Importance of Class 10 th board exam

Since 2010, the CBSE had made the class 10 board examinations optional to remove the fear of ‘board exam’ and reduce exam stress among students. Class 10 students who opt out of the CBSE board exams would be evaluated based on the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system that was introduced. CBSE has finally taken the decision to make class 10 board exams compulsory again on 20 December, 2016.The importance of board exams for class 10 cannot be overlooked.

Here are a few reasons why we believe that students should opt for taking the CBSE board exams in class 10:

1. Keep options open:

If you plan to move out of the CBSE board after class 10, then taking the class 10 board exams becomes mandatory. For instance, the Maharashtra government ruled that only those CBSE students who took the board exams were eligible to apply to junior colleges through the centralized admission process (CAP).

2.  Learn to handle & channelize stress:

The entire examination process should be taken as an experience that teaches the 14-15 year old to handle and tackle stress and inculcate habits like time-management, prioritisation, planning, scheduling etc.

We should stop focussing on only the negative impacts of stress (which kick in only when stress levels reaches its extreme). Instead we need to realise that that there are positive effects of stress like enhanced productivity – stress can cause the brain to use more of its capabilities and thus increase productivity. These claims are based on the findings by Yale researcher Alia Crum and Shawn Achor, author of “The Happiness Advantage”.

3.  Know where you stand:

Taking the class 10 board exams is an excellent litmus test that gives you a clear indication of where you stand as compared to not just your 29 class-mates but class 10 students across India. Since boards are conducted at a national level, a not-so-good performance in class 10 boards will come across as a wake-up call for you to perform better.

4.  Get a taste of class 12 board exams:

Class 10 students should treat their board exams as a trial run for the class 12 board exams. The entire experience of going to another school and being seated with students from other schools, with teachers from different schools as invigilators can be an intimidating and novel experience for many students.

5.  Face your fear:

Once you’ve successfully faced and conquered the class 10 board exams, you’ll find your fear of facing tougher, bigger exams fading away. So instead of running away from your fear of failure/ taking a big exam and relying on easier solutions, it would be wiser to look it in the face and gain confidence and strength in the process.

Thorndike's Trial &Error Theory

The famous psyhologist Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949) was the initiator of the theory of trial and error learning based on the findings of his experiments on chickens, rats and cats.
In one of his experiments, for instance, he put a hungry cat in a puzzzle box. There was only one door which could be opened by correctly manipulating a latch. A fish was placed outside the box. The smell of the fish acted as a strong motive for the hungry cat to come out of the box. The situation is described by Thorrndike himself as:
"It tries to squeeze through every opening; it claws and bites at the bars or wires, it thrusts its paws through any opening and claws at everything it reaches". In this way, it made a number of random movements and in one of the random movements, the latch was manipulated acccidentally. The cat came out and got its reward.
In another trial, the proceess was repeated. The cat was kept hungry and placed in the same puzzle box; it again made random movements and frantic efforts. But this time, it took less time to come out. In subsequent trials such incorrect responses, biting, clawing and dashing were gradually reduced and the cat took less time on each succeding trial. In due course, it was in a position to manipulate the latch as soon as it was put in the box. In this way, gradually, the cat learned the art of opening the door.
The experiment sums up the following stages in the process of learning:

1. Drive. In the present experiment it was hunger and was intensified by the sight of the food.
2. Goal. To get at the food by getting out of the box.
3. Block. The cat was confined in the box with a closed door. 
4. Random movements. The cat persistently tried to come out of the box without knowing how.
5. Chance success. As a result of this striving and random movements the cat, by chance, succeeded in opening the door.
6. Selection (of proper movement). Gradually, the cat recognised the correct way to manipulating the latch out of its random movements.
7. Fixation. At last, the cat learned the proper way to open the door by eliminating all the incorrect responses and fixing only the right response. Now it was able to open the door without any error or in other words, learned the correct way of opening the door.

Based upon the experiments mentioned above the major theoretical principles which form the basis of Thorndike's theory of learning aresummarized in the discussion which follow.

1. Learning involves trial and error or selection and connection.
2. Learning is the result of the formation of connections.
3. Learning is incremental, not insightful
4. Learning is direct, not medicated by ideas.

Thorndike's laws of learning:
Thorndike propounded the following laws of learning on the basis of his theoretical notions about the learning process.

1. The law of readiness.
2. The law of effect
3. The law of exercise

Thorndike's contribution in the field of learning:

1. If one wants to learn something, one should prepare oneself for it by first understanding fully its importance. An instructor or a teacher, on the other hand, in order to teach effectively, must try to prepare the learner by bringing the mehanism of motivation into play.
2. Whatever we want to learn or teach, we must first identity the aspects which are to be remembered and those which may be forgotten. After this, we may try to strengthen links or connections should be weakened through disuse andd unpleasant results.
3. What is being taught or learnt at any one time should be linked with the past experiences and learning on the one hand and with the future learning on the other, in order to benefit from the mechanism of association, connection or bonds in the process of learning.
4. The learner should try to see the similarities and dissimilarities between the different kinds of responses to stimuli and by comparison and contrast try to apply the learning from one situation to another similar situatuions.
5. The learner should be encouraged to do his task independently. He must try various solutions of the problem before arriving at the corrrect one. But in every case he should be careful not to waste his time and energy by proceeding blindly and repeating his mistakes.

INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES OF LEARNING

LEARNING AND TEACHING 

THEORIES OF LEARNING

What goes into the process of learning?how does an individual learn a set of facts and figures, skills, habits, interests, attitudes and similar other things in his life? Such questions have always been a subject of inquiry and investigation for psychologists and as a result, a number of theories have come into existence.

Two major heads of theories of learning are :

1. BEHAVIOURIST OR CONNECTIONIST THEORY
2. COGNITIVE THEORIES 

Behaviourist or connectionist theory belongs to the school of behaviourism. Behaviorism is a worldview that assumes a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli.They interpret learning in terms of connection or association between stimulus and response. Under this category, we may include theories like THORNDIKE'S TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING, GUTHRIE'S CONTINUITY THEORY OF LEARNING, HULLS'S DRIVE REDUCTION THEORY OF LEARNING, CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING etc.

Cognitive theories, on the other hand, belong to the school of cognitive psychology. In place of a purely mechanical or instrumental approach these theories emphasize the role of purpose, insight, understanding, reasoning, memory and other cognitive factors in the process of learning. Under this category, THEORY OF INSIGHTFUL LEARNING, LEWIN'S FIELD THEORY OF LEARNING, TOLMAN'S SIGN LEARNING etc. may be included.