A fast learner can experience impatience if instruction is keyed to the pace of the slow or average learner. It is just as important to advance a student to the subsequent step at the appropriate time as it is to continue drilling to insure readiness. Disinterest grows rapidly when unnecessary repetition and drill are conducted on operations which have been learned adequately.
1.5.9.4 Worry, or Lack of Interest
Worry, or lack of interest for any reason, has a very detrimental effect on learning. A student who is emotionally upset derives little or no benefit from practice. Worry or distraction may be due to concern about progress in training or it may stem from circumstances completely unrelated to the instruction.
When students report for training, they bring with them all of their past experiences-their interests, enthusiasms, fears, and troubles. The instructor cannot be responsible for these outside diversions, but neither can they be ignored, because they vitally affect the conduct and results of teaching. An attempt must be made to divert the students' attention from those factors which would interfere with learning.
1.5.9.5 Physical Discomfort
Physical discomfort, illness, and fatigue slow the rate of learning substantially in both the classroom and in-flight portions of the training program. When attention is diverted by discomforts such as temperature extremes, poor ventilation, inadequate lighting, or noise, perceptions are dulled and learning takes place at a slower rate.
Most illnesses adversely affect the acuteness of vision, hearing, and feeling. Since all of these are essential to the correct performance of a pilot's tasks, no effective flight instruction can be conducted when the student is incapacitated by illness.
If the student is not alert and receptive to instruction or if the level of performance is not consistent with experience, it is reasonable to assume that fatigue has set in, and the instruction period should be altered or discontinued. When fatigue occurs as the result of application of a learning task, respite should be offered in the form of a break in instruction or a change of pace. Fatigue can be delayed by introducing a number of different maneuvers involving different elements.
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