Application of Behaviourist Theory in the Classroom
Behaviourism also known as the Learning Perspective is a school of thought established by an American Psychologist called John. B. Watson, in 1913. This theory is deeply rooted in psychology and its cardinal belief is that, people’s behaviour can be measured, changed and trained. They believed that behaviour can be conditioned by series of processes known as “operant conditioning”,
hence any behaviour can be learned and unlearned, this believe has a very significant implication on education during the early days of the behaviourist movement. To this school of thought, learning is observable, measurable and it leads to change of behaviour. Other early Psychologists that promoted this idea were B. F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike. Their work on learning led to many revolutionary changes to education during the glorious period of Behaviourism. A new school of Behaviourism in the 21st century is springing up with particular interest in the areas of behaviour analysis through research and education.” Behaviourism”
is not dead as some people want to believe, and its contribution to education cannot be denied.
Reinforcing Effort
It is very important to reinforce students’ effort by allowing students to enjoy a measure of success in their school work, especially when the piece of work represents the student’s best effort. Pitler,[et al.]. (2007), encouraged teachers to explicitly teach students that, putting in one’s effort leads to success rather than attributing success to good luck or other extraneous factors. One of the best ways to do this is the appropriate use of reinforcement. This was demonstrated by Pavlov in rewarding his dog whenever an “appropriate selection” was made. This approach clearly supports the belief of the early behaviourists about the use of positive reinforcement to encourage frequency of desirable behavour, and negative reinforcement to discourage undesirable behaviour, however, caution is the key word when using negative reinforcement, this method are still being used by educators today, and it helps in modifying students’ behavior. This approach could easily be used with integration of technology.
As suggested by Pitler, [et al.]. (2007), spreadsheet software and data collection tools can be used by students to monitor the amount of efforts put in and track their rate of success in relation to efforts input. Also, the use of wiki, blog, interactive websites and video games and lots of other web based surveys and polls that give instant “reinforcement” and encourage students to work in collaboration with others.
Homework and Practice
Knowing what we know about how learning occurs and how brain works, repetition and drills are keys to making connections, forming lasting bounding and making solid association enable learning to become more meaningful to the learner. The more the learner practices, the more proficient he/she becomes. The use of homework and practice allow students to review and put into use the newly acquired knowledge outside of the classroom in the comfort of their rooms, without the pressure and fear of failure as the case in the classroom. The use of “stimulus – response” approach encourages the learner to engage in the behaviour that brings him rewards, and desists from the one that brings punishment. This was demonstrated in the “classical conditioning” which allows for learning by association. Homework and drill/repetition help to solidify learning, it has been said that an average student needs about 24 practice sessions in order to attain about 80% competency of the subject matter. (Marzano et al., 2001, p. 67). Educators can easily integrate technology such as wiki, blog, podcasting, multimedia to attract and retain students’ interest, besides, these technology tools also enable students to acquire the skills and knowledge needed in the 21st century economy and will give them a competitive advantage in the new world economic order. In conclusion, the behaviour approach to learning is still very relevant today as ever, it complements all other theories of learning, but it is not a panacea to all learning problems.
References
BAAM Behaviorism Deathwatch. (n.d.). Behavior Analysis Association of MIchigan (BAAM).
Retrieved March 10, 2011, from
http://www.baam.emich.edu/baammiscpages/baamdeathwatch.htm
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Operant Conditioning - Introduction to Operant Conditioning. Psychology –
Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators & Enthusiasts. Retrieved March 10,
2011, from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm
Dawkins, R. (n.d.). BAAM Behaviorists' Bookshelf. Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan
(BAAM). Retrieved March 10, 2011, from
http://www.baam.emich.edu/baammainpages/baambookshelf.htm
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works:
Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA:
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works . Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development ;.
Pryor, K. (1999). Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training (Revised
Edition). New York: Bantam Books.
Behaviourism also known as the Learning Perspective is a school of thought established by an American Psychologist called John. B. Watson, in 1913. This theory is deeply rooted in psychology and its cardinal belief is that, people’s behaviour can be measured, changed and trained. They believed that behaviour can be conditioned by series of processes known as “operant conditioning”,
hence any behaviour can be learned and unlearned, this believe has a very significant implication on education during the early days of the behaviourist movement. To this school of thought, learning is observable, measurable and it leads to change of behaviour. Other early Psychologists that promoted this idea were B. F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike. Their work on learning led to many revolutionary changes to education during the glorious period of Behaviourism. A new school of Behaviourism in the 21st century is springing up with particular interest in the areas of behaviour analysis through research and education.” Behaviourism”
is not dead as some people want to believe, and its contribution to education cannot be denied.
