time. That is what
causes individuals differences in intellectual ability and achievement. Teacher experience show
that learners in the class, with the same books and the same teachers show variations in
achievement. This lesson may not be exhaustive in the examination of causes of individual
differences but it is hoped that it will leave the teacher more informed and still searching for
more answers and solutions.
Objectives

By the end of this lesson the leaner should be able to explain the roles played by the following
factors in contributing to individual differences
 Hereditary
 Environmental

The learner will be able to discuss how the following factors cause individual differences.
 The home environment
 The Social Economic Status
 The school environment

What causes individual differences in learning?

When we deal with a topic like individual differences in intellectual ability and achievement. W
e must bear certain things in mind first, there is need to realize that individual differences and
intellectual ability is difficult to define and measure due to the complexity and dynamism of the
valuables that interact to produce this difference for the purpose of this lesson, we shall define
intellectual ability as the capacity to acquire and use knowledge to adapt to the environment. We
must also ask the question of where intelligence comes from and answer it. According to
Lafrancois, (1994) intelligence does not just happen it has a cause. For this reason we must have
revived the old age controversy regarding the determination of all human traits intelligence being
one of them. This is nature- nurture debate, which has been used to explain variations that exist
among people. Observation members of the same family reveals marked contrasts in appearance,
interests and abilities. In study of what causes these difference psychologists have developed
three positions. These are, hereditary, the environmental and interactional position or
approaches.

The Hereditary Position

Adherents of this position believe strictly in the role played by genes in the determination of
human traits. This position holds the view that it is nature and not nurture that determines the
intellectual giftedness of individual children. According to this view, intellectual ability is
genetically determined. Studies done by various psychologists have tended to confirm high
correlations in IQ among identical twins reared apart. This view holds the belief that during
fertilization when maternal and paternal genes interact, IQ is fixed. Therefore some children
inherit high IQs while still others receive low gifts in this trait. This position does not
acknowledge the role different environments may play in modifying intellectual ability. This
position holds the view that intelligence is fixed and the child is helpless pawn of the dictates of
nature.

The Environmental Position

The second position takes the environmental approach. Adherents of this position believe that
experiences provided by different environmental conditions and demands shape intelligence.
Among these psychologists is the J.B. Watson, who prided himself that if he were given a dozen
children and his own environments to raise them in, he would produce any kind of a person. He
would shape one into a beggar, another into a thief, the third into a banker and so on. This
position attributes variations and intellectual ability to environmental causes. Children‟s
intellectual giftedness is ultimately determined by nurture not nature. This view focuses on the
importance of improving environmental conditions, enriching them in order to influence
intelligence positively. Those children who are raised in enriched environment have their IQ
stimulated and enhanced.

The Interactinist Position

Today heredity versus environment is no longer an important question. The more important
question is has to do with how individual and environments interact during development with the
process that accounts for intellectual change of special interest, its how defects can be remedied
and gift fostered, (lefrancois,1994) Adherents of this position recognize that genes or nature
contribute certain potentiality towards intellectual endowment but the actual determinant to what
a child intellectual ability will be lies in the interaction between what is genetically given and
the environment . This position identifies the interaction between nurture and nature as the sole
determinant of the intellectual ability in a child. This is popular held position today and we need
to examine what genes contribute towards the shaping of intellectual ability.

What Genes Give

The question of concern here is weather genes fix intellectual ability. Genes do not fix
intelligence as such; they the blue print of intellectual abilities. By this we mean that genes
establish a wide range of possibilities or potentialities. These potentialities are bound to unfold in
relation to the range of possible experiences that the environment can provide.
Put in another way, genes provide the raw materials for intellectual abilities and set the limits.
This means that even the environmental influences modify the inherited potentials within certain
limits. For example a child may inherit a potential towards average IQ, which has its own ranges.
All teacher and the best environments can do for such a child is to help him realize his maximum
potential. These potentials are analogous to a rubber band, which can remain unstretched or
stretched to various lengths. The rubber band can be stretched all the way and can be stretched
until it breaks. This analogue is very important for learners. It suggests that the learning
environments should be arranged in a manner that will allow the rubber to stretch to full potential
but not to stun or break. When dealing with children we must know their gifts and limitation in
order to nurture the gifts and help improve on limitations. We should not allow a child with high
intellectual gift to underachieve and we should not expect a child with an average gift to show
outstanding performance. Every child should be allowed to perform within the limits of their
rubber band stretchability.

Different Environments.

The environmental influences include everything from the health of a child‟s mother during
pregnancy to the amount of poisonous substances in the environment to the quality of teaching
the child receives, (woolfolk, 1988).

We shall examine the influences of the following environments briefly:

 The environment before birth.

 The home environment.
 The school environment.

