Learning is the process by which one acquires, ingests, and stores or accepts information. The main characteristic of learning is that; it is a process of obtaining knowledge to change human behavior through interaction, practice, and experience.
Our experiences with learned information compose our bodies of knowledge. Learning is a process unique to each individual.
Some learn quickly, scanning the information and seemingly mastering the concept or skill. Others stumble while processing information, taking longer to grasp the concept of requiring numerous exposures over a sustained time.
10 characteristics of learning are;
Let’s explain and understand these characteristics of learning.
Learning involves change.
It is a reconstruction, combined thinking, skill, information, and appropriation in a single unity process.
For example, when a child learns to read, they can retain this knowledge and behavior for the rest of their lives. It is not always reflected in performance. The change from the learning may not be clear until a situation arises in which the new behavior can occur.
All learning involves activities.
These activities involve either physical or mental activity. They may be simple mental activities of complex involving various muscles, bones, etc.
So also, the mental activities may be very simple, involving one or two activities of the mind, or complex, which involve higher mental activities.
Learning Requires Interaction
At the time of learning, the individual is constantly interacting with and influenced by the environment. This experience makes him change or modify his behavior to deal effectively with it.
Constitute Learning
To constitute learning, the change should be permanent. Temporary changes may be only reflective and fail to represent any learning.
Learning is a Lifelong Process
Learning is a lifelong process of gaining and using the information presented to a person. It is not static.
A person never stops acquiring new information. It keeps a person’s mind active and aware but also conscious of the world around them.
Learning Occurs Randomly Throughout Life
Some learning occurs randomly throughout life, from new experiences, gaining information, and from our perceptions, for example: reading a newspaper or watching a news broadcast, talking with a friend or colleague, chance meetings, and unexpected experiences.
Learning Involves Problems Solving
Learning involves problem-solving, i.e., understanding and discovering relations between different contents in a situation.
Learning is the Process of Acquiring Information
Learning is the process of acquiring information, knowledge, wisdom, and skills. It occurs as a result of interaction with the person’s environment.
Learning Involves far more than Thinking.
Learning involves far more than thinking: it involves the whole personality – senses, feelings, intuition, beliefs, values, and will.
If we do not have the will to learn, we cannot learn, and if we have learned, we are changed in some way. If the learning makes no difference, it can have very little significance.
Experience is Necessary for Learning
Some sort of experience is necessary for learning. We can get the experience from direct observation or from formal approaches to learning such as training, mentoring, coaching, and teaching.
We can get the experience from direct observation or from formal approaches to learning such as training, mentoring, coaching, and teaching.
Learning is more or less the acquisition of a new discourse, a new way of speaking, acting, interacting, looking at the world, and knowing it.
It will be successful only when the information gained is used and understood.
It is a continuous process followed by an individual that allows for the acquisition of information, attitudes, and practices through observation, seeking previous knowledge, searching out guides, and looking within as well as without. It is a key process in human behavior.
If we compare the simple ways in which a child feels and behaves with the complex modes of adult behavior, his skills, habits, sentiments, and the like, we will know what difference learning has made to the individual.
