TRAINING 



507 



plied to simplify the vocabulary of pilot 

 training and submarine training (1, 34). 

 Telling a man about something is much 

 less effective than having him do it ; this was 

 applied repeatedly in the development of 

 training drills. Any training drill must be 

 realistic; it is usually worthless to teach a 

 man a response if the gear he will have at 

 sea calls for a different response, or gives 

 him different signals. Knowledge of such 

 principles as these is useful, but many train- 

 ing methods have failed to apply them ade- 

 quately. Devices used during the war some- 

 times gave men just enough practice so that 

 they felt confused, instead of continuing 

 practice until they had grasped the right 

 action. Some devices, on the contrary, 

 wasted time in simple drills long after men 

 understood the response required. A first 

 step in evaluating the naval problem would 

 be to review every specific training method 

 to identify the principles violated. 



But in many ways present principles are 

 inadequate. We know a good deal about 

 drill, but relatively little is known about 

 teaching for meaning. How can we present 

 a topic so that a man understands it? The 

 psychology of explanation requires extensive 

 study. The present principles — avoid com- 

 plex terminology, use pictures for visual con- 

 cepts, etc. — are but a limited guide to the 

 man who must write a maintenance manual, 

 a textbook, or a lecture. 



Present principles tell what method of 

 teaching is best on the average. Such 

 studies, comparing the average learning of 

 groups taught by different methods, are help- 

 ful, but they are inadequate. The method 

 which is best on the average is not best for 

 all men (7, 58). One study, for example, 

 tested the valid rule that men should prac- 

 tice actively whatever they are supposed 

 to learn. In learning the phonetic alphabet, 

 active practice was found to be unimportant 

 for men of high ability and men of high 

 motivation, even though valuable for the 

 average man. Probably if we checked any 

 principle of learning, we would find that it 



applies to some men or to some types of 

 learning more than others. If so, cost and 

 time of training can be reduced by using the 

 method appropriate for the men and topic 

 to be taught. For any one purpose there is 

 a best training method; but there is no one 

 best teaching plan for all purposes and all 

 men. 



Attention should be called to the problem 

 of the selection and training of instructors. 

 This is a virtually unopened question. 

 There is need for studies of instructor ef- 

 fectiveness, and of methods of recruiting 

 and training instructors. 



Training Aids and Devices 



One of the most effective applications of 

 research has been the development of syn- 

 thetic trainers and visual aids. The evi- 

 dence has been well-advertised that men 

 learn better when they see films, or when 

 they practice skills on trainers which dupli- 

 cate tactical problems. These aids will be 

 a permanent part of training. In the en- 

 thusiasm for aids, research has rarely been 

 critical. Not every aid is magical; some of 

 them are wasteful, and in some studies much 

 less elaborate techniques have proved 

 equally effective (22, 35, 36). 



Because training devices are expensive and 

 consume both production time and training 

 time, they should never be employed except 

 where they improve learning, and they 

 should be so designed that every minute of 

 time they require is effectively spent. A 

 vast amount of research, well-financed, is 

 required to establish the principles that make 

 an effective training aid. 



One way to proceed is by intensive 

 analysis of present trainers. Studies of the 

 echo-recognition and sound-recognition 

 group trainers provide an example (11, 13). 

 These devices were checked for conformity 

 to psychological principles. Each single re- 

 corded drill selection was checked experi- 

 mentally to determine if men succeeded in 

 mastering it, if it was long enough to permit 

 judgment and short enough to not waste 



