Principles & Methods of Instruction (PMI)

Visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic

Theoretical, practical, and emotional

Memory, reasoning, and motor control

Cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling), and psychomotor (doing)

The instructor transfers knowledge to the student through demonstration

The student's attitude becomes increasingly positive as training progresses

Information is transferred from short-term to long-term memory through repetition

Previously learned knowledge or skills help the learner acquire new, related knowledge or skills more easily

The briefing only addresses the Law of Recency, because it is the most recent information the student will have before the flight

Pre-flight briefings only address the Law of Exercise by providing a verbal rehearsal, and have no connection to any other law of learning

The briefing addresses the Law of Effect only, because it makes the student feel good about the upcoming lesson

The briefing addresses the Law of Readiness by mentally and emotionally preparing the student for what they will experience. It supports the Law of Relationship by connecting the upcoming manoeuvre to the student's existing knowledge of stalls and unusual attitudes. It also supports the Law of Intensity by setting expectations that will make the actual experience more meaningful, and the Law of Primacy by ensuring the student's first exposure includes correct technique

Polarity means students are either positively or negatively disposed toward a subject, and aviation regulations always produce a negative polarity that cannot be overcome

Polarity is Thorndike's term for the contrast between theoretical and practical learning, meaning regulations should only ever be taught in the aircraft, never in a classroom

Polarity refers to the magnetic polarity of brain activity during learning, which Thorndike measured to determine optimal study times for each student

Polarity states that stimulus-response connections work more easily in the direction in which they were formed than in the reverse. If a student learns 'Class D airspace requires a clearance to enter,' they may struggle to answer 'Which airspace class requires a clearance to enter?' The instructor should practise associations in both directions to ensure flexible recall under operational conditions