Educational Implications: - Experiments

“Transfer of Learning”: -
Definitions: -
H. C. Hills: -
“Transfer of learning means that experience or
performance on one task influences performance on some
subsequent task.”
Crow & Crow: -
“The carry over of habits of thinking, feeling or working
of knowledge or of skills from one learning area to another is
usually referred to as the transfer of training / learning.”
Peterson: -
“Transfer is generalization, for it is extension of an idea
to a new field.”
Guthrie & Powers: -
“Transfer may be defined as a process of extending &
applying behaviour.”
NEGATIVE
TYPES POSITIVE ZERO
(Habit Interference)
Learning of one
When learning of When previously
activity neither
one activity learnt activity
facilitates nor
facilitates / aids interferes with /
MEANING interferes the
the learning of inhibits / disrupts the
learning of
another activity / learning of another
another / No
task activity.
Effect.
  Plural of ‘book’ =
 Writing of
‘books’, but not
English faci
‘sheep’  ‘sheeps’.  Zero transfer
litates writing of
 ‘Pre’ to pretext / pre- between
Hindi
eminent language &
 Pre – view / dict
 But response to maths (?)
/ pare to Preheat
sound of ‘cede’  Playing Guitar
/ predetermine
carried over to / Sitar &
EXAMPLES  ‘cede’ for
spelling the words – cooking /
precede /
proceed / supersede laundry skills
recede/
 Studying English &  But Zero
intercede
French at same Transfer never
 Many
time; happens in
Badminton &
 Playing Golf strict sense.
Tennis skills
interferes playing
similar
Baseball

Factors affecting Transfer: -

1. Meaningfulness of Contents
2. Similarity of Contents (e.g. – civics & political science,
history & geography)
3. Similarity of Techniques & Principles (e.g. football &
hockey)
4. Methods of Teaching (life-like, lively, interesting &
effective)
5. Meaningful Learning (‘rote’ is undesirable)
6. Intelligence (brighter pupils tend to transfer more
effectively than average / dull)
7. Deliberation (depends on conscious effort to interpret a
new situation in the light of past)
8. Generalization (is the crux of transfer of training, the more
we generalize, the more it is)

Educational Implications of Transfer of Learning / Training

Or
How to achieve maximum Positive Transfer? : -

A) Suitable Curriculum: -
a). Integrated Curriculum through “Correlations” like: -
1. Among different subjects
2. With physical & social environment
3. Of different branches of the same subject
4. Of different topics within the same branch.
b). Practical & Utilitarian Curriculum – (vocational
interest, health & safety needs, citizenship & recreational
activities of pupils & social environment.

B) Suitable/Effective Methods of Teaching (Role of Teacher): -

1. Emphasis on Correlation
2. Co-ordination between Theoretical Knowledge & Practical
Experiences
3. Provide for a variety of examples / Use of illustrations &
Audio-Visual Aids
4. Emphasis on intelligent methods of learning (Rote should
be discouraged)
5. Use of Life-like Methods (psychological, child-centred) –
(e.g. – free discussion)
6. Attitude of Transferability
7. Use of Generalization (for completeness / thoroughness
of learning)
8. Laws of Association
9. Use of Concentration (both on the process & product of
learning / logical thinking)
10. Deliberate & Purposeful Efforts (to secure definite
transfer)
11. Maximise the similarity between teaching & the ultimate
testing situation (provide identity of method & matter,
have clear-cut objectives & highlight the feature / idea)
12. Use of Practice – Provide adequate experience with the
original task
13. Identify important features of a task (e.g. – distinguish
between the letters ‘b’ & ‘d’)
14. Make sure that general principles are understood
15. Mastery of Sequential tasks – i.e. mastery of pre-requisite
skills before more difficult / higher order task is learnt –
learning as a hierarchy of sub-skills of differing difficult.
Educational Implications: - Association
Definition: -
Association is the connection / bond between a percept
& an idea or between one idea & another, by virtue of which
one being given in consciousness tends to revive the other.
Learning becomes effective when various percepts,
ideas or images are linked together through associative
bonds. A teacher can make use of the various laws of
association in building together a whole structure through
knowledge & concepts, & thereby making learning more
concrete & retentive. For e.g. – illiterate adults cannot read
the names of the candidates in the Ballot Paper. However,
they recognise the candidates, through association with
party symbols such as – ‘pair of bullocks’, ‘lamp’, ‘lion’ or
‘cottage’ etc.
A. Primary Laws: -

