GES PROMOTION ONLINE CLASSES

FACILITATOR : KING SOLOMON

THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF THE DEVELOPING CHILD

MEANING OF LEARNING

Learning refers to any change in behaviour, which results from experience, observation or
activity. The effect of the change mush persist and recur over a period of time. The change must
be such that it is strengthened by repetition of practice.

Learning also includes the acquisition of skills, attitudes, knowledge or other type new
experience. Whenever change occurs in our actual or potential behaviour, whenever we acquire
understanding, enrich meaning, make associations, modify our standard of values, change our
emotional reactions or require skills, leaning has taken place .

Any change in behaviour that results from the use of drugs or from disease or as a result of
fatigue cannot be termed as learning.

When we talk about learning as being effective it means that the change that occurs or the skill
that is acquired is permanent and lasting. Therefore effective learning refers to the permanent
and lasting nature of change.

An illustration to show that learning results in change in behaviour is here given, a girl who has
never had any experience with a sewing machine is given a sewing machine for the first time and
asked to operate it. An observer would see that the girl would not be able to operate it she
would behave to show her ignorance about the machine.

At a later time that girl is again presented with a sewing machine. The observer sees that the girl
now confidently handles and operates the machine. The observer can concludes that the girl’s
behaviour in relation to the machine has changed because she has acquired some knowledge and
skill. Learning has taken place.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING

1. READINESS/MATURATION

Readiness come about as a result of maturation (physical and mental maturation). It is

the point at which one is in a position to learn to do something. Maturation describes a
developmental process that occurs as a result of changes that are relatively independent
of the child’s environment. Physical maturation involves the physical development of
muscles and the co-ordination system for the control that takes place in a growing child
 which is not dependent on exercise. It is a mistake to try to hurry a child to perform an
activity when he is not ready. Readiness is often indicated by an eager response to the
learning task with which the child is presented. It is always accompanied by rapid
progress once learning has begun.

Mental maturation is closely linked with physical maturation. The physical development of
the brain and the nervous system must take place before any intellectual activity can occur,
e.g leaning, thinking and remembering can take place. An example of mental maturation is
seen in the readiness for speech in children between the ages of one and two years. Vocal
organs are complete and the links between them and the brain are also ready. What is
lacking is the association in the mind between sounds and meaning. Here mental maturation
is necessary to effect that link. Children who are taught to read too early end up unable to
read for meaning.

2. LEVEL OF INTELLIGENCE

Generally the higher the level of intelligence of a pupil has, the easier it is for him to
understand, learn, retain and therefore remember.

TYPES OF MATERIALS TO BE LEARNED

The learning materials should be suitable to the child’s level of maturity. If the material is above
the child’s level, the child cannot understand and therefore will have problems.

1. Activity : This can be physical, mental, verbal or all three. Nothing is

learned unless we are active in it. We learn by doing and we do
what we learn.

2. Reinforcement : Generally activities that are rewarded tend to reappear in future

behaviour while unrewarded activities have a tendency not to be
repeated. Reinforcement also includes knowledge of results.
Reinforcement serves as a means of motivation.

3. Repetition/Practice: For the learner to learn a particular material well, he needs to be

exposed to that material several times after the first encounter with
it. So generally the more exposure to the material the better one
knows that material and the better is, he is able to retain it.

4. School Environment: A good environment e.g building furniture, teaching/learning

materials influence children to initiate their own leaning.

5. Socio – Economic Factors: Existing literature show that children from deprived
 backgrounds experience and have lower school
achievement than their counterparts from enriched
backgrounds.

Specific points that can be discussed are:

 Housing and number of facilities in the child’s home: where housing is adequate
and facilities like educative play materials, appropriate books etc. are available, better
learning takes place. Where there is overcrowding and inadequate facilities e.g no
place for child to study etc. There is low level of learning.

 Parental interest and encouragement: Children whose parents show a lot of interest
in their children’s learning and give them encouragement tend to perform better. On
the other hand children whose parents have little interest tend not to perform well. The
lack of interest itself makes the parents not to provide the needed facilities and
encouragement.
6. Emotional factors : When children have love and affection from parents and
teachers, they feel relaxed and are able to pursue learning
more defectively. Children who do not experience love and
affection from parents and teachers are full of anxiety and a
feeling of rejection. They retard their progress in learning.

