Purpose. The purpose of this study was to seek an answer to the question: How does a person learn those things he or she considers important? The data for the study were the life histories of six individuals. From these histories, the particular experiences tha led to the acquisition of important learning outcomes were identified. The means of gathering the data was a series of in-depth openended interviews with each of the six informants. / Findings. An important learning outcome (ILO) is a skill, knowledge, or attitude, or some combination of these, that gives meaning to life. It contains affective, psychomotor, and cognitive components, often simultaneously. An individual's ILOs are often interconnected in one of several ways. An ILO is often inextricably intertwined with an individual's life theme. An ILO can determine the direction an individual's life takes and give meaning to that direction. It is this characteristic of being interconnected, of giving direction to life, and of providing a fundamental interpretation of reality and ways of dealing with that reality that define a learning outcome as important to the life of a person. / Nine factors were found to have influenced the acquisition of the ILOs identified in this study. These factors include: other individuals, characteristic modes of behavior, negative life events, disassociation from cultural and social expectations, reinforcement, formal organizations, non-deliberate discoveries and events, deliberate action, and a teachable moment. These factors were grouped into four types. (1) Direct factors: those factors that resulted in the acquisition of the particular content of an ILO. (2) Intrinsic factors: those factors that were originated by the informant and provided both direct and indirect influence over an ILO's acquisition. (3) Extrinsic factors: those factors that originated outside the individual and provided both direct and indirect influence. (4) Multiple interaction factors: those factors that resulted in either the acqusition of the particular content of the ILO (direct); or, contributed to a setting in which an ILO could be acquired without having any necessary relationship to the ILO's content (indirect). The source of Type IV factors was both intrinsic and extrinsic. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-08, Section: A, page: 2357. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75360 |
| Contributors | NELSON, ROY MCGILL., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 366 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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