What is Learning?
It is quite a task to define learning in a simple sentence. Most of us know that people are not all alike and there cannot be one single definition of learning that could be the perfect explanation for all who read this article. We see the world in a way that makes the most sense to each of us as individuals. You have probably noticed that when you try to learn something new you might prefer to learn it by listening to someone talk to you about the information. Some people prefer to read about a concept to learn it; others need to see a demonstration of the concept. In short learning cannot be described in a line because different people learn in different ways and the same rule applies for young children. When we approach a learning task or situation, we do not all benefit from the same approach. Each individual has his or her own unique learning styles, strengths and weaknesses.

How Do We Learn Something?
Think back of the time when you learnt something new. First let's take a generic example like tying your shoelaces. Do you remember who taught you to do that as a child? If I remember correctly, I learnt this complex task by doing it over and over again, through observation and adult supervision, till I took my own time to master it independently. Think about yourself. Maybe you learnt tying your laces by observing someone else do it for themself or for you repeatedly, till one day you tried and accomplished the task independently when you felt ready.

Now let's take a more academic example. What about the common task of learning number tables? Most of us should be able to relate to it. I precisely remember my math class when Miss used to come in class and all the students, would chant tables after her… 2 1 za 2. 2 2 za 4 and so on…I think most of us learnt tables by rote learning and constant drill. A lot of our school math-time was spent in learning number tables, as it was such an important task!

It was after a very long time, I think by the time that I was in grade 8 that I was able to make sense that there is no such word as ‘za’ and that 2 1s are 2 and 2 2s are 4. Much of my school time was spent in memorizing the 12 tables. Even today I only remember the 2 times table by heart and that too because I can mentally calculate it and make sense of it. It is such a shame that I have no clue about the rest of the tables, nor do I remember them by heart.

Some readers may remember all their tables and this particular approach of memorizing might have been effective for some of us. But is it true for all of us? I read somewhere and how true I believe it to be … “memorization is what we resort to when what we are learning makes no sense”.