The Learning process (contd..)

In my recent post I briefly introduced my views on the key elements of the learning process. Comprehension, visualization, verbalization, memorization and finally integration with the exisitng knowledge base consitute the multi step learning methodology. Verbalization is the cornerstone of this entire process. Once the child learns how to express in his own words the concept that he has learnt, then its safe to say a major learning objective has been achieved. But more on verbalization later.



I sincerely believe that with practice as a child masters these elements of the learning process and can start consciously applying this methodology to any new area of knowledge on his own then one of the key objectives of educating him has already been achieved. He now has the requisite tools that would help him 'learn to learn'. I honestly believe that from this point onwards even if he fails to complete his formal education he has already learnt enough to be successful in any career of his choice. Though I hardly think once he has picked up these learning skills he would want to cut his own education short voluntarily. But in a country like ours there are many families that can barely afford to provide their children a complete education. So there could be reasons other than a lack of the child's interest that would force him /her to drop out early. But as long as a love for learning has been retained I believe education can be continued at any stage later in the child's life. If a child picks up the basic learning skills early in his educational journey he most certainly would retain the will and the confidence to continue his educational journey later. I strongly believe that if today the reasons for a high drop out rate in our schools are closely examined, lack of interest and self confidence in their learning ability would emerge as one of the strognest reasons for it. That should speak volumes about the failure of the current system in fostering a love for learning.



Lets dwell a little more on this five step learning methodology to see how it can be implemented in the classroom. The first step, comprehension, should ideally be the most uncomplicated. But I suspect this is where we usually make our first mistake. There are two key issues that need to be addressed here. The written word itself and the the capability of the reader. Often the written text is too poorly written to retain the student's attention for any length of time. Some of the key shortcomings are a certain lack of continuity between the various parts of the written text and complicated words thrown in that only serve to confuse instead of enabling easy comprehension. The writing style should be lucid and easy to understand. It should follow certain basic rules of good writing. Its fairly easy to understand where our books are lacking if one just compares an Indian curriculum course book with another one on the same topic written by a an Amrican or a British author. The writing styles are distinctly different. Good writing in these countries is a skill that is developed with proper training and a lot of research goes into understanding what consitutes good writing.

I believe anyone who wishes to write a school text book should certainly be encouraged to undergo a writing skills training course. Course books should be as widely peer reviewed as possible before being approved for induction into the school curriculum.



The second requirement important to achieving a robust comprehension is the attention span of the reader itself. This probably is the first serious hurdle that this process needs to overcome. Most children today are exposed to a multitude of distractions. In th presence of competitors like on-demand Television, internet, cinema, video games and imaginative toys its hard for a text book to hold a child's attention for any reasonable length of time. It is a known fact that attention spans continue to decline. The marketing and advertising community has been the first to realize this and has been quick to adapt to this situation by churning more and more imaginative advertising campaigns. Its no wonder that kids today remember the latest ad jingle more clearly than anything else in their school curriculum. In the western countries this phenomenon is well understood by the education community than in our country and for this reason they have made attempts to make education experience a more 'fun' experience by adopting imaginative new methods even if they are more expensive to implement. Obviosuly a society that treats entertainment as an industry would hesitate to put any curbs on it so it decides to make education entertaining as well. But a poor society like ours can ill afford to adopt such expensive methods of education. Although there is plenty that can be done to make learning a 'fun' experience by improving the quality of the text and the teaching methodology I believe its important for parents to exercise restraint in expposing their children to these new modes of electronic entertainment. Most parents appear to believe that these popular media provide their children much needed exposure that they themselves never had while growing up. But I think this exposure does more harm than good in the long run. From my own experience I can remember many examples that validate this opinion.