Factors affecting Learning

Good, T.E. and Brophy, J.E. (1986) cited the factors affecting learning. The first is the
meaningfulness effect, highly meaningful words are easier to learn and remember than
less meaningful words. This is true whether meaningful is measured by the number of
associations the learner has for the word, by frequency of the word or by familiarity
with the sequential order of letters or the tendency of the work to elicit clear
images. An implication is that retention will be improved to the extent the user can
make meaning of the material. The second is the serial position effects that result from
the particular placement of an item within a list. Memory is better for items placed at
beginning or end of list rather than in the middle. An exception to these serial
positions is the distinctiveness effect - an item that is distinctively different from the
others will be remembered better, regardless of serial position. The third is the
practice effects, active practice or rehearsal improves retention, and distributed
practice is usually more effective than massed practice. The advantage to distributed
practice is especially noticeable for lists, fast presentation rates or unfamiliar stimulus
material. The advantage to distributed practice apparently occurs because massed
practice allows the learner to associate a word with only a single context, but
distributed practice allows association with many different contexts. The fourth is the
transfer effects that are effects of prior learning on the leaning of new material.
Positive transfer occurs when previous learning makes new learning easier. Negative
transfer occurs when it makes the new learning more difficult. The more that two
tasks have in common, the more likely that transfer effects occur. The fifth is the
interference effects. Interference effects occur when memory or particular material is
hurt by previous or subsequent learning. Interference effects occur when trying to
remember material that has previously been learned. Interference effects are always
negative. The sixth is the organization effects. Organization effects occur when
learners chunk or categorize the input. Free recall of lists is better when learners
organize the items into categories rather than attempt to memorize the list in serial
order. The seventh is the levels-of-processing effects The more deeply a word is
processed, the better it will be remembered. Semantic encoding of content is likely to
lead to better memory. Elaborative encoding, improves memory by making sentences
more meaningful. The eighth is the state-dependent effects. State- or Context-
dependent effects occur because learning takes place in within a specific context that
must be accessible later, at least initially, within the same context. For example, lists
are more easily remembered when the test situation more closely resembles the
leaning situation, apparently due to contextual cues available to aid in information
retrieval. The ninth is the mnemonic effects. Mnemonics - strategies for elaborating on
relatively meaningless input by associating the input with more meaningful images or
semantic context. Four well-known mnemonic methods are the place method, the link
method, the peg method and the keyword method. The tenth is the abstraction
effects. Abstraction is the tendency of learners to pay attention to and remember the
gist of a passage rather than the specific words of a sentence. In general, to the extent
that learners assume the goal is understanding rather than verbatim memory and the
extent that the material can be analyzed into main ideas and supportive detail, learners
will tend to concentrate on the main ideas and to retain these in semantic forms that
are more abstract and generalized than the verbatim sentences included in the passage.
The eleventh is the levels effect. This effect occurs when the learner perceives that
some parts of the passage are more important than others. Parts that occupy higher
levels in the organization of the passage will be learned better than parts occupying
low levels. The twelfth is the prior knowledge effects. Prior knowledge effects will
occur to the extent that the learner can use existing knowledge to establish a context
or construct a schema into which the new information can be assimilated. The
thirteenth is the inference effects. Inference effects occur when learners use schemas
or other prior knowledge to make inferences about intended meanings that go beyond
what is explicitly stated in the text. Three kinds of inferences are case grammar pre-
suppositions, conceptual dependency inferences and logical deductions. The
fourteenth is the student misconception effects. Prior knowledge can lead to
misconceptions. Misconceptions may be difficult to correct due to fact that learner
may not be aware that knowledge s a misconception. Misconception occurs when
input is filtered through schemas that are oversimplified, distorted or incorrect. The
fifteenth is the text organization effects. Text organization refers to the effects that the
degree and type of organization built into a passage have on the degree and type of
information that learners encode and remember. Structural elements such as advanced
organizers, previews, logical sequencing, outline formats, higlighting of main ideas
and summaries assist learning in retaining information. These organization effects
facilitate chunking, subsumption of material into schemas and related processes that
enable encoding as an organized body of meaningful knowledge. In addition, text
organization elements cue learners to which aspects of the material are most
important. The sixteenth is the mathemagenic effects, coined by Rothkopf (1970) ,
refer to various things that learners do to prepare and assist their own learning. These
effects refer to the active information processing by learners. Mathemagenic activities
include answering adjunct questions or taking notes and can enhance learning. These
factors is largely affected by how a user learns. Different people have