2-Minute Tuesday Let's CFI faster Issue 10
Definitions of Learning FI.I.B.K1
Why This Matters
A DPE asks "What is learning?" and you freeze - not because you don't know, but because there are SIX definitions in the Instructor’s Handbook. Understanding what they have in common gives you a clear framework for how to actually build your lessons - every activity you design should create experience that drives lasting behavioral change.
The 6 AIH Definitions
The Aviation Instructor's Handbook defines learning in multiple ways:
A change in behavior as a result of experience. The behavior can be physical and overt, intellectual, or attitudinal.
Experience bringing about a relatively permanent change in behavior. Not a one-time fluke -real learning sticks.
A change in behavior resulting from experience and practice. Repetition matters. Skills are built through doing.
Gaining knowledge or skills through study, instruction, or experience. This covers the full spectrum - classroom, flight, and self-study.
Acquiring knowledge or skill that leads to long-term changes in behavior potential. Key word: potential. A student may never have experienced an engine failure, but through learning, they have the potential to handle one.
A relatively permanent change in cognition that directly influences behavior. Understanding why something works changes how a pilot acts.
So What Do They All Have in Common?
Six definitions, three common threads:
Learning depends on experience - classroom, cockpit, and self-study all count, but the learner must be actively engaged
Learning leads to relatively permanent changes - not a one-time fluke, real learning sticks
Learning affects behavior potential - what someone could do in a given situation, even if they haven't faced it yet
What This Means in the Cockpit
These aren't just academic definitions, they describe what you're actually building in your students:
Physical behavior: A student learns coordinated, level turns through repeated practice and feedback
Intellectual change: Understanding the relationship between airspeed, pitch, and power enhances aircraft management
Attitudinal shift: Developing a safety-first mindset through risk management training
Note: These three types of behavioral change map directly to the three Domains of Learning (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) - I'll break those down in a future post covering I.B.K6.
What is Learning?
Your Lesson Design Standards
If learning requires experience, produces permanent change, and builds behavior potential - then every lesson you plan should be measured against those standards:
Am I creating an experience, or am I just talking?
Will this produce lasting change, or will they forget it by next lesson?
Am I building behavior potential for situations they haven't faced yet?
Checkride Q&A
DPE Might Ask
"How do you define learning in the context of flight instruction?"
Weak Answer
"Learning is absorbing the information the instructor teaches and being able to recall it when needed."
Why this fails
Frames learning as passive absorption rather than active behavioral change. Misses that real learning requires experience, produces lasting change, and builds behavior potential, not just the ability to recall facts.
Strong Answer
"Learning is a change in behavior resulting from experience - and that behavior can be physical, intellectual, or attitudinal. The handbook gives six definitions, but they share three common threads: learning depends on experience, it produces relatively permanent changes, and it builds behavior potential for situations the student may not have faced yet. My job as an instructor is to create the experiences that drive those changes."
The mock checkride on backseatpilot.app asks questions like this across every element in Task I.B.
Nate is a CFI, CFII, and MEI, former USAF C-17 Instructor Pilot, and current airline pilot with 8,500+ flight hours. He writes 2-Minute Tuesday to make CFI checkride prep clearer, simpler, and more logical, one ACS element at a time.
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