Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values ??through teaching or experience, resulting in measurable and stable changes in behavior. More accurately, it is the establishment of a new mental structure or the review of the past. mental structure. Broad interpretation of educational psychology: Learning is the relatively lasting adaptive change in behavior or behavioral potential of humans and animals through the acquisition of experience in the course of life. (The definition currently accepted by most scholars is "Learning is a relatively lasting change and process in an individual's behavior, ability or tendency due to practice or repeated experience in a special situation.") Decomposition of the broad concept First, learning is manifested as changes in individual behavior or behavioral potential (either implicit or explicit); Second, changes in behavior or behavioral potential caused by learning are relatively long-lasting; Third, behaviors or behaviors caused by learning Changes in potential are caused by the acquisition of experience; fourth, learning is an adaptation phenomenon to the environment unique to humans and animals. The narrow definition of educational psychology (learning in the narrow sense refers to students' learning) is carried out in various school environments, under the guidance of teachers, in a purposeful, planned and organized manner, and in a short period of time. The process of systematically accepting the cultural experience accumulated by predecessors to develop personal knowledge and skills and form moral character that conforms to social expectations. From the perspective of nature, "Encyclopedia of China (Concise)" believes that learning is the process of acquiring knowledge and mastering skills. It includes both the acquisition of knowledge and skills through formal education and training, and the accumulation of knowledge and experience in daily life and practical activities. This meaning of learning is the same in everyday language as in scientific terms. However, psychologists who are inclined to behaviorist theory believe that this definition is too broad and cannot accurately define the meaning of the word learning. Moreover, such an understanding can be used to explain human learning behavior, but it is not suitable to explain all animals, especially Simple learned behavior in some lower animals. Therefore, they defined learning as "more durable changes in underlying responsiveness that occur as a result of reinforced practice." This definition includes four key points that are crucial to understanding the learning process: First, "more permanent change." This excludes temporary behavioral changes such as decreased motivation and responsiveness caused by fatigue, satiety, or habituation. Such changes are not considered learning. Second, "potential response ability." This shows that not only obvious changes in external behavior occur through learning, but also internal changes that are difficult to directly observe. For example, latent learning and unintentional learning, which significantly improve learning efficiency due to exposure to certain objects and situations, both fall within the scope of learning. Third, "be strengthened". This is the key part that behaviorist psychologists pay the most attention to, because without reinforcement (without unconditional stimulation or reward for the response), there will be no "longer-lasting changes in underlying responsiveness" and will cause already acquired The ability to respond has diminished. Fourth, "Practice". The behavior to be learned must actually occur and be repeated for learning to occur. Of course, learning achieved through observation and imitation can also have only internal changes without obvious external behavioral manifestations. In addition, emphasizing that learning requires practice can exclude innate tendencies of certain species (such as imprinting in ducks) and changes caused by organismal maturation (such as bird flight). List of definitions (1) Thorpe (1963): Learning is a process manifested through adaptive changes in individual behavior resulting from experience. (2) Kimble (1961): Learning is a lasting change in behavioral potential caused by reinforced practice. (3) Gagne (1965): Learning is a change in a person's tendency or ability. This change can be maintained and cannot be simply attributed to the growth process. (4) Eittrock (1977): Learning is a term that describes the process of change in experience. It is a process of learning relatively constant changes in understanding, attitudes, knowledge, information, abilities, and experiential skills. (5) Wingfield (1979): Learning is a more lasting change in behavior or knowledge caused by practice or experience. (6) Bower & Hilgard (1981): Learning refers to changes in a subject’s behavior or behavioral potential in that situation caused by small repeated experiences in a certain prescribed situation. (7) Pan Shu (1980): Learning is the process by which humans and animals acquire individual behavioral experience in the course of their lives. (8) Zhang Chunxing (1994): Learning is a process in which individual behavior or behavioral potential changes due to experience and is maintained for a long time. (9) Chen Qi (1997): Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or thinking caused by experience. (10) Pi Liansheng (1997): Learning is a process in which the interaction between the body's channels and its environment leads to relatively stable changes in abilities or tendencies. Learning - School of thought Learning in the field of education is generally believed to be a social activity in which human individuals acquire experience and knowledge, master objective laws, and develop their body and mind in the process of understanding and practice. The essence of learning is the self-awareness and self-awareness of human individuals. Self-transcendence. It examines learning as a social activity.