1. Law of Contiguity: -
Experiences occurring together – simultaneously /
in close succession, e.g.– the drama ‘Shakuntala’
 reminds its famous author ‘Kalidas’, as we usually hear
these names together.
a. Contiguity in Space: -
The word ‘Platform’ revives the ‘picture’ of a
‘Station’; The child learns the letters of the alphabet
when the teacher shows a chart displaying different
letters together with some objects, e.g. – a – for apple,
b – for banana, etc. A child learns multiplication
tables & reproduces it afterwards.
b. Contiguity in Time: -
Lightning is followed by Thunder; After learning a
poem by heart, child is able to reproduce it line by
line; child can count numbers such as 61, 62, 63, etc;
2. Law of Similarity: -
While witnessing a cricket match, similar
experiences of a previous match are likely to be revived.
In teaching Geography, a teacher prefers the regional
approach, wherein the regions with common type of
climate, rainfall, crops etc are pointed out & then the
effect of these factors on the life of the people is
studied. Similarity in sound like health – wealth.
3. Law of Contrast: -
 In teaching History, the teachers contrasts the
religious policy of Aurangzeb with that of Akbar; peace-
war, day-night.

4. Law of Systematic Relations: -

It operates in higher thought processes &
organized knowledge. For e.g. – ability to reproduce the
proof of a theorem in Geometry; in a dream, various
images are linked to make up a whole story of the
dream.

B. Secondary Laws: -

1. Law of Primacy: -
First impressions last long. Attitude of the students
towards various subjects many times depends upon the
first impressions created by the teacher. Our likes &
dislikes are many times determined by first impressions.
Words pronounced incorrectly in the beginning are
pronounced in the same way for a long time. A man’s
earliest impressions of a person, a community, and an
article of food tend to be lasting & are often to break.
2. Law of Recency: -
 For e.g. – word ‘Book’ recalls another book that is
recently read. It is used by the students resorting to
‘cramming’, which is many times unintelligent
memorizing. It is the least valuable from a teacher’s
viewpoint, as it gives no guarantee of permanent
retention. Hence, correlate teaching with recent or
current examples / events.
3. Law of Frequency: -
For e.g. – ‘Green’ with ‘Grass’. It operates in drill
work such as arithmetic fundamentals, formulae, rules,
symbols, spellings, grammar, etc. This is to ensure that
correct associations shall be made over & over again
until they have become automatic. Many words or
symbols acquire a definite meaning because of frequent
associations, for e.g. – a letterbox is recognized even
from a distance because of its red colour. However, in
other countries like Germany, it becomes difficult for an
Indian to locate one, as it is yellow in colour. The
mythological figures of Ram-Laxman, Rahu-Ketu are
striking examples of association through Contiguity &
Frequency.
4. Law of Vividness: -
 It determines the strength of the bond of
association. By using teaching aids, the teacher tries to
make an abstract concept very clear by making
association between the concept & the teaching aids. A
student while learning for the first time, the working a
thermometer, is allowed to use the thermometer for
recording the temperature. The date ‘26th January’
acquires a particular meaning from an Indian, but may
be just one of the 365 days of the year for the
Americans. The bond of association is established
because of interest. King Dushyant who had had
forgotten all about Shakuntala, recognized her, when the
marriage ring given to her by him was shown to him.
5. Law of Mood / General Trend of Mental Activity at the
time of Recall: -
An idea revived by an individual who is in a happy
mood, is likely to differ from that revived by the same
individual when in a distressed mood. Happy events are
easily recalled.

