Plain English Meaning

These are the things going on inside a student that change what they see, hear, and understand during a lesson. Two students can sit through the same briefing and walk away with completely different ideas of what was taught, because their bodies, needs, beliefs, confidence, available time, and stress levels are all different.

Full Definition

The set of internal influences that shape how a learner takes in, interprets, and assigns meaning to information during instruction. The Aviation Instructor's Handbook identifies six primary factors: physical organism, basic need, goals and values, self-concept, time and opportunity, and element of threat. Each one filters or distorts what the student actually perceives, regardless of what the instructor presents.

Context Anchor

Seen in aviation instructor training when explaining why a student may miss, misread, or misunderstand something during a lesson.