GDRC Collections
Learning Systems
GDRC Collections


Why do people gather information? How do people learn? What do they do with it? What are the objectives - explicit and implicit - in delivering knowledge to the end user? This special feature gathers together resources on the topic of Learning Systems with the objective of answering some of the above questions. It particularly focusses on how children learn and develop ...

  • How do people learn?
    Here's the learning process in a nutshell. Attention makes us receptive to information, which we process together with prior knowledge, until we arrive at conclusions and understanding, which we then apply and test for confirmation.

  • How do children develop?
    When educators discuss children's development, they usually talk about physical, mental, social, and emotional development. The document is a quick lesson in how children develop and the stages they go through. Knowing these will help you understand what stage they are in and what comes next.

  • How is knowledge processed?
    The learner adapts his behavior to contingencies of events and objectives. Learning is a gradual strengthening of the learned relationship between cue and behavior, driven by a pattern of consequences (reinforcement). This is called shaping. With enough practice, the link becomes so strong that the time between cue and behavior gets very small.

  • How are values built?
    Every interaction with children provides an opportunity to teach values. While no parent tries to make every kiss goodnight a lesson, it's useful to think about the opportune times for teaching in families: Children learn about our values through daily interactions with us.

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Please send suggestions to the email listed below.

 Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org
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