Afterthoughts

The more I think of it, the more difficult I believe it is to make a science of the learning process. Learning is so unique and individualized for each person that it is difficult to name even two factors that are the most significant to learning for all students. In the reading for this week, I read about technical aspects of teaching and learning, but I think I still believe that learning experiences are different for everyone, and what works for one student may not necessarily work for another student.

In attempting to determine the two most important factors of learning, I realize that these may also differ according to a person's definition of learning. Learning may be the ability to apply something in a real-world process, the ability to use the information to learn something on a higher level, or the ability to verbalize or summarize what has been learned. For each of these, a different factor of learning may be of a higher significance than for another.

However, for the purposes of this assignment, I have found that motivation and application are still what I believe to be the most significant factors in learning. For all types of learning and all types of students, these are consistently important.