Learning and Emotion in Education Time - Essay Example

TOPIC PSYC 204 LEARNING, MOTIVATION AND EMOTION, LABOARATORY REPORT ASBTRACT This study considered the relationships among learning of concepts, hands-on experience, hours spent studying and age. An optional self-quiz survey was administered to students. A total of thirty eight students opted to participate in the study. Of this number, ten were males and the females numbered twenty eight. The study revealed that hours spent using both the sniffy software and recommended text materials, from which learning concepts and experience were to be gained, correlated negatively with the quiz score (performance). Age also had a significant positive correlation to performance. The correlation between how involving the material was to students and quiz score was found to be negative. On the other hand, the extent of sniffy involvement and learning outcomes was positively correlated. This study has shown that quality time spent on learning concepts and also experience wrestled from a student's experience gave better performance than the mere amount of time devoted to the learning materials provided. The implication of this study to teachers and students alike is that more efforts should be devoted to enhancing students' comprehension through better learning habits than mere rote hours students are encouraged to spend on learning materials. INTRODUCTION The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (2003) defines learning in psychology as the process by which a relatively lasting change in potential behavior occurs as a result of practice or experience .This definition places a distinction between learning and behavioral changes that arise from processes such as maturation. The former takes place throughout life, whereas the latter accounts for a large proportion of the behavior observed in man. Learning as a subject is as old as man himself. However, the learning process did not receive serious systematic inquiry until over a century ago. Ivan Pavlov (1927)'s classical work with dogs produced the classical conditioning theory. This theory posits that changed behavior (learning) can be elicited involuntarily even after the stimuli that produced the observed behavior had been replaced by another. The work of Skinner(1953) gave rise to the operant conditioning theory. This theory says that learning takes place through voluntary behavior, which can be shaped by the application of external stimuli in the form of rewards and punishments. Rewards and reinforcements are administered to produce the desired learning outcomes, whereas punishments are given to curb undesirable behavior. The third theory given by Kohler(1992) is called the cognitive learning theory. It says that learning takes place often through trial and error until insight is gained into the problem under investigation. Learning as a tool for gaining competitive edge at the individual and organizational levels is increasingly being recognized. At the individual level, it can be safely said that today's careers are built largely through sustained life-long learning. Persons adept at pursuing fruitful learning can expect to see vast improvements in their school work and also their careers. Whereas those who give low priority to this activity, risks being left behind by their counterparts. In most fields of endeavor, the surest route to making a distinctive mark is to commit oneself to learning. At the organizational level, many firms are charting the path to becoming learning organizations. They are committing greater resources to making the realization of this goal possible. If learning brings such enormous benefits, why is it that people sometimes are reluctant to commit themselves to this activity The answer to this question brings the allied subject of motivation into the picture. It is important to point out that learning does not always come easily and cheap. One could encounter difficulty with the learning task itself or may have to cope with an environment that is largely unsupportive or uncooperative. In such situations, motivation is needed to carry the learning task through. Motivation comes to the learner in two ways. It could be self-generated or administered externally by another person in the form of rewards, incentives or punishments. This study focused on the latter. The effect of learning experience on learning outcomes is as important in school work as it is at the workplace. Experience always confers on the possessor unique benefits. Hook and Bunce (2001) assessed this effect at the workplace with respect to computer training. They found that workers who had prior exposure to such training did better in subsequent training programs than those who have had no such experience. However, it needs to be pointed out that prior exposure to a learning material is only beneficial if fruitful learning took place previously. Otherwise, that experience is not very profitable. The sniffy software and other teaching materials used in this study were essentially to enhance the understanding of the student on the topic known as the operant conditioning principle in psychology. The assumption is that students who familiarized themselves with these learning resources should do better in the quiz survey than those who did not. The most plausible hypothesis to put forward therefore is Ho: Usage of sniffy software and text material positively affect quiz scores and the Hi: Usage of sniffy software and text materials did not affect quiz scores. METHOD Participants A survey study was conducted as part of the laboratory work of students. Participation in the study was made optional .Thirty eight students offered themselves for the study by informed consent. They comprised ten males and twenty eight females. Their average age was 22. Apparatus A self administered quiz containing ten questions was used. Procedure Participating students were asked to report their score in an operant conditioning self-quiz. This included the number of hours they spent using the sniffy software and also their class notes and text materials. After the quiz, the students folded their survey sheets and placed them into an envelope, which was passed round. RESULTS Table 1: Mean and standard deviation of quiz score, hours spent using sniffy software, hours spent on material, how involving was sniffy software, how involving was the material and age N Mean Standard deviation Quiz score Hours spent using sniffy How involving was sniffy Hours spent on material How involving was the material Age Valid N(listwise) 38 38 36 38 37 38 35 8.1316 1.7368 3.0833 6.8289 3.3243 22.0263 1.69532 1.54542 1.05221 6..14056 1.00150 5.14906 Table 2: Correlations among the variables (quiz score, hours spent using sniffy, how involving was sniffy, hour spent on material, how involving was the material and age) Quiz score Hours spent using sniffy How involving was sniffy Hours spent on material How involving was the material Age Quiz score Hours spent using sniffy How involving was sniffy Hours spent on material How involving was the material Age 1 -0.053 -0.089 -0.048 0.076 .136 1 .399(*) .286 -.120 .144 1 .375(*) .126 .169 1 .346(*) .331(*) 1 .181 1 *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) DISCUSSION The hours spent using both the sniffy software and text materials were found to correlate negatively with the quiz scores of the participating students. However, the correlation between how involving the material was to students and the quiz score was positive. A reverse association was observed for the extent of sniffy involvement. These results seem to suggest that the length of time spent on the given resources were not as important to students' performance as what they were able to derive from them in a given period. In other words, quality time spent on these resources produced better resources than the amount of time spent using them. This finding is consistent with everyday learning experience. Better comprehension and learning does not necessarily result from the length of time one spent on a given learning material. Generally, sniffy involvement tended to influence both outcomes with the software itself and also the text material given. If students had prior sniffy involvement before they read the text material, it greatly improved their comprehension of the material. The chronology by which students were exposed to these resources was not given, but from this study it is evident that if students had better comprehension of the sniffy, it generally improved their performance. The study also found that older students tended to perform better than their younger counterparts. The explanation for this finding is that they spent more quality time on their reading materials and therefore gained comparatively superior comprehension than their younger colleagues. Older students could be expected to have formed better learning habits than their younger ones. Thus, even though they spent more time on the materials, they did so qualitatively. The high variability in the data, as evidenced by the high standard deviation figures for age and hours spent on the material suggests refinement in the statistical methods employed. This shortcoming must be taken into account in future studies. The mere postulation of null and alternative hypothesis, to me is not very helpful, if students are not asked to test them statistically themselves. REFERENCES 1 .Hook, K. and Bunce, D, (2001). Immediate learning in organizational computer learning as a function of training intervention, affective reaction and season impact measure. Applied Psychology on International Review: 50(3), 436-454. 2. Kohler, W. (1992). Gestalt Psychology: An Introduction to New Concepts in Modern Psychology, Liverweight Publishing Corporation. 3. Pavlov, I (1927). Conditioned Reflexes (Translated by G.V. Anrep), London, Oxford University Press. 4. Skinner, B.F.( 1953 ).Science and Human behaviour . Macmillan, New York, 5. The Colombia Electronic Encyclopedia (2003). Learning , Columbia University Press, 6th Edition. Retrieved from the web on 9th October, 2005. http://www.cc.columbia.edu./cu Read More