FAA Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI)Human Behavior and Effective CommunicationMedium
A flight instructor has a student practice landings during ten separate training sessions rather than trying to teach the skill in a single long session. The instructor explains that repeated practice, spaced over time, will make the correct control inputs more automatic. This teaching approach is grounded in which law of learning?
- ALaw of Recency
- BLaw of Effect
- CLaw of Readiness
- DLaw of Exercise
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Law of Exercise
The Law of Exercise states that connections between stimulus and response are strengthened through repetition and weakened through disuse. Practicing landings across multiple sessions reinforces the correct motor patterns, making them more automatic over time.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Law of Recency concerns what was learned most recently being remembered best, not repeated practice.
- B. Law of Effect concerns emotional reward tied to a response, not repetition itself.
- C. Law of Readiness concerns whether the student is prepared to learn, not repeated practice.
Law of Exercise
A law of learning stating that connections are strengthened through repetition (practice) and weakened when unused.
- Repeated, correct practice reinforces learned skills
- Disuse of a skill weakens the learned connection
- Basis for spaced, repeated flight training sessions
Memory trick: 'Practice makes permanent' - repetition strengthens skill under the Law of Exercise.