PROJECT ON PROBLEMS OF LEARNING

ABSTRACT

Learning disabilities are lifelong. The way in which they are

expressed may vary over an individuals lifetime, depending on the interaction
between the demands of the environment and the individuals strengths and needs.
Learning disabilities are suggested by unexpected academic under-achievement or
achievement which is maintained only by unusually high levels of effort and support.
Over expectations and pressure from teachers and parents make the students more
stressed. The exam anxiety of students is due to their fear of getting failed rather than
lack of knowledge.

INTRODUCTION

Learning Disabilities refer to a number of disorders which may

affect the acquisition, organization, retention, understanding or use of verbal or
nonverbal information. These disorders affect learning in individuals who otherwise
demonstrate at least average abilities essential for thinking and/or reasoning. As such,
learning disabilities are distinct from global intellectual deficiency.

Learning disabilities result from impairments in one or more processes related to perceiving,
thinking, remembering or learning. These include, but are not limited to: language
processing; phonological processing; visual spatial processing; processing speed; memory
and attention; and executive functions (e.g. planning and decision-making).

Learning disabilities range in severity and may interfere with the acquisition and use of one
or more of the following:oral language (e.g. listening, speaking, understanding);reading (e.g.
decoding, phonetic knowledge, word recognition, comprehension);written language (e.g.
spelling and written expression); andmathematics (e.g. computation, problem
solving).Learning disabilities may also involve difficulties with organizational skills, social
perception, social interaction and perspective taking.

Learning problems happen because of the way the brain takes in and processes information.
As a result, some people learn differently. The trick will be figuring out how you learn best.

There are people who know how to do just that. Your parents and teachers can help you and
they can find you a learning specialist or a school psychologist. These professionals can help
figure out what a kid's learning problem is and come up with ideas for how to make it
better.
Learning disabilities may co-exist with various conditions including attentional, behavioural
and emotional disorders, sensory impairments or other medical conditions.

For success, individuals with learning disabilities require early identification and timely
specialized assessments and interventions involving home, school, community and
workplace settings. The interventions need to be appropriate for each individual's
learning disability subtype and, at a minimum, include the provision of:specific skill
instruction; accommodations;compensatory strategies; andself-advocacy skills.

PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES

(a) STRESS

Stress is your bodys way of responding to any kind of demand or threat.When you feel
threatened, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including
adrenaline and cortisol, which rouse the body for emergency action. Your heart pounds
faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become
sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction
time, and enhance your focuspreparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand. .
When you sense dangerwhether its real or imaginedthe body's defences
kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the fight-or-flight
reaction, or the stress response.

The stress response is the bodys way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps
you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life
giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the
brakes to avoid an accident.

Causes of Stress

"Situations, circumstances or any stimulus that is perceived to be a threat is referred to as a

stressor, or that which causes or promotes stress.

Brian Luke Seaward)

The causes of stress are known as stressors and there are literally hundreds of different types
of stressors. Any event in life that a person finds threatening, difficult to cope with or causes
excess pressure can be a potential cause of stress. It is important to bear in mind that stress
is an individualistic, subjective experience and therefore what one person finds stressful
another may not. Stressors can be broken down roughly into either external or internal (or a
mixture of both.)

Common external cause of Stressors

a) Major Life Events

b) Work or school
c) Relationship difficulties
d) Being to busy
 e) Children and family

Common internal causes of stress

a) Chronic worry
b) Pessimission
c) Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
d) Negative self-talk
e) Unrealistic expectation

(b) ANXIETY

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often

accompanied by nervous behaviour, such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints, and
rumination. It is the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over anticipated events, such
as the feeling of imminent death. Anxiety is not the same as fear, which is a response to a
real or perceived immediate threat, whereas anxiety is the expectation of future
threat.Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually generalized and unfocused as an
overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing. It is often
accompanied by muscular tension, restlessness, fatigue and problems in concentration.
Anxiety can be appropriate, but when experienced regularly the individual may suffer from
an anxiety disorder.

