Learning is an important skill that is essential for everyone to succeed in life which includes school, work and our community. Learning allows people to obtain basic knowledge, develop skills and new experiences. Whether the environment that we are in is stressful, combative or stress free, everything in it is important to the ability and capacity for which learning takes place.
How does the environment play a role in the way people learn? Many people believe the environment that individuals are in as children and adults can affect our learning dramatically as well as shape our identities.Although it is known that the environment does play a vital part in learning, knowing how it fully affects one another is unknown. One way the environment plays a role in learning depends on the choices individuals make. When people choose the wrong social circles or habits, they risk the chance of impairing their learning.
For example, drug use may impair the ability to learn because drugs interfere with the brains ability to process information. Additionally, being part of a gang may decrease your motivation to learn.It has been reported that people who are in gangs are likely to drop out of school and remain uneducated due to the negative interaction within it. Some environments may enhance learning experiences in comparison to others. For example, environments in which there are many knowledgeable people normally encourage others to want to learn more from them (Wood, 1998).
Therefore, such person may act as mentors and may boost a learner's morale and level of motivation. Role models can portray the positive results of learning as well.For example, if one is exposed to the good qualities and work ethic of becoming an architect or teacher at a young age, then chances are they will be encouraged to learn more in order to become one also. Another determining factor of how the environment plays a role in learning is culture.
Learning styles differ from culture to culture. For example, in most African and Asian societies, learning is very formal and controlled. The children are normally discouraged from voicing their own opinions or participating in the learning process.Additionally, most parents, teachers and other mentors enforce strict discipline during the learning process. There usually isn’t much time for anything else unless it’ extra-curricular like piano or ballet lessons.
However, in other developed countries such as the US, learning occurs in a less controlled environment as parents, teachers and other mentors allow children time to participate actively in the learning process. In some particular environments, it should be noted that some of the basics that facilitate learning may be present in one environment and lack in another.Children who come from developed parts of the world are usually at a better position to receive information. Developed countries have more resources than poorer countries; e. g.
internet resources, television and libraries. Particular environments present negative distractions in a child's learning process. One of the most dangerous distractions is a child's family life. For example, a child may be a victim of abuse from one of their family members. Statistics indicate that children who have been victims of child abuse tend to score lower in their exams than those who were raised normally.This is as result of low self-image; an issue that causes children to feel useless thus heavily undermining their ability to learn.
Families may also be a source of positive motivation within a child's life. They can encourage children to believe in themselves and to have the confidence to meet different challenges in their homes, schools or other interaction that facilitates learning. Sometimes other experiences affect the way an individual perceives new experiences and whether or not they learn from those new experiences.For instance, if someone has been in the military, then chances are that they will have greater levels of discipline. This is an important precondition for learning and will go a long way in enhancing a person's ability to learn. On the other hand, children raised by parents from the military may not get chances to acquire knowledge from that particular parent because most of the time, the parent will be away from his/her child (Clark, et al, 2006).
Finally, different classroom environments have different effects on the perceptions of the individuals within the classrooms.For example, online learning may not yield higher results than traditional classroom settings because there is no or very little provision for monitoring the moves of the learner. The learning process depends upon the discipline of the recipient and is not reinforced by teachers. Other than this, traditional classroom settings allow educators and recipients to interact directly. Consequently, the teacher may assess other psychological factors affecting a particular student; this is not possible in the online environment.
A person’s cultural upbringing may influence their access to resources and their learning style, whereas a person that was raised in an abusive household may lack the esteem or encouragement to learn. Sometimes individuals can have the same upbringing, access to resources and opportunities and one may still be more knowledgeable and the other less interested in utilizing resources provided or applying knowledge gained for the opportunities presented. This is because every individual has their own uniqueness and they respond differently to different environments (Wood, 1998).