7. Health Status : The health status of the child is an important personal

factor. Good health promotes learning while ill health;
especially prolonged, chronic conditions retard learning.

MOTIVATION

Meaning and importance

Motivation is the act or process of inducing or arousing and sustaining an activity in a person. It
is an impulsion that is based on a need, and makes done do things to satisfy that need. In the
classroom motivation arouses and sustains interest in the teaching and learning process
throughout the lesson and even after the lesson.

Motivation is important because of the following reasons

 Motivation helps learners to develop interest in learning.

 It sustains the learner’s involvement in the learning process.
  It offsets or reduces fatigue, boredom and tiredness
 It helps pupils to learn on their own and even in the absence of a teacher
 Motivation appeals to curiosity and attempt to develop self-learning. This makes the
learner to learn on his own even when not in school.
 It enables each learner to develop his own potential.
 Motivation serves as a source of positive reinforcement in learning.

Level of needs

The needs of human beings can be broadly divided into two. These are physiological and
psychological needs.

Physiological/Basic/Primary Needs : These are needs that are very essential for the survival
of the organism e.g the need for air, water food, rest, sleep, and activity. The need for sex is
essential for the survival of the human species or race.

Psychological/Secondary Needs: These are closely related to mental function. Usually they are
learnt. The satisfaction of these needs leads to proper personality adjustment. Examples are the
need for love and affection, need for security, need for belonging, need for achievement, need for
independence, need for recognition, need for self-esteem etc. Psychological needs can further
be broken down into other grouping like the following:

 Social Need: examples are the need to belong to a group, need to have close relationship
with a person or group of people, such as a family, need to be recognized, need to join in
co-operation activities.
 Emotional Needs: Examples are need for love and affection, need for security, need for
praise; need for responsibility.
 Economic Needs: Examples are need for money, need for independence in meeting
one’s material needs.

According to A.H Maslow, the various human needs can be put in a hierarchy starting with
physiological needs at the base, working through safety needs, love and belonging self-esteem
actualization; the desire to know and understand; ending in aesthetic needs at the highest level.
When individuals have the lower needs satisfied, then they can feel motivated to satisfy the
higher needs. During a time of crisis, when one is faced with making a choice between the
satisfaction of two needs, the tendency is always to satisfy the lower need first.

These then are some of the needs that drive us to engage in various activities with the aim of
satisfying them. So these needs become the motives for our activities. When there is an
unsatisfied need, a state of tension arises. Since we would always want to live with as minimum
tension as possible, we try to reduce the tension by satisfying the need.
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CLASSROOM TEACHER

Satisfying the Physiological Needs

Be aware that your pupils may occasionally be hungry or thirsty. Therefore,

 Permit snacks on an individual basis or have a routine break. That is why we have break
time on our timetable.
 Have a change of pace when necessary, changing their positions after sitting for a long
time let them stand and sing a song as a break.
 Try to keep the room temperature normal, by opening windows on hot days and closing it
on cold days.

Satisfying The Need For Safety

 Make your classroom physically and psychologically safe. This can be done by
establishing a generally safe classroom atmosphere.
 Pupils who fear certain things like being bullied by older pupils on the playground, fire,
enclosed spaces, etc. Try to explain that you will provide protection or take
precautionary measures.
 Establish classroom atmosphere in which learners know what to expect and can relax
about routine.
 Try to establish classroom routine in which learners can take initiative; like asking
learners to volunteer to do things.

Satisfying The Need For Belonging

 Learn to use names of pupils in class

 Keep detailed records for individual pupils and refer to accomplishment specifically.
 Try to arrange to have tutorial or interview sessions so that you can interact with all
students on a one to one basis.
 When a pupil is absent because of extended illness, arrange to visit him or send him a
get-well card signed by the entire class.
 Plan to have sessions in which pupils are invited to talk about interesting experiences or
make appropriate announcements.

