3 Laws of Learning

Many psychologists conducted many experiments on the lower species of animals through which he comes to know about the learning process. On the basis of their experiments, they propounded some laws of learning which are not applied to human beings. There are two types of laws which are stated below:

1. Law of Readiness

The law of readiness is also known as the law preparedness. According to this law “the learner learns when he is prepared to learn.”This law states, “When any conduction unit is ready to conduct, for it does so is satisfying, When any conduction unit is not in readiness to conduct for it to conduct is annoying”. Indeed readiness is related to the condition of the individually, especially to his nervous system. An individual can learn only when he is ready to learn. Until a child gets physically and mentally ready he cannot learn because his experiences will be annoying, dissatisfying and unpleasant. Physical maturity has a control over the muscle of an individual. When a small child learns to stand, his muscular system should be mature enough. For playing with a ball, there should be both types of maturity in children. In the same way, physical readiness and mental readiness are essential in sportsperson. Motivation is also the main aspect of readiness.

2. Law of Effect

According to this law, if the effort in doing any work is pleasant or enjoyable, the individual tries to learn that activity rapidly and learns it too. On the contrary, if the result after the effort is painful or full of sorrow, the individual does not take interest in that activity and finally leave that activity. In fact, the law of effect is directly related to success and failure. As a step to success, the individual gets satisfaction which leads the individual towards learning. Whereas, as a result of the failure, the individual becomes dissatisfied which is an obstruction in the path of learning, means owing to dissatisfaction the individual cannot learn that activity properly. Hence, physical education teachers should be sympathetic. In the beginning, the activities which bring unpleasant and dissatisfying results should be taught with love and proper care. Physical education teacher’s personality, his methods, and means of teaching and training and his behavior decide whether the results of learning that activity will be pleasant and satisfying or unpleasant and dissatisfying. If a physical activity is taught with the downtrodden or old methods, generally its results are not good. On the contrary, if new methods of teaching are applied, children get more satisfied and consequently, would like to learn more. The sports like gymnastics and wrestling, which seem to be very difficult in the beginning, can be taught easily if the physical education teacher imparts training with good equipment, and uses good techniques of teaching. A teacher must have this knowledge that a student, who wants to learn boxing gets an injury on his nose on the very first day of training, will never come to learn boxing. It does not mean that if we are unsuccessful in are an effort, we cannot learn that activity. There some children who have obstinate behavior. Such children learn the sports activity even after an unsuccessful attempt.

3. Law of Exercise

According to this law, “when an adjustable connection is made frequently between a situation and a response, the strength of that connection is increased, but when the adjustable connection is not made between a situation and a response over a length of time, the strength of that connection is decreased”. In fact, the law of exercise and law of effect work together. Generally, pleasurable pleasant activities are forgotten because we like the pleasant activities more in comparison to painful activities. Owing to this, it is said,” practice makes a man perfect”. This proverb laid stress on this point that practice plays a very vital role in learning various activities. This law is applied completely in the field of sports and games. When a physical education teacher or coach teaches sports activity to students they are not able to learn that activity immediately. That is why they need persistent exercise or practice. If they do regular practice, they may start forgetting the already learned activity gradually. This law is applied to all types of sports such as hockey, football, volleyball, cricket and table tennis etc. The importance of this law can be made to understand that swimming cannot be taught through correspondence but can only be learned through practice or exercise.