In the field of psychology, everyone agrees that it refers to the relatively lasting process of changes in tendencies or abilities of people and animals due to experience. These changes are not caused by maturity, disease or drugs, and they do not necessarily show explicit behaviors. It focuses on examining the psychological mechanism of learning. Behaviorism: 1. Animal learning is the formation of connections between stimuli and responses. 2. The essence of learning lies in the formation, strengthening and response of habitual connections. 3. Skinnerian neo-behaviorism believes that the process of shaping the behavior of organisms is the learning process. 4. Learning is conditioning, learning is behavior, and thinking is also a behavior that can be decomposed and compiled into a detailed behavior catalog. Its main emphasis is on the stimulus-response connection. Gestalt School: The essence and purpose of learning is not to strengthen the connection between stimulus and response, but to form and develop "Gestalt" (that is, to form and develop people's inner cognitive structure, Gestalt). Gestalt emphasizes the formation and development of "Gestalt". Constructivism: Learning is a process in which learners actively construct internal mental representations, emphasizing the use of learning initiative in the learning process. The learning process includes two aspects of construction: the construction of meaning for new information and the use of original experience to transcend the information provided; the transformation and reorganization of original experience. Learning is both a personalized behavior and a social activity. Learning requires dialogue and cooperation. Learning occurs through authentic learning tasks. Constructivism emphasizes the initiative of learning. Humanistic Psychology School: Learning is a change in self-concept and the realization of value and potential. Origin In China, the word study is a compound word composed of "learning" and "xi". The first person to link these two words together was Confucius. Confucius said: "Learn and practice from time to time, isn't it yuè?" It means that after learning, review and practice in a timely and regular manner, isn't it a very pleasant thing? Obviously, learning this compound noun comes from this famous saying of Confucius. According to the views of Confucius and other ancient Chinese educators, "learning" means hearing, seeing, and imitating, and it is the acquisition of information and skills. It mainly refers to the reception of sensory information (image information, sound information, touch, taste, etc.) and book knowledge. Sometimes it also includes the meaning of thoughts. "Study" means self-study or someone teaching you to learn. "Xi" is the act of consolidating knowledge and skills. It generally has three meanings: review, practice, and practice. "Learning" focuses on the theoretical field of ideology, while "learning" focuses on the practical aspect of action practice. Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, forming skills, and gaining the ability to adapt to and change the environment. In essence, it is the general term for learning, thinking, practice, and action. Role and function Necessary means for individual survival. The lives of animals and humans are inseparable from learning. Learning is a necessary condition for animals and humans to maintain balance with the environment, maintain survival and development, and is also a means to adapt to the environment. In order to survive, animals and humans must also gain individual experience through learning. This acquired behavioral experience can adapt to relatively rapid changes, and its significance is obviously much more important than innate instinct. For example, a little lamb knows where to find abundant food and how to avoid being hunted by wolves by constantly learning from its mother. If the lamb does not learn, it will not be able to adapt to the changing external environment, and it will not be able to survive. However, the role and degree to which learning is important to an individual's life varies widely among animals. The higher the animal, the more complex its life style, the smaller the role of instinctive behavior, and the greater the importance of learning. In lower animals, learned behaviors are rare and acquired very slowly, so learning plays little role in their lives. For example, shortly after protozoa are born, most of the movements in their lives have already appeared, and most of the reactions they need in the future are already available. Their ability to learn is very low, and the time they retain experience is also very short, so the results of learning have little effect on their lives. Human beings are the most advanced animals, with extremely complex lifestyles and the least fixed instinctive behaviors. The vast majority of human behavior is acquired, and the ability to learn and the role of learning in individual human lives must be the greatest. Compared with newborn animals, human babies have relatively low independence and low innate adaptability. It can be said that babies cannot survive without the care of their parents. However, humans have an incomparable learning ability that animals can quickly and extensively adapt to