Hence, remember: -
1. Education does not mean stuffing the brain with
information. Food is useful to the growth of the body, only
 when it is assimilated. The child also must assimilate
knowledge. The digestive juice in the form of bonds of
association must mix with the food of knowledge.
2. It is no use piling up bricks over the other. Cementing is
necessary for fixing the bricks together. Association does
this work of cementing the various ideas into one complex
whole. Teacher must use this cementing skilfully.
Educational Implications: -
Definition: -
Association is the connection / bond between a percept
& an idea or between one idea & another, by virtue of which
one being given in consciousness tends to revive the other.
Learning becomes effective when various percepts,
ideas or images are linked together through associative
bonds. A teacher can make use of the various laws of
association in building together a whole structure through
knowledge & concepts, & thereby making learning more
concrete & retentive. For e.g. – illiterate adults cannot read
the names of the candidates in the Ballot Paper. However,
they recognise the candidates, through association with
party symbols such as – ‘pair of bullocks’, ‘lamp’, ‘lion’ or
‘cottage’ etc.
C. Primary Laws: -
1. Law of Contiguity: -
Experiences occurring together – simultaneously /
in close succession, e.g.– the drama ‘Shakuntala’
reminds its famous author ‘Kalidas’, as we usually hear
these names together.
a. Contiguity in Space: -
The word ‘Platform’ revives the ‘picture’ of a
‘Station’; The child learns the letters of the alphabet
when the teacher shows a chart displaying different
letters together with some objects, e.g. – a – for apple,
b – for banana, etc. A child learns multiplication
tables & reproduces it afterwards.
b. Contiguity in Time: -
Lightning is followed by Thunder; After learning a
poem by heart, child is able to reproduce it line by
line; child can count numbers such as 61, 62, 63, etc;
2. Law of Similarity: -
While witnessing a cricket match, similar
experiences of a previous match are likely to be revived.
In teaching Geography, a teacher prefers the regional
approach, wherein the regions with common type of
climate, rainfall, crops etc are pointed out & then the
 effect of these factors on the life of the people is
studied. Similarity in sound like health – wealth.
3. Law of Contrast: -
In teaching History, the teachers contrasts the
religious policy of Aurangzeb with that of Akbar; peace-
war, day-night.

4. Law of Systematic Relations: -

It operates in higher thought processes &
organized knowledge. For e.g. – ability to reproduce the
proof of a theorem in Geometry; in a dream, various
images are linked to make up a whole story of the
dream.