Satisfying Self-Esteem Needs

  Minimise comparison with other encourage self-competition in which the pupil tries to do
better than he did in previous assignments.
 Permit pupils to work towards individual goals.
 Give individual assistance to slow learning pupils

EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Techniques used in motivating learners in the classroom can be seen as falling into two main
types. These are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic Motivation

This type of motivation is not naturally connected with learning. It is not part of the learning
process itself. It is imposed from outside, usually by the teacher. The results are immediate and
concrete. They serve as a source of reinforcement in learning. Examples of extrinsic motivation
techniques are the use of tangible and concrete rewards like marks, prizes, toys, money praises
privileges, and knowledge of results.

ADVANTAGES OF EXTRINSIC MOTIVATIONS

 These techniques are more defective with younger children who are not influenced by, or
impressed by the long-term value and practical value and practical use of the subject they
study.
 They are also effective with economically disadvantaged students and those how are
simply not interested in a particular subject.
 Extrinsic motivation in the form of encouragement, praise and knowledge of results has
an important value that is lacking in intrinsic motivation. It gives the learner an idea of
how he performs (feedback).

DANGERS OF EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

 The use of tangible rewards will make the learners learn in order to get a reward.
 It promotes excessive and unhealthy competition which produces anxiety and antisocial
attitudes like cheating, lying stealing etc. the rest are left disappointed.

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

This type of motivation is inwardly generated and naturally related to learning and therefore not
dependent on external influences. It is inherent either in the learning process itself or in the
knowledge of behaviour to be acquired. The emphasis therefore is on interest and excitement
based on some needs or drives like the following.

1. Curiosity: We know that children in Primary schools are naturally curious and would
like to explore. We can use this quality as a basis for motivating them. This is done by
 making the work in the classroom exciting and so arouses their curiosity and makes them
learn.
2. The Self-fulfilling Motive: Human beings in general are always interested in what will
make them feel important. This is the sef-fulfilling motive. We should therefore try let
the pupils feel involved in the various learning situations. As they are able to see the
result of work in which they have been involved, their self-esteem grows and this serves
as motive for further achievement. The discovery learning techniques can be useful here.
3. Future Aspirations: As the child sees how what he is engaged in is related to his future
life goals and aspirations, he is intrinsically motivated to reach that goal.

Examples of Techniques Used in Intrinsic Motivation Are:

 Discovery leaning techniques.

 Involvement in creative activities like pupils writing their own plays.
 Thought provoking, problem-centred situations as a basis for teaching.
 Open-ended questions to promote devergent thing.
 Debates and discussions and dramatization

ADVANTAGES OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

 It encourages greater independence in learning, as the learner sees the value of learning.
 Even when not in school, learners learns on their own
 Learning tends to be permanent and has more lasting effects even dafter the course is
completed.

GENERAL TECHNIQUES FOR MOTIVATING LEARNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

There are many ways through which the teacher can motivate his students in the classroom.
They include the following

 Curiosity: provoke the learner’s curiosity before starting a topic. For example by posing
a problem or giving a pre-test.
 Attention: arouse attention and interest by starting a lesson with something strange,
different or unusual. Use different ways of starting your lessons.
 Reinforcement: the teacher should use praise and encouragement often, especially for
average, slower learners and those who lack self-assurance, encouraging and positive
comments.
 Competition: the teacher should use group co-operation and team competition rather
than making individuals compete against each other. Encourage self-competitions, which
aims at intrinsic motivation.
 Feedback or knowledge of results: This inspires them to put in more effect
  Instructional materials: the use of teaching/learning materials and concrete objects as
well as practical experiences in the teaching and learning process
 Value: Learners should be made aware of the practical value of a subject or the felt
needs of the society. This will encourage children to be interested in those subjects.
 Instructional techniques: the teacher should plan his work to meet the different levels of
aspirations among the learners. He should provide differentiated materials, activities and
projects for children of different abilities and aspirations.
 The teacher should make use of dramatization and role-playing. This will encourage
students’ participation and involvement.
 The teacher organizes educational visits like field trips, excursions etc. from time to time
 The teacher must show attitude of acceptance so that the learners will feel loved and have
a sense of belonging.
 Structures in the classroom must be in good order so as not to pose a threat to the lives of
the children.

REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING

The Structure of memory

When we experience any learning material, it goes into the memory to be stored for further use.
When we remember something, it means that something was stored some time back in the
memory and we retrieve it. The process of remembering therefore involves retrieving from the
memory what we had stored. Psychologist who have studied the nature of remembering and
forgetting have postulated that the structure of the memory is made up two storage systems: a
short-term store or short-term memory (S”Sor STM) and a long-term store or long-term
memory (LTS or LTM).

When we are exposed to any information, we take it in through one or more of the senses. Any
such information goes into the short-term memory. In order to remember this information at a
later date there is the need to shift what we learn from this STM to LTM. We need to code it in
some way. The memory can be likened to a filing cabinet with a fixed capacity. Bits of
information that are not coded are pushed out of the memory by new items that enter the short-
term store. Again the information may be coded pushed into the long-term store but if it is not
done properly, it is like having a bad filing system in an office. The information is there but it
takes a long time for it to be retrieved. This explains why sometimes we remember the answer to
a question after handing in an exam. This means that it has taken a long time for that
information to be retrieved from the LTS. If we want to remember what we learn, we have to
store the material properly in order to retrieve it when we need it. The factors that lead to long –
term storage of learned materials and therefore aid remembering will now be discussed.

SOME FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO REMEMBERING

  Meaningfulness: Ronald E. Johnson (1975) in a review of research on meaningful
learning defines meaningful as follows: “Learning may be said to be meaningful to the
extent that the new task can be related to the existing cognitive structure of the learner,
that is the residual of his earlier learning. “this observation emphasizes the point that
memories are likely to be retained if they can be related to what is familiar. It also points
to the importance of association – connecting new material to what is already known.
 Mnemonic Devices: Sometimes we are required to learn things that are not logical or
sensible. It becomes difficult to associate with already known material. It therefore
becomes necessary to resort to mnemonic devices. Mnemonic devices are jingles or
phrases that we use to tie together ideas. A mnemonic aid or device is a trick to help
memory, which consists of inventing a way of linking together unconnected facts. There
are various ways in which this can be done. Examples are; taking the first letter of each
word and forming these letters into a single word that can be easily remembered; forming
the facts into a rhyme; or by fitting them to a rhythm of a tune which is familiar an
example is given for learning the names of the planets in order.

Mercury Venue Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

My Very Eyes May Just See Under Nine Planets
 Activity: This can be either physical or verbal. A . I. Gates (1917) found out that
students who spent half or more of their study time actively talking about learning
material remembered more than those who studies silently. Herein lies the essence of
having discussions. It has also been established that physical activity aids memorization
Kunihara and Asher (1965) demonstrated that foreign language students learned
vocabulary faster and were more likely to retain it when they acted out the words they
were learning.
 Recency and Frequency: The ability to remember also depends on how recent the
material is and how frequently the material is encountered. This brings into focus the
need for repletion, revision or practice. The best way of helping learners to revise is to
make them recall the material they have learned rather than the teacher repeating what he
has taught.
 Imagery: A mental image is a reproduction in the mind of past sense experience. Each
of the five senses has its own imagery. Imagery is the process of forming images. The
method used in teaching and learning should be such that the learner is able to form clear
images of what he is to learn. There are individual differences in the power of imagery,
the material should be presented so as to involve as many of the senses as possible e.g
spell aloud (hearing), write on the chalkboard (seeing), written exercises (feeling)etc
 Good Health: Generally good health enables one to remember what has been stored in
his memory,

