Grade Placement and Conditions for Learning

The psychology of learning does more than say what is possible. It also helps decide when an objective is best learned and what conditions make learning last. These are the final pieces of the second screen, and they leave a developer with a clean, short list ready for the next stage.

Grade placement

Grade placement is the question of which grades or age levels an objective belongs to, with reference to the time and effort it requires. The psychology of learning gives a developer an idea of the length of time an objective will take and the age level at which effort is most efficiently spent to attain it.

Two facts guide this. First, there is no single age level at which a given operation can be learned; the same skill can often be learned across a range of ages, more or less efficiently. Second, decisions on grade placement are aided by psychological knowledge about the sequence of learning, the order in which things must be learned.

Reading shows the sequence clearly. A learner needs concrete experience to connect with vocabulary, and vocabulary has to precede reading ability. Later, reading competence together with a mastered basic vocabulary is a prerequisite for interpreting a piece of reading critically. Each step rests on the one before, so the sequence sets the placement: you cannot place critical reading before basic reading is in place.

Flashcard

What does grade placement decide, and what guides it?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Which grade or age an objective best fits, guided by time, effort, and the sequence of learning

There is no single age at which something can be learned, but psychology shows the order learning must follow, such as vocabulary before reading, and reading before critical interpretation.

Conditions for learning

The psychology of learning also points to the conditions that make learning stick. Three findings are useful.

First, applying knowledge learned in daily life lessens the chance of forgetting it and enhances its acquisition. Knowledge used is knowledge kept.

Second, most learning experiences produce multiple outcomes at once. Learning the operations of mathematics, for instance, also develops an attitude toward mathematics, ideally a positive one, at the same time. A single experience teaches more than one thing.

Third, learnings that are consistent with each other, that are integrated and coherent, reinforce each other. When the various things a learner is learning point the same way, they strengthen one another rather than competing.

Flashcard

Name two conditions that make learning stick.

Tap to reveal

Answer

Applying knowledge in daily life, and keeping learnings consistent with each other

Applying knowledge lessens forgetting. Consistent, integrated learnings reinforce one another. Also, most learning experiences produce several outcomes at once, such as a skill and an attitude together.

What is left after both screens

After the philosophy screen and the psychology screen have done their work, a developer is left with a short list of attainable objectives. The long, inconsistent collection from the three sources has been cut down to a small set that is both worth pursuing and possible to reach.

One problem remains. These surviving objectives came from several different sources and are likely to be stated in various ways, some as content, some as activities, some as behaviours. Before they can guide the selection of learning experiences and the teaching that follows, they need to be put into a single, consistent form. That task, stating objectives clearly, is the subject of the next chapter.

Flashcard

What remains to be done after the two screens leave a short list of objectives?

Tap to reveal

Answer

The objectives must be put into a single, consistent form

They came from several sources and are stated in various ways, as content, activities, or behaviours. Stating them clearly is needed before they can guide learning experiences and teaching.