D. Secondary Laws: -

1. Law of Primacy: -
First impressions last long. Attitude of the students
towards various subjects many times depends upon the
first impressions created by the teacher. Our likes &
dislikes are many times determined by first impressions.
Words pronounced incorrectly in the beginning are
pronounced in the same way for a long time. A man’s
 earliest impressions of a person, a community, and an
article of food tend to be lasting & are often to break.
2. Law of Recency: -
For e.g. – word ‘Book’ recalls another book that is
recently read. It is used by the students resorting to
‘cramming’, which is many times unintelligent
memorizing. It is the least valuable from a teacher’s
viewpoint, as it gives no guarantee of permanent
retention. Hence, correlate teaching with recent or
current examples / events.
3. Law of Frequency: -
For e.g. – ‘Green’ with ‘Grass’. It operates in drill
work such as arithmetic fundamentals, formulae, rules,
symbols, spellings, grammar, etc. This is to ensure that
correct associations shall be made over & over again
until they have become automatic. Many words or
symbols acquire a definite meaning because of frequent
associations, for e.g. – a letterbox is recognized even
from a distance because of its red colour. However, in
other countries like Germany, it becomes difficult for an
Indian to locate one, as it is yellow in colour. The
mythological figures of Ram-Laxman, Rahu-Ketu are
 striking examples of association through Contiguity &
Frequency.
4. Law of Vividness: -
It determines the strength of the bond of
association. By using teaching aids, the teacher tries to
make an abstract concept very clear by making
association between the concept & the teaching aids. A
student while learning for the first time, the working a
thermometer, is allowed to use the thermometer for
recording the temperature. The date ‘26th January’
acquires a particular meaning from an Indian, but may
be just one of the 365 days of the year for the
Americans. The bond of association is established
because of interest. King Dushyant who had had
forgotten all about Shakuntala, recognized her, when the
marriage ring given to her by him was shown to him.
5. Law of Mood / General Trend of Mental Activity at the
time of Recall: -
An idea revived by an individual who is in a happy
mood, is likely to differ from that revived by the same
individual when in a distressed mood. Happy events are
easily recalled.
Hence, remember: -
3. Education does not mean stuffing the brain with
information. Food is useful to the growth of the body, only
when it is assimilated. The child also must assimilate
knowledge. The digestive juice in the form of bonds of
association must mix with the food of knowledge.
4. It is no use piling up bricks over the other. Cementing is
necessary for fixing the bricks together. Association does
this work of cementing the various ideas into one complex
whole. Teacher must use this cementing skilfully.
z
In order to develop accurate concepts among children,
the teacher should try to give direct experiences as far
as possible. During pre-primary and primary education,
direct education should be provided to children in order
to get a correct concept of the object. In trying to arrive
at an idea of what a cow is for e.g. we find no substitute
for seeing, touching, listening and smelling a real cow.
5. When something cannot be experienced directly, it
must be experienced indirectly. The best way to
understand what a revolution is would be to live
through one; but since the teacher is prohibited from
organizing revolutions even for educational purposes,
 .she does the next best thing. She does it through
vivid description using books, pictures, movies &
other materials.
6. Concepts are based on previous experiences, hence a
teacher should provide a variety of experiences for
e.g. – while teaching Science, the teacher should
provide experiences from daily life as far as possible.
7. Concept formation is based on similarities &
differences. This fact should be taken care of while
teaching the content matter.
8. While teaching Grammar & Mathematics the maxim
particular / examples to general should be followed.
9. In Languages, concept formation has a very important
role to play, i.e. through dramatization & use of
teaching aids.
10. A student can formulate concepts by using the
inductive & deductive procedures.
In the inductive approach, a number of concrete
examples are shown, allowing the pupil to build up the
concept. The deductive procedure begins by giving the
pupil an idea of the common properties of the objects by
means of a drawing or a definition. The individual must be
able to identify the particular members of the class later.
 A child can form the concepts of a noun or an
adjective or a verb by using both these methods.
11. Too often students memorize definitions that are
given at the beginning of a unit without having a real
understanding of the concept. Rote memorization
should be discouraged.
12. Avoid rote learning by the teacher lying emphasis
on the understanding part of the matter. For e.g. – (a +
b)2, this formula should be first expanded & shown to
arrive at the formula (a2 + 2ab + b2). Thus a teacher
should make use of maxims of teaching like – known
to unknown, concrete to abstract, etc.
13. Teacher should herself possess a clear
understanding of the concept to be taught so as to
provide proper positive & negative examples that lead
to correct concept formation in the pupils.
14. The examples & illustrations used by the teacher to
explain the concept should be within the experiential
realm of the pupils.
15. Teacher must reduce the number of irrelevant
attributes & improve the identification ability of the
relevant attributes, for e.g. – the drawing of a ‘Cell’
can clarify better than a photograph.
16. Teacher should arrange the concepts in an order
consistent with their structure, for e.g. – in
Mathematics, ‘Addition’ precedes ‘Multiplication’,
addition of integers precedes that of fractions.
17. Encourage pupils to define the concept learnt in
their own words.
18. Teacher should be aware that concepts are not
static & fixed, but can change with time & experience
gained by the pupils.
19. Teacher should encourage critical & analytical
thinking in the pupils while learning rather than just to
accept it passively.
20. Teacher’s role is to sharpen the already formed
vague concepts to teach new & more complex
concepts.
21. A principle is a statement of the relationship
between two/more concepts e.g. – ‘When water
freezes, its volume becomes larger’, - concepts of
‘freeze’, ‘volume’ & ‘larger’. Hence, understanding of
component concepts leads to understand the
principle better.
22. Language is an important tool in the formation of a
concept. Through proper use of language, concepts
 are developed & communicated. A student might form
the concept of an ocean, or a giraffe or a battle
without ever having directly experienced one. He
forms these ideas by relating them to a known idea.
Thus the maxim from known to unknown is useful in
such cases.
Vocabulary is the means by which concepts are verbalised. Enrichment of vocabulary is