People facing anxiety may withdraw from situations which have provoked anxiety in
the past. There are various types of anxiety. Existential anxiety can occur when a person
faces angst, an existential crisis, or nihilistic feelings. People can also face mathematical
anxiety, somatic anxiety, stage fright, or test anxiety. Social anxiety and stranger anxiety are
caused when people are apprehensive around strangers or other people in general. are caused
when people are apprehensive around strangers or other people in general.

Causes of Anxiety

Anxiety may be caused by a mental condition, a physical condition, the effects of drugs, or a
combination of these. The doctor's initial task is to see if your anxiety is caused by a medical
condition.

Common causes of anxiety include these mental conditions:

Anxiety may be caused by a mental condition, a physical condition, the effects of drugs, or a
combination of these. The doctor's initial task is to see if your anxiety is caused by a medical
condition.

Common causes of anxiety include these mental conditions

Panic disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Phobic disorder
Stress disorder
 These common external factors can cause anxiety

o Stress at work
o Stress from school
o Stress in a personal relationship (marriage)
o Financial stress

A studentin his/her life goes through several academic stress .Exam fear is a very common
phenomenon among manystudents, and it has a disastrous effect.The fear of examination saps the
examinees courage. The bright as well as weak examinees generally tremble with the unexpected
fear on the night before the examination.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objectives of this study

1. To study the level of stress and anxiety of students in learning

2. To find out how exam fear affects the achievement level of students
3. To find out the remedial measures to overcome the stress of students

METHODOLOGY

The questionnaire used toassess the stress and anxiety among the VIIstandard studentsof
M.T.S.H.S.S Kottayam. The questionnaire was constructed and supervised by Sr.Nikila.
This questionnaire contains the questions related to the causes of stress and anxiety of
students with regard to learning , to know whether the students have visible signs of
nervousness right before a test ,whether their minds goes blank during a test
etc

DATA ANALYSIS

SL No QUESTIONS YES NO
1 Are you getting stressed while learning? 90 % 10%
2 Are you easily annoyed or agitated? 70% 30%
3 Do you have trouble insleeping orfalling to sleep? 25 % 75%
4 Do you get upset by unimportantor small items? 55 % 45%
5 Do youfeel fearin your exams? 55% 45%
6 Are you afraid of your teachers? 60% 40%
7 Do you getany pressure from your parents? 95% 5%
8 Do you share your experience with others? 55% 45%
9 Do you overreact in situations? 35% 65%
10 Do you feel scared without any reason? 65% 35%
11 Do you feeltensions whiledoing things? 85% 15%
12 Do you evade programmes because of anxiety? 75% 25%
13 Are you concerned about what others think of you? 40% 60%
14 Did you getpanic before and during exam? 80% 20%
 15 Do your minds goes blank during a test? 70% 30%
Do you have trouble with sleeping during night before
16
a test 50% 50%
17 Do you make mistakes with easy questions? 25% 75%
18 Do you have difficulty in choosing the answers? 70% 30%
19 Do you feel the need to cram beforethe test? 45% 55%
20 Do you feel confusion in taking test? 75% 25%
Are you scared of your friends opinion on your low
21
marks 80% 20%
22 Are you afraid of being getting a bad mark even
though you are well prepared? 60% 40%
23 Do you feelanxious about what will happen if you fail? 60% 40%
24 Did you get depress after taking a test? 90% 10%
25 Do you feel that there is a huge study workload? 80% 20%
26 Do you feelany learning disability? 40% 60%
27 Do you feel angry towards your friendsand parents? 60% 40%
28 Do you feelsituations of angry outburst? 70% 30%
29 Do youfeel irritable while learning? 65% 35%
Do you face difficulty in understanding content that have
30
been learned? 45% 55%
31 Do you feel that tests are too frequent? 70% 30%
32 Do you havethe feeling of in competence? 25% 75%
33 Do you have self-expectations? 75% 25%
Are you pressurised with the high expectations imposed
34
by others? 70% 30%
35 Do you faceany unwillingness to go to school? 35% 65%
36 Are you interested with your learning environment? 65% 35%
37 Do you have any health problems? 70% 30%
38 Are you feared in punishments? 70% 30%
39 Did you get reinforcement from teachers & parents? 80% 20%
40 Do you need the assistanceof others forlearning? 55% 45%
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS
As part ofour B.Ed. programme we were allotted to conduct a
project on problems of learning of the students in our respective
teaching practice schools. My teaching practice wasat M.T.S.H.SS, Kottayam.
We wereasked to conduct this project based onselected psychological
variables.The variables which I choose were stress and anxiety .I prepared
a questionnaire on the basis of these variables in order to find out the
different problems in the students.

