Learning Processes

Running Head: LEARNING PROCESSES

Learning Processes
Michael Costello

Learning Processes
Learning as a whole is something that constantly happens.   When one look’s at a standard definition of learning, or a process of obtaining knowledge, skills or understanding by way of study, instruction or experience (A Glossary of Education…, 2007), one can gain a better understanding of why I believe learning is a constant process.
Trying to observe learning, in some aspects, can be deemed a difficult task, however, a noticeable change in behavior due to an experience can be an easy way of quantifying learning.   For example, a small child, while walking next to a hot grill, accidently rests is hand against the side of the grill causing a burning sensation.   This sensation causes a pain response, allowing the child to understand that surface was not something they wanted to touch.   The learning portion that can be observed is the next interaction the child has with the grill.   If the child understands that surface could cause pain, he or she is less likely to want to touch it again.   The idea of staying away from a painful surface was a learned experience for the child, to which a change in behavior could be observed.   This however, opens the door for the Nature vs. Nurture debate, one of the “oldest and most central theoretical issues within both psychology and philosophy” (Bee and Boyd, pg 3, 2009).   Under the nature rational, some knowledge is inborn, meaning that nature has a laid a framework for the basis of cognitive thought and understanding (Bee and Boyd, 2009).   Nurture, on the other hand, believes there is an interaction between both internal and external forces (Bee and Boyd, 2009).   In the child’s hand on a grill example, both theories have been put to the test.   The nature argument of learning is that the child’s neural pathways and pain receptors allowed him to instantly understand that the grill was not something he or she wanted to touch again.... [continues]

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