The Environment Before Birth (Pre-natal)

The first environment the human organism encounters is the uterus or the womb. This
environment has the potentiality of promoting the child‟s development as per the genetics plan or
changing the course of the development completely. in this environment the genetic blue print is
given chance to begin unfolding through the process of growth , malnutrition and development
of all characteristics programmed by the genes. These characteristics are physical, physiological
mental and physiological, if the uterus is baby “friendly” or compliant it produces nutrition,
warmth and security which allow the genetic pollution to unfold as per plan. The child is given a
chance to develop a healthy body and mental capacity. Those children meant to be highly gifted,
average or low intellectually realize their natural gifts. On the other hand the uterus should have
adverse effects on the developing child if the expectant mother is exposed to the following
teratogens:

 Under nourishment and malnourishment.

 Certain diseases during the first three months of pregnancy (e.g Rubella
and sexually transmitted diseases)
 Ingestion of psychoactive drugs or is dependent on them ( e.g alchohol, nicotine
or heroine)
 Certain medication (e.g antibiotics , anti-convultants and anti-malaria drugs ).
 High dosage of ex-radiation, prolonged stress or the Rhesus factor. This
conditions change their course of development in extreme cases causing either the
death of the unborn bay or stillbirth. If the baby survives the adversity that these
 conditions cause he may be physically or mentally defective or both. These means
that the baby who would otherwise have been born with a healthy and well
functioning body is born with physical and physiological defects. A baby who
would have been born with normal intelligence is born with mental deficits due to
the brain damage these conditions may cause.

So the womb as the first environment the human baby encounters is very critical. It sets the
foundations to the intellectual development. All other environmental effects come later and they
may come when damage has already occurred.

The Home Environment.

Ideally every child is born in a home. The environment means many things. A home has physical
and social dimensions. These refer to the building and the facilities as well as the people. The
home provides for all developmental needs of the children; - the physiological and physiological.
The manner in which this needs are provided for determining how the child will develop
physically and mentally. This lesson does not allow us to delve into all the logistics and
operations of the home. So we shall point out a few things that help to determine how the home
factors influence intellectual development. First it is critically important to point out that homes
are diverse environments. No other name is like the other and therefore their influence on
children‟s development is bound to vary. However, there are certain basic features that we can
examine in relation to their effect on intellectual development. We can broadly place homes into
two categories: the simulative and non- simulative homes.

The simulative homes

These are homes that are enriched in terms of facilities that promote intellectual growth; these
are things like paper, number, charts, pictures, colors and play materials. Besides these facilities
the child needs space in which to manipulate and interact with the provided facilities. These
facilities play a simulative role in the development of intelligence. They also aid in language
development. An enriched home provides the child with varying experiences, for example trips
to various places. In the modern world enriched homes expose children to facilities like
television and computers. All these facilities go a long way to stimulating a child‟s intellectual
growth.

The non- simulative homes

Here I am talking about the homes which do not promote intellectual growth. These are homes
that are impoverished. They possess minimal facilities. The material things present are only
those that are necessary for bare survival. These environments are restrictive as well as
monotonous and nothing exiting seems to happen. These are many homes where paper, pen
number, charts or colors are non-existent. Children never venture far from homes unless they are
sick and have to be taken to hospital. When a car visits the neighborhood the whole village goes
to witness the wonder. A child growing up in this kind of environment may have high levels of
intelligence but the necessary simulative is lacking. This child has limited experiences, even
fewer words to express himself and may have problems with ideas.
 Activity

Suppose you were asked to advise the chief of your location on issues concerning intellectual life
of the children in the location. How would you handle issues regarding mental health, family
planning and overcrowded school condition?

The social economic status(SES)

A glimpse into the relationship between the social- economic status and intellectual ability is in
order here. We have noted that children are born in homes that are simulative while others find
themselves in homes that are non-simulative. The question of concern is whether children born
in rich homes excel in intellectual ability while those born in poor homes fail intellectual ability.

Let‟s examine the term social economics status. This is a term used to refer to variations in
wealth, power prestige. We shall acknowledge that levels of wealth, power and prestige are net
always consistent and therefore not operational definable because of relativity inherent. An
example may suffice. Take for example teachers of professors in Kenya. These are members of
professionals that are prestigious but which provide little wealth or power. In Kenya too there are
people with political power but who may not be wealthy. If you have talked with wealthy man
who did not get a good education and there are many of them in Kenya, he holds an educated
person who has no wealth with respect. From these examples it is evident that we cannot use a
single variable, not even income to handle SES. This not withstanding most researchers identify
four general levels of social economic status the upper, middle, working class and lower. For a
long term the relationship between SES and school performance has been tricky. If you listen to
the stories told by the prominent lawyers, doctors, engineers and politicians you realize that they
tell one story. How they suffered their way up the educational ladder to be where they are today.

They were educated through bursaries, the sales of livestock. Stories about huge sacrifices by
individual families abound. These are people who did not have a second change of clothes nor
two pair of shoes. Yet they emerged a shining star in their fields. This means that in Kenya the
relationship between SES and intellectual attainment has no clear cut.

