Repetition helps most learning, until fatigue sets in. Have to be sure the chunks are small enough yet challenging
enough to do any good...


"Gatt" wrote in message ...

In the Aviation Instructor's Handbook there's a section about the importance of Psychomotor skills in flying.
(Brain-body coordination and the ability to learn or improve.) Basically, it says to write the word "Learning" 15
times using your non-writing hand. Theoretically, you will be able to write quicker and more legibly with practice,
but the point of the exercise is that not only does your physical coordination improve, but your brain developed new
concepts about how to form the letters, etc.

My thought is, I wonder if this exercise could be used to demonstrate to a potential and uncertain student that
they -can- develop the skills to learn to fly.
Assuming the person actually improves his legibility and speed by the end of the exercise, you could say "See? You've
demonstrated the ability to learn and develop psychomotor coordination. Had your writing gotten slower and worse over
the exercise, maybe not, but you've already shown that you're trainable." Make sense? Or "Well, you improved
rapidly which indicates you're a thinker and a doer, which means it might take you less time than the average to get
your license."

So if that's all valid then, by extension, what if the potential student's sample remains static gets WORSE during the
exercise, either out of impatience, frustration or ineptitude? I bet it would be interesting to compare the results of
some sort of study to see. The real "loser" might be the person in ground school who lacks the patience or motivation
to complete the exercise, which might indicate trouble down the road. Maybe attention deficit, substance abuse,
laziness, whatever...

My wife laughed at me because as I thought about it out loud, (her degree is in psychology) I realized that I hadn't
done the exercise myself. That forced me to do it because I didn't want to be that "loser" who simply didn't want to
bother. So I sat down and tried it and, sho 'nuff, improved legibility and speed.

Are there exercises such as this?

Have a great week everybody!

-c
CP-ASEL-IA