Practice
is the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity
again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it. How well one
improves with practice depends on several factors, such as the frequency it is
engaged in, and the type of feedback that is available for improvement. If
feedback is not appropriate, then the practice tends to be ineffective or even
detrimental to learning. If a student does not practise often enough,
reinforcement fades, and he or she is likely to forget what was learned.
Therefore, practice is often scheduled, to ensure enough of it is performed to
reach one's training objectives. How much practice is required depends upon the
nature of the activity, and upon each individual.
The needs
of practice are:
i.
Practice strenthens the relationship between
stimulus and desired response.
ii.
It corrects the wrong response and fosters the
right.
iii.
It helps memorize the learned behavior, skill
or experience.
iv.
It makes learning automatic or autonomous.
v.
It assists in transfer of learning.
vi.
It creates the base for feedback.
vii.
It accelerates the reinforcement.
viii.
It helps to meet training objectives.
ix.
It helps to master the particular behavior.
9.1.1
Types of practice:
i.
Massed and distributed Practice:
"Massed practice means practicing a skill without a break and
occurs when an activity is repeated continuously over a period of time with
very little or no rest period."(Martin, 2006, p. 167) On one hand, It is
good for learning simple skills and helps the learner to get a feel for the
skill. This type of practice reinforces technique through repetition. On the
other hand, performer can get bored and loss interest in the training. Learner
are likely to become fatigue when practicing a number of skills or one skill in
rapid succession. Resultantly, the performance will suffer. One of its drawback
is that it requires a lot of concerntration and motivation.
Distributed practice consists of short and frequent practice
sessions interspersed with rest intervals or intervals of learning another
skill. Distributed practice is often preffered when in the early stages of
learning a skill, energy demands are high, the skill is complex, the performer
is not motivated and the task is boring. This type of practice is good for
gross motor skills that are fatiguing. It gives the learner the time to think
and review feedback to improve performance. But it may take longer to learn a
skill due to the stop start nature.
ii.
Part and whole practice:
Part practice means breaking up a skill or task into distinct
parts and practicing each part in isolation of the other. This type of practice
is mostly effective when all parts are eventually brought together in a whole
practice.
But whole practice refers to a skill or task practiced as a whole.
iii.
Bllind and reinforced practice:
Practicing a skill without being aware of the result is defined as
blind practice. It is also called mechanical practice because the practitioner
even do not know whether or not his attempts are making contribution.
In contrast, if the practice is being reinforced by some stimulus
or the good results, it is called reinforced practice. In this type of
practice, the practitioner is aware of the circumstances of his action. He also
has the judgement over his practice.
9.1.2
Teachers’ role in managing practice in classroom teaching:
Practice
is to be managed and used in the classroom to make the learning long lasting
and effective. It can help to avoid the risk of forgetting the knowledge,
skills and experiences and to take advantage of the transfer of learning. For
all these benefits of practice, the teacher is supposed to play a vital role in
managing practice in the classroom.
i.
To develop raciprocity and cooperation among
students.
ii.
To encourage contact between student and
faculty.
iii.
To provide proper feedback.
iv.
To encourage active learning.
v.
To respect diverse talency and thinking.
vi.
To study subject matter properly.
9.2 Meaning and process of retention:
The ability to recall or recognize
what has been
learned or experienced is termed as
retention. Retention is needed to memorize or reuse the previously learned
knowledge, skills or behaviors. It is a mental process. It preserves the memory
in the brain for a long duration of time. It is related to the capacity of
brain to store informations that is also why retention is one of most important
factors of learning.
Process
of retention:
There
are three processes of retention:
i.
Sensory registration:
It is the beginning stage of
retention. In this stage, we get varieties of informations through our sense
organs. Only the informations or knoledge embodying certain signals or distinct
patterns leveled to the short term stage. It happens within very short period
of time.
ii.
Short term stage:
In this stage, informations passed from sensory registration has
to face another level of process or rehearsal and are determined whether or not
they will be remembered for long term or whether or not they will be used in
latter learnings. This stage filters the informations and send only some of
them to long term range. The rest are to be forgotten.
iii.
Long term range:
It is the last stage of retention. It makes the informations lasts
longer. The approved informations of this stage can be used in latter
learnings. They help in the transfering learning too.
9.3
Meaning and types of memory:
“Memory is
the process of maintaining information over time.” (Matlin, 2005)
“Memory is
the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this
information in the present’ (Sternberg, 1999).
9.3.1
Factors affecting memory:
i.
Factors related to learners:
a.
