NCERT Class 11 Home Science Learning Education and Extension

 

INTRODUCTION: By now, so much learning must have taken place in yourlife that you do not need to be told what it means. You would agree that learning plays a very vital role in our lives. It is the key to our knowledge,understanding and behaviour. We start learning from the moment we are born. In fact, research has shown that the foetus learns even in the mother’s womb! In other words, learning begins with life. Thus, learning can be described as–

• the acquisition of new behaviour or the strengthening or weakening of old behaviour as a result of experience.

 

 

 (i) Verbal learning: Acquisition of verbal behaviour such as learning of languages is the result of verbal learning. Normally, we use communication devices such as signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds and voices as instruments for this type of learning. It also includes learning of semantics or procedural knowledge from written or spoken prose. For example, learning by reading lessons in a textbook.

(ii) Rote learning or memorisation: This is also a form of verbal learning. However, this form gives less importance to understanding the deeper meaning and inferences of the subject being learned; instead it focusses on memorising the material. The major practice involved in rote learning techniques is learning by repetition. Rote learning is used in diverse areas, from mathematics to music to religion. For example: learning poems and multiplication tables or the Surahs/ Shlokas (religious sayings) are examples of rote learning.

(iii) Motor learning: In this type of learning we learn to use all types of muscles leading to physical dexterity and ultimately development of skill. Some examples are learning to swim, drive, sew, knit, type, play musical instruments, cycle, draw, paint, dance, etc. Acquisition and mastering of various skills through this type of learning provides confidence and satisfaction to the learner.

(iv) Concept learning: In concept learning an image is acquired in our mind as a result of perception, previous experience, training and/or certain cognitive processes. A mental image denotes a generalised idea about something. For example, when we have developed a concept of an animal called dog, every time the word ‘dog’ is uttered a mental image with all the characteristics of a dog comes to our mind. Concept learning is useful in recognising, naming and identifying things and ideas. Gradually this enables learners to grasp theoretical concepts such as justice, truth and heterogeneity.

(v) Problem-solving: As the name indicates problem-solving denotes higher order learning. It requires cognitive abilities like thinking, reasoning, discrimination, generalisation, imagination, ability to observe, to infer, and draw conclusions. People of all ages are engaged in problem-solving – an infant solves her/his problem of being hungry by crying for milk, while a student solves her/his problem of finishing an assignment by working on it in earnest. Thus in the process of problem-solving one learns a lot.