necessary for Educational Implications: - Suggestions

Meaning: -
Suggestion is the mental process, which results in an
individual accepting without logical grounds & acting without
deliberation upon the ideas conveyed by the words, attitudes
or acts of other people.
McDougall defines Suggestion as a process of
communication resulting in the acceptance with conviction of
the communicated proposition in the absence of logically
adequate grounds for its acceptance.
1. The teacher being older more experienced & in a position
of authority has great power to make suggestions to his
pupils. The teacher ought not to exploit his power to
suggest his own religious or political creed, since s/he is
the servant of the society as a whole & not of a particular
sect or a party. It does not mean that s/he should abstain
from giving suggestions altogether. S/he should use
 his/her influence as far as fundamental principles &
attitudes respected by the society are concerned, such as
truthfulness, fairness, kindness, justice, etc.
2. At times, however, there are questions, on which there are
no unanimous views, e.g., in the teaching of history or of
civics, the teacher will come across problems of
government, economics, social justice & so forth, on
which opinions vary. Here the teacher should be more
restrained & should lead the pupils to consider both sides
of the questions.
3. Prestige suggestion works, if the elderly persons label a
child as stupid or cleverer or sincere & if this is repeated,
the child will begin to think in that direction.
4. Through mass suggestion, it is easy to maintain disciple.
A child is led away by the traditions of a school. If the
general atmosphere of the class is good, no child will
escape its influence & can be easily led to follow his
classmates through suggestion.
5. Teachers should avoid giving negative orders, as they
result in contra-suggestion. The negative precepts, ‘Do
not steal’, ‘Do not tell a lie’, ‘Do not come late’, ‘Do not
talk / make noise’, etc, are not only useless but are likely
to create a tendency for contrary suggestion to occur.
 Instead of negative commandments, it is better to give
positive commands such as ‘Speak the truth’, Write
decently’, ‘Be honest’, ‘Be punctual’, ‘Maintain silence’,
‘Pay attention’, etc.
6. Opposition is also likely to come if the teacher tries to
suggest actions too inconsistent with the child’s
dominant tendencies, or feelings. Teachers should also
beware of over-preaching or of over-emphasising their
own belief or ideal & trying to force it upon the child, for
this is apt to rouse a feeling of opposition.
7. In order that the suggestions are accepted, the teacher’s
character, learning & sincerity of purpose must be above
question. If contra-suggestion is once evoked, it spreads
soon to the whole class.
8. Any fear communicated to children in early life seldom
gets out. Nurses & mothers often speak of ghosts,
Blackman, policeman etc, in order to hush up the child
from crying & these become the objects of terror to the
child. It is the duty of the parents & teachers to save the
children from all such unhealthy influences.
9. Teachers should not put suggestive questions to the
class suggesting either the wrong or right answers. No
good purpose is served with such questions. Teaching
should cultivate the habit of independent thinking
amongst the children.

23. concept formation.