SOME FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO FORGETTING

  Disuse/Fading: The idea is that people forget when the brain trace, which is the physical
record of memory fades away. Fading happens when the material or knowledge is not
used frequently. Frequent encounter with the material strengthens the brain trace; disuse
on the other hand appears to cause the material to fade quickly from memory.
 Interference: Here forgetting occurs because what the learner has learned previously
interferes with or prevents the recall of new material or vice versa. Interference occurs in
two ways.
 Retroactive Inhibition: The learning of a new material interferes with the ability
to remember the old material.
 Proactive Inhibition: The old material makes it difficult to learn and remember
the new material. Interference is most likely to occur when similar materials are
involved.
 Meaninglessness: Forgetting can occur because the material has not been incorporated
into the cognitive structure, the material has not been understood, and therefore cannot be
related to the cognitive structure. Since the material is meaningless, it becomes isolated
and therefore cannot be retained.
 Repression: This is the tendency to restrain or resist remembering disagreeable,
unpleasant experiences. If during learning some unpleasant experiences happen and the
learner succeeds in representing these experiences, the material being learned at the time
is also repressed or forgotten.
 Fear at the time of Recall: A person’s ability to recall facts which he knows may be
inhibited by the presence of fear or anxiety at the time of recall. For example, an actor
who gets frightened when he goes on the state for the first time in front of an audience
may forget his words, but as soon as he comes off the stage he is likely to remember
them.
 Insufficient time for Recall: Our ability to recall what we have learnt is improved if we
are given time to search our memories. The more time we spend searching out
memories, the more we find them. Haste hinders recall.
 Change of Surroundings at the time of Recall: Our experiences are associated with the
surrounding in which they occur. surrounding act as reminders of the experiences with
which they are associated. If the surrounding are changed, the reminders are moved and
so the individual may find difficulty in recalling these particular experiences.

WAYS IN WHICH THE TEACHER CAN PREVENT FORGETTING AMONG HIS

PUPIL

Make the material being learned meaningful in the following ways

 Use teaching-learning materials and other concrete experiences about events and
information to be remembered. Images, drawings, dramatization of events etc are good
strategies to aid remembering and so prevent forgetting.
  Explain why it is being learned, how it can be used and why it is of personal significance.

TO MINIMIZE INTERFERENCE

 Encourage and help learners to learn and master materials thoroughly at the start.
 Plan lessons to suit variety and interest. Alternate between intensive intellectual activity
and relaxing ones.
 Use distributed practice. For example, if you have 50 spelling work to be learned, it is
better to present 10 words a day during short study periods on each of several days than
to give all 50 at once.

TO COMBAT DISUSE

 Encourage frequent but distributed practice or repletion and regular review of what
has been learned
 Give short summary at the end of each lesson period.

TO COMBAT REPRESSION

 Make your room and your teaching pleasant and enjoyable. Other things being equal,
pupil learn more and remember more in an agreeable atmosphere. The obvious way to
avoid the negative influence of repression is to make life in your classroom as enjoyable
as possible. For example, you can decorate your room with attractive (but not too vivid)
displays. Act as if you are enjoying yourself like your pupils.

METHOD OF LEARNING

 New material should be related to already known material

 Similarities and differences between new and already know material should be made
clear to the learner.
 Make use of concrete materials help memory.

TRANSFER OF LEARNING

Transfer of learning, or transfer of training as it is sometimes called, refers to the effect or

impact, which a learned activity or a particular course of training has on learning or performing a
second activity. It is the application of knowledge or skill gained in one task, subject or situation
to another subject or situation.

Examples
  Knowledge in history should help us analyse and understand current events.
 Knowledge of learning theories should help us teach effectively
 Knowledge in physics can help us fix electrical appliances and gadgets around out houses

TRANSFER CAN BE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE

 Positive Transfer: When the effect of learning a previous activity is helpful to the
learning or performance of a second activity, transfer is said to be positive.
 Negative Transfer: When the effect of already learned activity or material hinders the
successful learning or performance of a second activity transfer is said to be negative. In
the teaching and learning enterprise we are connected with positive transfer and how to
promote it.

Transfer can be positive or negative

 Horizontal Transfer: This involves the use or application of knowledge or skills

learned earlier in a subject area to another subject area or situation within or outside
school. For example, applying knowledge of statistics learned in Mathematics lessons to
handle issues in social studies. Again using knowledge acquired while learning
principles of Accounting in school to run your provision store.
 Vertical Transfer: This is when knowledge or skill learned earlier in a subject area is
being used in the learning or performance of a more complex knowledge or skill later in
the same subject area. This makes the subject more meaningful and more readily learned.
For example, making use of the knowledge of ABC to locate words in the English
dictionary.

IMPORTANCE OF TRANSFER

The ability to apply knowledge in relevant situation makes it possible for us to value your
learning. It enable the individual to benefit from many situations in which his experiences can
be profitable employed. The teacher’s aim in any teaching-learning situation is to promote
effective learning in the learners. This can happen when learners have been able to make use of
knowledge acquired. This results from the teacher’s direct effort to encourage them to do so.

