5 Stages Of Learning
Melinda Prievo
SPED 601
Characteristics
The five stages of learning are as follows: acquisition, proficiency, maintenance, generalization, and adaptation. The primary goal of having stages to learning is to take someone with a new skill and move along a path from not knowing to knowing to being able to use the skill. Looking at a scenario of a child learning the alphabet through the stages of learning will be described. Stage one being acquisition is when a learner starts with no knowledge of a skill and through experience and involvement with the skill becomes knowledgeable about it and getting to a level of basic mastery, learning around 85%. The child is introduced to the alphabet and learns the sounds of each letters and the names that each one has. The next stage is proficiency. When a student demonstrates a very detailed and thorough understanding of the skill and they are able to use it with automatic response and/or fluency this is the level of proficiency. The child knows the letters A-Z and can recite them aloud or if asked to name a specific one they could automatically, building and preparing them for stage three maintenance. When learning something one needs to continually use the new skill or perform it at a high level to maintain meaningful use of the skill. This is the third stage, maintenance. This would be where a teacher everyday has the child recite the alphabet as a part of morning meeting per say. The fourth stage is generalization and it’s a stage that some may consider the last stage and one that must be reached. When you generalize a skill a student can use it across many different platforms and situations. This is an important step for students’ learning to really stay with them and be accurate again and again over time. Generalizing the alphabet learning would be when the child finds themselves in another situation besides their classroom working on the alphabet and can use the skill at a mastery level without hesitation or lack of
SPED 601
Characteristics
The five stages of learning are as follows: acquisition, proficiency, maintenance, generalization, and adaptation. The primary goal of having stages to learning is to take someone with a new skill and move along a path from not knowing to knowing to being able to use the skill. Looking at a scenario of a child learning the alphabet through the stages of learning will be described. Stage one being acquisition is when a learner starts with no knowledge of a skill and through experience and involvement with the skill becomes knowledgeable about it and getting to a level of basic mastery, learning around 85%. The child is introduced to the alphabet and learns the sounds of each letters and the names that each one has. The next stage is proficiency. When a student demonstrates a very detailed and thorough understanding of the skill and they are able to use it with automatic response and/or fluency this is the level of proficiency. The child knows the letters A-Z and can recite them aloud or if asked to name a specific one they could automatically, building and preparing them for stage three maintenance. When learning something one needs to continually use the new skill or perform it at a high level to maintain meaningful use of the skill. This is the third stage, maintenance. This would be where a teacher everyday has the child recite the alphabet as a part of morning meeting per say. The fourth stage is generalization and it’s a stage that some may consider the last stage and one that must be reached. When you generalize a skill a student can use it across many different platforms and situations. This is an important step for students’ learning to really stay with them and be accurate again and again over time. Generalizing the alphabet learning would be when the child finds themselves in another situation besides their classroom working on the alphabet and can use the skill at a mastery level without hesitation or lack of