Impact of Meaningfulness of Studying Material on Learning
PROBLEM :
To study the effect of meaningfulness on learning using a list of
meaningful words to nonsense syllables.
INTRODUCTION:
Learning may be defined as "any relatively permanent change in
behavior or behavioral potential produced by experience."
1. Continuous vs Partial Reinforcement: In continuous reinforcement the
participant is given reinforcement after each target response. This kind of
schedule of reinforcement produces a high rate of response. However, once
the reinforcement is withheld, response rates decrease very quickly, in the
responses acquired under this schedule tend to be extinguished. Since the
organism is getting reinforcement on each trial, the effectiveness of that
reinforcement is reduced. In such a schedule where reinforcement is not
continuous, some responses are not reinforced. Hence, they are called partial
or intermittent reinforcement.
2. Motivation: Motivation is a mental as well as a physiological state, that
arouses an organism to act for fulfilling the current need. For example, a
hungry rat is placed in a box. The animal starts searching for food in the box.
With repeated experience of such activity, the animal learns to press the lever
immediately after the animal is placed there. Another example - Working hard
at a task or project to receive praise and recognition. These two types of
motivation are called intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
3. Preparedness for learning: The member of different species are very
different from one another in their sensory capacities and response abilities. It
can be that species have biological constraints on their learning capacities. A
particular kind of associative learning is easy for apes or human beings but may
be extremely difficult for cats and rats. It implies that one can learn only those
associations for which one is genetically prepared.
4. Meaningfulness: Another factor that contributes to the learning efficiency is
the meaninglessness of the material being learned. If the material to be
learned is meaningful and relevant then the rate of learning becomes rapid.
The more meaningful the material, the fewer the trials or practice sessions
necessary to learn it.
HYPOTHESIS:
It will take fewer trials to learn meaningful words as compared to nonsense
syllables.
Independent Variable: List A of non-sense syllables and list B of meaningful
words.
Dependent Variable: The number of trials required to learn each of the two
lists.
CONTROL:
1. Noise level was controlled.
2. Temperature label is at a comfortable level.
3. Light was adequate.
4. It was ensured that the subject was not tired or anxious.
DESIGN:
The experiment began by presenting List A, consisting of nonsense
syllables, to the subjects. After reading aloud the entire list of 10 syllables, the
subjects were asked to repeat the list verbatim.
This procedure was then repeated for List B, which contained
meaningful words.
MATERIALS REQUIRED
1. List A comprising of nonsense syllables.
2. List B comprising meaningful words.
3. Paper, pen/ pencil
PRELIMINARIES
i. Name:
ii. Age:
iii. Sex :
iv. Qualification:
v. Date :
vi. Time :
PRECAUTIONS
1. Optimal conditions for testing were ensured before the test began.
2.
3. The tester should ensure that the subject is not familiar with the test.
4. The subject should be assured of the confidentiality of test results.
PROCEDURE:
Two lists were administered: List A consisted of nonsense syllables,
while List B contained meaningful words. Participants were instructed to recall
List A exactly as it was read aloud. Trials continued until the participants could
accurately recall every word from the list. The number of trials taken was
noted down.
The same procedure was followed for List B. The number of trials taken
was noted down.
RAPPORT FORMATION
Rapport was established between the subject and the tester,
before the test so that he/she could feel comfortable and at ease. In such a
state, she/he should calmly answer the questions and any doubts should be
cleared before starting the test.
INSTRUCTIONS
Please sit comfortably and be relaxed. There are two lists: List A, comprising
nonsense syllables, and List B, containing meaningful words. Initially, I will read
aloud the list of nonsense syllables, consisting of 10 words. Following this, you
will have an opportunity to recall the words exactly as they were spoken. The
trials will persist until you can accurately recall all the words in the correct
sequence.
The same process will then be repeated for List B.
DATA
LIST A TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2 TRAIL 3
(NONSENSE
SYLLABLES)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
LIST B TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2 TRAIL 3
(MEANINGFUL
WORDS)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
SUBJECT'S REPORT:
I had a good experience and gained new insights during the assessment,
learning something valuable along the way.
RESULTS
The results were analyzed based on the trials required to recall the words from
both lists.
List List A (Non-sense List B (Meaningful
Syllables) Words)
No of trials taken to
recall
INTERPRETATION:
The subject took ___ trials to recall all the nonsense syllables in List A.
He/She took ____ trials to recall all the meaningful words in List B. Since the
subject took ___ trials to recall the meaningful syllables, it can be interpreted
that the subject is _____ at learning meaningful words as compared to
nonsense syllables.
CONCLUSION:
Since the subject's number of trials to recall nonsense syllables was
_____ than the number of trials to recall meaningful words, the hypothesis is
______ .