By the analysis of the questionnaire ,it was well cleared that most of the
students were facing stress and anxiety in learning. i.e among the samples
selected 90% of students were stressed while learning. Almost 70% of
students were easily annoyed or agitated in their studies. With regard to the
trouble in sleeping or falling to sleep ,25% of students faces such difficulties
.Almost 55 % of students get upset by un important or small items. Among
my samples 60% ofstudents wereafraid oftheir teachers.So that they do not
approach the assistance of teachers.The majority of students get pressure from
their parents regarding their studies. The students who are over react to the
situations where 35%.65% of samples were scared without any reason.

Almost 85% of students are having tensions in doing things. Among the samples
75% students evade programmes because of anxiety. Only 40% of students are
concerned about what others think of them. On the question of their fear of
exams majority of students are having a feel of fear in taking exams. 80% of my
samples get panic before and during exams and also their minds get blank
during exams .Almost 50% of samples face a trouble of sleeping during night
before a test.Only 25%of students made mistakes with easy questions. 70% of
students face a difficulty in choosing the answers. Among the samples 55%
feel that they need to cram before the test. Almost 75% of students feel
confusion in taking test.The majority of students are sacred of their friends
opinionon their low marks.The 60% of students are afraid of being getting a bad
mark even though they are well prepared.

Majority ofmy samples are getting depress after taking a testwith regard to
their poor performance in the test and also they were anxious about getting
lowmarks. Almost 80% of students have a feeling that there is a huge
studyworkload. Only 40% of students face some learning disability in using
language, and are having imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read write
spell or in working out mathematical calculation

Among the samples ,60% of students feel angry towards their parents and
friends and also 70% of students experienced situations of angry outburst.
Almost 65% of students get irritated while learning .With regard to the question
ofdifficulty in understanding thecontent, only 45% faces such difficulty.

Almost 70% of students feel that tests are too frequent ,this causes a
great stress in their learning. Among the samples only 25% of students are
having the feeling of incompetence and 75% of students have self-
expectations about their students. The students who are pressurised with
the high expectations imposed by others are 70%.Most of my selected
samples doesnt have any health problems.

70% of samples of the study are afraid of punishments from their parents and
teachers, but they have a positive opinion regarding thereinforcement from
teachers and parents. Among thesamples, 55% of students need the assistance
of others for their learning

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

From the survey it is very clear that most of the students have stress and anxiety in
learning. They lack good academic achievements or good scoring in the exams due to
this problem, even though they have enough resources and good learning experiences.
The survey helps to find out that exam fear is a very common phenomenon among
many of the students.It is the fear of failure rather than the exam itself which causes all
the anxiety. The study also finds out that students are pressurised with the high expectations
imposed by parents and teachers.

Suggestions to teachers

Encourage every students and provide care to everyone in the class

Avoid punishments
Be free with them

Suggestionsto parents
Give proper attention to your child
Encourage the child for his achievement
Talk to your childs teacher
Create an atmosphere that helps him/her study.

Suggestion to students
Schedule a specific timetable to revise the lessons
Develop positive attitude towards exam
Co-operate with teachers andparents.

CONCLUSION

From the project it is clear that students have great stress and anxiety in learning
and also they have fear of examination. So if the students are given proper attention and
care we could avoid stress and anxiety from them .They should be able to love what
they are doing.

The parents and teachers should develop understanding regarding physical

conditions, mental status and psychological needs of the children which may play positive
role in dealing exam anxiety. Students also be relax and plan their studies
systematically .It will help them to reduce the stress and anxiety in their learning.

REFERENCE
Dr. N.K Argunan :Psychological Bases of Education
Internet resources