SOME CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR TRANSFER

 Similarity: similarity between tow subjects or activities concerned is important for

transfer to take place. When facts,, skills, methods etc are similar, transfer can take place
easily.
 Ability to see Similarities: This depends on individual expectations and level of
intelligence. Generally, brighter children are able to discover similarities and
generalization and apply them more effectively than children of average and lower
 intelligence. In any case, however, if the student is made aware of various situations in
which the learning is applicable, transfer is likely to take place.
 Understanding: Understanding basic principles and concepts underlying the subject
make transfer easier.
 Thorough learning: if the first subject or activity has been thoroughly learned, transfer is
more likely to result. Tasks that are well learned are easier to transfer than those partially
learned.
 Motivation : Transfer occurs best when the learner is motivated fully to apply what he
learned. Relevance of subjects to future life outside the classroom is a big motivator to
transfer.
 Verbalization: Students are able to transfer better, what they can verbalize or talk about
and also what they fine for themselves.

HOW TO TEACH FOR TRANSFER

Teach directly for transfer by the following means;

 Give specific examples of how concepts or principles can be related to other topic.
 Point out similarities and differences in learning situations.
 Suggest application of material being learned to life of the student both in and out school.
Children can also be made to think of problem situations where subjects can be applied.

Ensure that the method of teaching is such that the learner understand the material during your
teaching. Link new material with learner’s previous knowledge.

Make sure the learner learns the material thoroughly well.

Provide learners with enough opportunities for practicing or using the skills, principles and
concepts taught in a variety of situation. This promotes the learner’s understanding and
consolidates the material learned.

Make provision for individual differences in ability and interest. Give work of varying degree of
difficulty to fit ability levels of students

Provide motivation in the following ways;

 Clearly outline the purpose of a topic or subject and direct learner’s attention to its
achievement
 Explain to leaners the long-term value of the subject or topic,

TYPES OF LEARNING AND THEIR IMPLICATION FOR TEACHING

It is important for teachers to know how human beings, especially children learn. This will
enable them put what they want to teach in suitable ways for learning to occur easily and also to
expose them to the techniques that make learning easier.

People who have researched into learning theory have give various explanations on how learning
occurs. Similar ideas have been grouped together and today, we can identify three main
approaches in explaining learning. These are, The Behaviourist Approach, The Gestalt
Approach and The Cognitive Approach. For the purpose of this course we shall examine
briefly what each approach is about and focus on selected types of learning that derive from, and
are based on each of the approaches or theories.

PUNISHMENT

In contrast to reinforcements, which increase behaviour, punishments decrease or prevent the re-
occurrence of the behaviour or response. Punishments therefore deter or suppress rather than
encourage or reinforce an act or behaviour. Punishment should be minimized, although they are
sometimes necessary. If they are used, however, teachers should be sure that they actually
function as punishment by reducing the frequency of undesirable behaviour.

OTHER KINDS OF REINFORCEMENT

 Primary Reinforcement: A primary reinforcement is a stimulus that by itself makes the

individual desire more. It is related to an unlearned need or drive. It is not learned.
Examples of primary reinforcers are stimulus like food, water and sex, which satisfy
basic unlearned needs (primary needs).
 Secondary Reinforcement: A secondary reinforcer is a stimulus that is not reinforcing to
begin with (a previously neutral stimulus) that has become reinforcing as a result of being
repeatedly paired with a primary stimulus.

IMPORTANCE OF REINFORCEMENT

 As teachers we should watch out for children’s attempt at desirable behaviours and give
them the necessary encouragement.
 Reinforcement stresses the importance of reward in the child’s learning. Teachers should
reinforce pupils by sing approval and praise so that they may be encouraged to perform
better in future.

THE GESTALT APPROACH

Gestalt is a German noun, which is sometimes translated as form or pattern and sometimes as
configuration. These words call attention to the significance of relationships. The Gestalt view
cells attention to the fact that many things are learned when we arrange ideas into patterns, we
grasp how they are related.
INSIGHTFUL LEARNING

Human learning is the understanding of relationships through sudden awareness or “insight”.