the environment through learning. For example, growing grains and obtaining food rely on learning; defeating natural enemies such as poisonous snakes and beasts, and dealing with terrible plagues to avoid being wiped out also rely on learning. In general, compared with other animals in nature such as lions, tigers and even sparrows, humans are at a disadvantage in many aspects. Humans can become the spirit of all things by learning. There is a famous saying abroad that is called "If you don't learn, you will perish." In 1972, the International Commission for the Development of Education of UNESCO published a famous research report titled "Learning to Survive", which directly linked learning with survival, which shows the importance of learning to human survival. Pan Shu, a famous Chinese psychologist, defined human learning as follows: Human learning is the process of consciously and proactively mastering social and individual experiences in social practice, using language as the medium. This definition shows that human learning requires individual conscious action, active participation, and active acquisition; the content absorbed can be knowledge, skills, or wisdom; the scope of learning can be either the entire society or an individual .

If you are not conscious, proactive, and active, you will not have learning behavior. In a sense, just because you have a student status in school does not mean that you have entered the school to study. Promote human maturity As people age, their physical and psychological maturity will gradually increase. But maturity is not a purely natural process completely divorced from the influence of environment and learning. The influence of learning on maturity was first supported by animal psychology research. In the past two or three decades, experimental studies by many psychologists have found that the environmental richness of animals, especially newborn animals, can affect the development and maturation of the animal's senses, as well as the weight, structure and chemical composition of the brain, thereby affecting The development of wisdom. D. Krech (1966) divided young rats into three groups: the first group was given rich stimuli to make their responses more and more complex; the second group was allowed to live a normal life in a cage; the third group Complete isolation from environmental stimuli. After 80 days, the anatomy of the three groups of young mice was compared and analyzed. The results found that in terms of the weight and density of the cerebral cortex, the first group was the best and the third group was the worst; in terms of acetylcholinesterase, which is closely related to the transmission of nerve impulses, the three groups also showed significant differences. The content of the first group The most abundant, the second group is second, and the third group is the least abundant. M. R. Rosenzweig (1972) also found that a group of young rats that received rich and varied environmental stimuli and appropriate learning training performed better than another group of young rats that received a monotonous and poor environment and lacked learning training. In 4-10 weeks, the weight and thickness of the cerebral cortex of the former increased, the number of glial cells increased, the synapses enlarged or multiplied, the acetylcholinesterase content was more abundant and the activity increased, and the ratio of ribonucleic acid to deoxyribonucleic acid also increased. improve. Regarding the impact of human learning on maturation, the famous Swiss child psychologist J Piaget (1969) believed that children's maturity must be promoted through skill practice. He also said: "As children grow older, the importance of the influence of the natural and social environment will increase." White's experimental research on motor training of eye-hand coordination in newborn infants illustrates the role of learning and training in promoting maturation. White found that trained babies can raise their hands to grab objects in front of them at an average age of 3.5 months, and their eye-hand coordination is equivalent to that of untrained 5-month-old babies. This illustrates the role of learning and training in promoting maturity, and learning promotes the expression of potential and the improvement of abilities. Some scholars have shown that in the first four to five years after birth, in addition to nutritional conditions, lack of appropriate learning training or improper education will also have adverse effects on brain development. Someone studied the cerebral cortex of deaf-mute people after death and found that the parts that control the audio-visual organs tend to shrink; tests were conducted on congenitally blind people after they regained their sight and found that their eye movements were irregular, they had difficulty focusing on one point, and they could not accurately distinguish circles and squares. . Although the Indian wolf child Kamala was about seven or eight years old when she returned to human society, her intelligence level was only equivalent to that of a 6-month-old baby; she was about 16 years old when she died, which may only be equivalent to the intelligence level of a three- or four-year-old child. All these studies and facts show that early