One question begs to be answered is SES the sole consideration determining a child‟s intellectual
performance? Studies done in this area seem to suggest that parents‟ education may not be
strongly related to child‟s excelling performance. Variable that has been found to yield positive
results in this area are parents‟ altitude towards education, their aspiration for the children and the
intellectual activities of the family. These studies explain why children from affluent family may
not necessarily excel in academic matters. We understand why many families with limited
income do an excellent job of supporting their children‟s learning because of their positive altitudes
and behaviors. Lack of income ceased to be an important factor for school, achievement. This
not withstanding an exploration of how poverty could militate against intellectual ability is
deemed necessary at this juncture.
Effects of low SES Achievement
There are cases where poverty acts as a motivator. This happens when parents have encouraged
their children or individual have worked hard to excel in academic work in order to get job and
escape from poverty. This scenario is very familiar to many educated people. These people are
whose efforts have been recognized and they have received support from well wishers and
bursary awarding bodies. There are many children who are not lucky and who seem bound in
completely difficult situations where they are unable to rise above average performance or even
mediocre ability even if they have average intelligence. This picture is occasioned by many
factors that exist and which help to maintain the cycle of poverty: limited resources, family
stress, interruption in this scholarship and discrimination. All these factors lead to school failure
or even school drop out for both boys and girls. When a girl or a boy drop out of school they get
poor paying jobs, they tend to marry and get children earlier than their age mates who continue
with their education. This leads to another generation born in poverty. Children raised in low
SES are exposed to hostile psycho- sociological environments.

 They may wear old and torn clothes.

 They experience problems in verbal and non-verbal skills –speaking
ungrammatically.
 There are less familiar with books and school activities. They
experience problems in verbal and non-verbal skills, speaking
ungrammatically.
 They experience difficulties in reading and comprehension, mathematics and
general information.
 Consequently teachers and other children may assume that these children are not
bright.
 They believe that these children are not good in school work and show a
negative altitude towards them.
 The low SES children may respond.
 Being more inhibited and withdrawn leading to repeated failure.
 Repeated failure leads tom learned helpless where the pupil comes to believe that
doing well in school is hopeless. The child has experienced many of his friends
and relatives who never finished their school anyway. So it is normal to quit
school as well. As we noted earlier if he does not finish school.
 He finds a less rewarding job where he barely ekes a living and continues to live
before poverty line.
 This kind of person tends to get more children than his income can support. These
children also drop out of school early and the poverty cycle continues.

Activity
Suppose you are the district director of education in your district what challenges would you like
to see affected in the homes and in the schools to ensure improved intellectual performance in the
district.

The school differs just like the homes. Some schools being more enriched that others and
therefore providing varying experiences.

 Like the homes, schools are made up of physical and human resources. The physical
 resources constitute the buildings and the facilities. Some of the school could provide
simulative environment for the intellectual development of learners while others remain
non- simulative. Issues of concern as mentioned earlier are adequacy, appropriateness,
and security of school facilities. These are those schools which are lacking in this and
those that are overflowing with them as it were. Equally important is the issue of human
resource mainly the teaching staff and the support staff. Like we have said about the
home, the altitude held by the teachers and the school administrative regarding their
pupils and very important in determining academic excellence or failure. Am sure you
have seen schools were nothing that one would ask for in term of facility is lacking but
when you examine the pupils‟ performance you are faced by appalling results. This goes to
show that good will of the teachers their positive attitude towards their work and towards
learners may hold the key to whether learners will succeed academically or fail dismissal.

Summary
In this lesson I have examined the cause of individual differences in intellectual ability and
discussed the following
 Genetic hereditary.
 Environmental conditions and demands, focusing specifically on:
 The uterine environment.
 The home environment.
 The social economic status.
 The school.

Key words.

Blue print- a kind of program me with the potentiality to unfolding in line with the inherited
properties of the organism and their interaction with the environment.

Environment :- all the forces that shape the child‟s life. These include the uterus , the home the
school as well as ecological factors that affect the developing person

Hereditary: - the passing down of traits from parents to offspring through the interaction of
genes.

Individual differences in learning: - refers to the marked variations among children in their
capacity to learn, the total knowledge a child acquires, ability to adapt successfully to the
environment in general.
Non- simulative: -Impoverished conditions, which retard or inhibit development.

SES: -Relative measure of wealth, power and prestige.

Simulative: -Enriched environmental conditions, which enhance to promote development.

Teratogens: - Any environmental agents that cause abnormalities in the developing foetus .
 Review questions

1. What do you think is the cause of mass failure in subject like chemistry or
mathematics in a school here students score very high marks in other subjects areas?
Do you think the students may have been born inability to learn them?

2. What in your opinion are the major causes of individual differences in

your real area ? is it poverty affluence or nature of school?

3. Suggest ways of improving performance in your district.