Age
b.
Sex
c.
Interests
d.
Ability
e.
Physical and mental condition
f.
Use of intoxication
ii.
Factors related to learning materials:
a.
Ammount of learning material
b.
Utility of learning material
c.
Complexity of learning material
d.
Appealing of learning material
iii.
Factors related to learning process:
a.
Massed and distributed learning
b.
Methods of learning
c.
Whole and part learning
d.
Meaningful and role learning
e.
Complete and incomplete learning
f.
Use of memonic devices
iv.
Factors related to the use of theories:
a.
Theory of use and disuse
b.
Theory of interference or blocking
c.
Theory of memory consolidation
v.
Other Factors:
a.
Learning condition
b.
Retention power
9.3.2
Process/stages of memory:
i.
Encoding:
When information comes into our memory system (from sensory
input), it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so
that it can be stored. Think of this as similar to changing your money
into a different currency when you travel from one country to another.
For example, a word which is seen (in a book) may be stored if it is changed
(encoded) into a sound or a meaning (i.e. semantic processing).
There are three main ways in which information can be encoded
(changed):
1. Visual (picture)
2. Acoustic (sound)
3. Semantic (meaning)
For example, how do you remember a
telephone number you have looked up in the phone book? If you can see it
then you are using visual coding, but if you are repeating it to yourself you
are using acoustic coding (by sound).
Evidence suggests that this is the
principle coding system in short term memory (STM) is acoustic coding.
When a person is presented with a list of numbers and letters, they will try to
hold them in STM by rehearsing them (verbally). Rehearsal is a verbal
process regardless of whether the list of items is presented acoustically
(someone reads them out), or visually (on a sheet of paper).
The principle encoding system in
long term memory (LTM) appears to be semantic coding (by meaning).
However, information in LTM can also be coded both visually and acoustically.
ii.
Storage:
This concerns the nature of memory
stores, i.e. where the information is stored, how long the memory lasts for
(duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of
information is held. The way we store information affects the way we
retrieve it. There has been a significant amount of research regarding
the differences between Short
Term Memory (STM ) and Long
Term Memory (LTM).
Most adults can store between 5
and 9 items in their short-term memory. Miller (1956) put this idea
forward and he called it the magic number 7. He though that short-term
memory capacity was 7 (plus or minus 2) items because it only had a certain
number of “slots” in which items could be stored.
However, Miller didn’t specify the
amount of information that can be held in each slot. Indeed, if we can
“chunk” information together we can store a lot more information in our
short-term memory. In contrast the capacity of LTM is thought to be
unlimited.
Information can only be stored for
a brief duration in STM (0-30 seconds), but LTM can last a lifetime.
iii.
Retrieval:
This refers to getting information out storage. If we can’t
remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it. When
we are asked to retrieve something from memory, the differences between STM and
LTM become very clear.
STM is stored and retrieved
sequentially. For example, if a group of participants are given a list of
words to remember, and then asked to recall the fourth word on the list, participants
go through the list in the order they heard it in order to retrieve the
information.
LTM is stored and retrieved by
association. This is why you can remember what you went upstairs for if
you go back to the room where you first thought about it.
Organizing information can help
aid retrieval. You can organize information in sequences (such as
alphabetically, by size or by time). Imagine a patient being discharged
from hospital whose treatment involved taking various pills at various times,
changing their dressing and doing exercises. If the doctor gives these
instructions in the order which they must be carried out throughout the day
(i.e. in sequence of time), this will help the patient remember them.
9.3.3
Techniques for improving memory:
i.
Clear Understanding
ii.
Use of symbols
iii.
Use of appropriate practice techniques
iv.
Building an organized knowledge base
v.
Relating new knowledge to existing knowledge
vi.
Over learning
vii.
Organization of subject matter
viii.
Use of memonic devices
ix.
Foramtion of clear concept
x.
Meaningful learning
xi.
Clarifying utility of learning
xii.
Creating motivation and interest towards
learning
xiii.
Formation of rule or generalization
xiv.
Repetition of stimulus
xv.
Pay more attention to difficult learning
processes
9.4
Concept and cause of forgetting:
Causes:
i.
Theoretical causes of forgetting
a.
Theory of use and disuse
b.
Interference theory
c.
Theory of repression
ii.
General Causes of forgetting:
a.
Inappropriate age
b.
sex
c.
Ability to retention
d.
Individual factors
e.
Use of intoxication
f.
Physiccal and mental health condition
g.
Meaningful Learning
h.
Available of learning materials