Terrell, William R (TerrellWR@navair.navy.mil)
Thu, 5 Aug 1999 14:24:07 -0400
From: "Terrell, William R" <TerrellWR@navair.navy.mil> Subject: Biological Basis for Learning Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 14:24:07 -0400
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I have not done direct research in the Biological Basis for Learning, but I
have worked on an Instructional Development project that provides evidence
of these phenomenon.
Student helicopter pilots in a very southern Naval Air Station complained
bitterly about having to sit in the aircraft in the hot sun while running
through a start-up checklist of over two hundred items. I was tasked to
find a way of reducing the time involved.
It was obvious that pilots would not be able to memorize the entire
checklist. I experimented with the number of items that pilots could
memorize at one time. I found that, depending upon the complexity of the
individual action, pilots could easily memorize up to seven items. I
observed that when pilots went through the groups of up to seven items they
would often hum to the beat of a pattern they instinctively developed in the
operation of the items. Recognizing the value of this as a memory support,
wherever possible a pattern of actions was created for each group of items.
Ultimately the checklist was reduced to 35 items of up to seven independent
actions. Time to execute the checklist was reduced by up to 70%. The
pilots, because of the patterns, did not have to look for the instruments.
As each checklist item was called out a very rapid slurry of individual
actions executed the pattern.
This experience taught me that there are biological limits and processes
that, if known, could be used to enhance the development of procedure
learning. In fact, I think it would be possible to build a library of
hueristics regarding the Biological Basis for Learning.
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