Reinforcing Effort
It is very important to reinforce students’ effort by allowing students to enjoy a measure of success in their school work, especially when the piece of work represents the student’s best effort. Pitler,[et al.]. (2007), encouraged teachers to explicitly teach students that, putting in one’s effort leads to success rather than attributing success to good luck or other extraneous factors. One of the best ways to do this is the appropriate use of reinforcement. This was demonstrated by Pavlov in rewarding his dog whenever an “appropriate selection” was made. This approach clearly supports the belief of the early behaviourists about the use of positive reinforcement to encourage frequency of desirable behavour, and negative reinforcement to discourage undesirable behaviour, however, caution is the key word when using negative reinforcement, this method are still being used by educators today, and it helps in modifying students’ behavior. This approach could easily be used with integration of technology.
As suggested by Pitler, [et al.]. (2007), spreadsheet software and data collection tools can be used by students to monitor the amount of efforts put in and track their rate of success in relation to efforts input. Also, the use of wiki, blog, interactive websites and video games and lots of other web based surveys and polls that give instant “reinforcement” and encourage students to work in collaboration with others.
Homework and Practice
Knowing what we know about how learning occurs and how brain works, repetition and drills are keys to making connections, forming lasting bounding and making solid association enable learning to become more meaningful to the learner. The more the learner practices, the more proficient he/she becomes. The use of homework and practice allow students to review and put into use the newly acquired knowledge outside of the classroom in the comfort of their rooms, without the pressure and fear of failure as the case in the classroom. The use of “stimulus – response” approach encourages the learner to engage in the behaviour that brings him rewards, and desists from the one that brings punishment. This was demonstrated in the “classical conditioning” which allows for learning by association. Homework and drill/repetition help to solidify learning, it has been said that an average student needs about 24 practice sessions in order to attain about 80% competency of the subject matter. (Marzano et al., 2001, p. 67). Educators can easily integrate technology such as wiki, blog, podcasting, multimedia to attract and retain students’ interest, besides, these technology tools also enable students to acquire the skills and knowledge needed in the 21st century economy and will give them a competitive advantage in the new world economic order. In conclusion, the behaviour approach to learning is still very relevant today as ever, it complements all other theories of learning, but it is not a panacea to all learning problems.
References
BAAM Behaviorism Deathwatch. (n.d.). Behavior Analysis Association of MIchigan (BAAM).
Retrieved March 10, 2011, from
http://www.baam.emich.edu/baammiscpages/baamdeathwatch.htm
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Operant Conditioning - Introduction to Operant Conditioning. Psychology –
Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators & Enthusiasts. Retrieved March 10,
2011, from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm
Dawkins, R. (n.d.). BAAM Behaviorists' Bookshelf. Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan
(BAAM). Retrieved March 10, 2011, from
http://www.baam.emich.edu/baammainpages/baambookshelf.htm
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works:
Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA:
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works . Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development ;.
Pryor, K. (1999). Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training (Revised
Edition). New York: Bantam Books.
3 comments:
Mr Yemi,
Your post clearly explains behaviorist theory. However, I did not understand the relation between using web 2.0 tools and behaviorist theory. Like you wrote behaviorist theory advice us to practice and reinforce the information with doing again and again. At the other, 21st century skills teaches us how to think and provide solutions when conditions are changed. Can you give some examples about how to use web 2.0 tools while teaching with behaviorist methods.
I think behaviorist theory may work very well for small kids. However, in higher education we cannot disregard the emotion and social background of students. I think that people are not like animals and there is no easy way to shape them. If there was education problem would be solved many years ago.
Thanks for your comments on my blog posting. What I am trying to say is that web 2.0 is a tool that enables you to respond to particular information to make corrections, modify information or correct misconceptions in real time. That is a kind of responding to a particular stimulus. The tools that relate to behaviuorist theory more directly will be video games, simulations and interactive websites that I also mention in my blog.
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