FAA Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI)The Learning ProcessMedium
A flight instructor requires a student to practice steep turns repeatedly over several lessons, explaining that repeated practice under supervision cements the maneuver into muscle memory. This teaching strategy is a direct application of which law of learning?
- ALaw of Exercise
- BLaw of Readiness
- CLaw of Recency
- DLaw of Association
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Law of Exercise
The Law of Exercise states that responses practiced repeatedly are learned more thoroughly, while those not practiced tend to be forgotten. Repeating the steep turn over multiple lessons reinforces the neural connections needed for the skill.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Readiness concerns whether the student is prepared to learn, not repeated practice.
- C. Recency deals with the timing of the last practice, not repetition itself.
- D. Association is not a formal law of learning; it applies more to memory linking.
Law of Exercise
Connections are strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued.
- Practice strengthens skills
- Disuse weakens skills
- Basis for drill and repetition in flight training
Memory trick: REEPIR order helps recall each law's role