Learning of skills

                YOUR  RESOURCES FOR LEARNING SKILLS

Your resources for learning skill may very because they 
depend upon both your background and your learning 
ability .some of your resources may be the abilities to 
discriminate, evaluate, interpret and identify. In addition 
to these you may possess the abilities of judgment, 
perception, association, recognition, insight, 
organization, memory and self-motivation. Such qualities, 
like thinking itself, are personal and they will very with 
individuals, but they can be developed if they are lacking 
and if there is a desire for them.

There is another factor, which it seems has been abandoned, 
but which is an aid and resource for learning. This is 
drill. In certain kinds of learning, reasoning alone cannot 
guarantee learning, and drill is needed for achievement. 
The three "Re" used to be based on drill, if they were to 
be mastered. In order to achieve skill in most physical 
activities drill is necessary. It is necessary, too, in the 
mechanical, musical, scientific, artistic and other fields. 
Thus your resources for learning skill could well include 
drill and discipline in basic facts, in addition to 
understanding. 

Tom was an inspector and had been doing this work for five 
years. He liked the work, but he shunned the paper-work 
involved in it. His foreman knew this, and after repeated 
attempts to get Tom to do paper-work, he finally told him 
that he would teach him after working hours. There would 
then be no reason or excuse for failing to do it. The 
foreman discovered that Tom was brilliant and learned 
readily, but needed drill in the four basic arithmetic 
processes. Tom had the conviction that the paper-work was 
unnecessary and should be done by clerical workers. The 
foreman convinced him to take a course in blue-print 
reading, and soon he was not only enthusiastic about the 
course, but he was doing outstanding work with the help and 
use of drill. Tom now had a better understanding of 
inspection which generally requires ability to read 
blueprints. His foreman was transferred and Tom was 
recommended for and accepted his position. He had permitted 
his learning resources to lie idle or dormant because of 
his attitudes, until he realized that mental exercise is a 
stepping stone for success. 

There are two principles very much used in learning and 
teaching. They are------
(1) proceeding from the simple to the complex. 
(2) Proceeding from the known to the unknown.

These two methods are used in elementary school teaching, 
but they apply equally well to all adult learning. Many 
textbooks are written on these two principles.