learning, training and the corresponding cultural environment have a certain impact on the development of human sensory organs and brain and other body functions. Accordingly, help for children must be based on their level of maturity and must not wait for maturity. Appropriate learning content, reasonable training methods and educational methods should be combined and used at appropriate "growth points" to promote their physical and psychological maturity. Improving people's quality Learning can improve people's cultural accomplishment. Human beings have created a large amount of material culture and spiritual culture in the process of social and historical development. In particular, achievements in spiritual culture, such as literature, art, education, science, etc., need us to obtain through learning to improve our cultural literacy. People who lack certain cultural literacy cannot be regarded as truly healthy people. New talents in modern society must be people with higher cultural literacy. Learning can optimize people's psychological quality. A new type of talent in modern society should have good psychological qualities in many aspects, such as noble moral character, extraordinary temperament, professionalism, goal-specific character, perseverance, etc. These can all be achieved through learning. As Thackeray said: "Reading can enlighten the soul, improve and strengthen personality, and inspire people's good aspirations. Reading can increase intelligence and cultivate the soul." Continuity and Development of Civilization Morgan, a famous American ethnologist and historian of primitive society It is believed that the history of human society can be summarized into three eras, namely the age of ignorance, the age of barbarism and the age of civilization. In the savage era, humans lived in tropical or subtropical forests for generations, eating wild fruits and plant roots, and a small number of them lived in trees. As the earth's crust changed and the climate changed, humans had to move from trees to the ground. They learned survival skills such as eating fish, using fire, making stone tools, using bows and arrows, and grinding stone tools, which were passed down from generation to generation. In the barbaric era, humans also learned pottery making, the domestication and breeding of animals, and the cultivation of plants. In the later period of this era, people also learned how to smelt iron ore and invented writing, thus making the transition of human history to the civilized era.

From this point of view, the continuation and development of human civilization is like a large-scale and protracted relay race: the previous generations gained experience in maintaining survival and development through labor and life, and constantly summarized, accumulated, and improved to form knowledge. and skills are passed on to future generations; on the basis of learning from the experiences of their predecessors, future generations will further enrich and improve them to adapt to changes in the times and environment. This transmission from generation to generation forms a history of the continued development of human civilization. Obviously, if humans in the barbaric era did not learn how to use fire from their ancestors from generation to generation, they would have no choice but to live a life of eating hair and drinking blood like their ancestors; if humans in the civilized era did not learn animal husbandry and agriculture from their ancestors from generation to generation, they would They can only rely on ready-made natural products for food like their distant ancestors. It is also worth noting that since human civilization has a tendency to accelerate development in a certain sense, the role of learning activities in human society is more obvious. The technological revolution of the eighteenth century was marked by the emergence of the steam engine. At that time, innovators such as Grievous, Newcomen, and Watt mastered physics, mechanics and other knowledge through study, designed, manufactured, and tested, and finally invented the steam engine. The technological revolution of the nineteenth century was marked by electricity. The creation of this new productive force is the result of countless people’s learning and creation. Germany's Hertz discovered that electricity generates magnetism, Faraday discovered that magnetism generates electricity, established the law of electromagnetic induction, Maxwell established electromagnetic theory and Maxwell's equations, Siemens invented the generator, Deppler developed high-voltage transmission technology, etc., thus promoting mankind to enter the age of electricity. . This century's new technological revolution marked by electronic computers, atomic energy, and space technology has once again proved the huge promotion power of learning. In this information age, we only need to consider this fact: you can buy a high-performance personal computer at a very cheap price, roam freely on the Internet, and know the world without going out. We cannot help but be amazed at the tremendous changes that science and technology have brought to real life, and we cannot help but sincerely acknowledge the important role of learning in the civilization and progress of our humanity.