This is usually referred to as “Aha” experience.

The process involved in insightful learning is traced as follows:

 The learner is confronted with a problem. In trying to solve this, he would think to see if
his previous experience could be used.
 He would then re-organize his ideas in different ways to see if it would help solve the
problem. This is where he needs a teacher guidance, direction or further information.
 He would then realize some new relationships in the idea he had which he did not realize
before. This would create in him the new understanding, which is called insight.
 The leaner then uses this to solve the problem.

LEARNING DIFFIUCULTIES OR DISABILITIES

Children with learning disabilities usually have average or even above average intellectual
potential but have difficulties, which involve specific disorders in the one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written information. This
makes their performance on relatively simple academic tasks such as reading and writing to be
inhibited.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING DIABLED CHILDREN

A learning disabled child may exhibit one or more of the following characteristics:

 Dyslexia: this is important in the ability to read. Dyslexics often see letters upside down
or reversed. They have difficulties with spelling and other reading-related tasks, they
are required to engage in school.
 Memory Problems: these problems show when children have difficulty remembering
information visually or auditorily over a time e.g children unable to remember basic
information about themselves and their family such as name, address, house number
date of birth etc.
 They may have trouble: In developing a sense of direction or position, such
distinguishing between left and right, up and down, and understanding time. There are
functioning with normal teaching.
 Dysgraphia: This involves difficulty with writing
 Hyperactivity: This is difficult in remaining seated, constantly moving from one desk to
another, or form one part of the room to another for no apparent reason. Hyperactivity
can also manifest in involvement in some motor process e.g constant tapping of finger,
foot, pencil etc. on the floor, or desk respectively.
  Strephosymbolia: This is reversal of symbols in reading and writing e.g “was” for
“saw”
 Disruptive Behaviour: The child shows overt aggressive behaviour and disrupts orders
in the classroom through fighting , quarrelling etc.
 Impulsivity: This child is quick to respond or react to questions, commands, events etc.
without thinking adequately about them.

PROBLEMS OF THE LEARNING DISABLED CHILD

Apart from his Academic problems the learning disabled child faces a number of social problems
including the following;

 Inability to read street signs or house numbers and telephone numbers

 Their peers often reject them
 Most people do not like them
 They encounter a lot of frustrations

MANAGEMENT AT SCHOOL: The following steps can be taken.

 Children’s strengths and weaknesses are to be explored and used effectively for the
child’s benefit.
 Teaching should be done through the multi-sensory approach, that is, using as many of
the senses as possible so that if a particular inoperative sensory channel is by-passed,
there is the likelihood that the desired learning will take place through some combination
of the intact channels.
 Academic tasks must be broken into smaller parts, and teach each task step by step.
 For hyperactive children the environment must be controlled by screening out
undesirable stimuli in the classroom. This will enable the child to concentrate
 The use of punishment should be very minimal.

MANAGEMENT AT HOME: The following may help:

 Provision of opportunities to build up motivation and enthusiasm for learning. Such

provision includes books, toys, magazines and being take on field trips
 Parents should be alert to any hint that the child is good at something, and reward the
least effort made by the child.
 Adults should not criticize but be supportive and directive. Be direct and positive in
talking to the child. If the child has trouble in following direction ask him to look at you
while you speak and then repeat what you have said.
 Let the child learn that he is significant, he must be treated with respect and allow to do
his own work.
 Parents should not push their children into activities for which they are not ready.
CAUSES OF LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

 Genetic factors – they tend to occur along family lines.

 Bio-chemical factors such as diseases e.g diabetes
 Brain injury or some form of damage to the Central Nervous System (CNS).
 Poor environment situation such as poor nutrition, poor health, poor sensory and
language stimulation
 Poor emotional and social development leading to extreame maladjustment.
 Educational factors such as
 Inadequate or poor teaching
 Irregular school attendance
 Overcrowded classrooms
 Too high expectations of teachers from children.
 Home Factors such as
 Harsh parents, excessive use of punishment to force pupils to learn
 Lack of facilities for learning at home
 Child labour

KING SOLOMON [0249770330]