Behaviorism is the idea that a student learns a task by repeated exposure to the task and receiving feedback on that task via positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or punishment (Orey, 2001). If the desired result is for a student to learn a specific skill, behaviorism is a great philosophy to implement because it exposes the student to repeated practice with the desired skill as well as immediate feedback about the skill. For the majority of educators, homework is the time that students practice a desired skill, so behavioristic strategies work best during this learning process. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) introduced the idea that students need repeated practice with a particular skill to gain proficiency with that skill. Pitler and company (2007) also described several technology programs that would assist students with learning a particular skill, such as www.flashcardexchange.com where students make flashcards to learn a set of terms or steps. Tutorial programs such as the ones described by Pitler and company (2007) are behavioristic in nature because require the students use a systematic process and repetition to learn a skill as well as providing immediate feedback about the competency of that skill (Smith, 1999).
While homework is an important aspect of acquiring desired skills, students also need to understand the implications of effort to their achievement. Pitler and company (2007) explained that students do not always see a correlation between how well they understand a task with the amount of effort that they put into learning the desired task. One way that Pitler and company (2007) suggest to explain this correlation is with the use of spreadsheets for the students to track their performance in relation to how much effort they put into the assignment. What this would do is allow the students to see a trend that when they put more effort into a task they are more likely to learn the desired skill. This is also behavioristic in nature because it is a means of showing students that a desired behavior will produce a desired outcome. The students are receiving positive reinforcement for a particular behavior, in this case the desired behavior being effort.
Students do need to learn that they effort they expend will produce results. Behavioristic theories are some of the most widely used methods to educate students about this correlation. Students also are exposed to behavioristic methods whenever they are required to repeatedly perform a task to learn a skill. Behaviorism should not be used exclusively in a student’s education, but there is still a place for the practices that go with this learning theory. For more information about behaviorism, or more strategies here is a useful site http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/19919540/Behaviorism .
References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page.
Smith, K. (1999). The behaviourist orientation to learning. In The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behaviourist.htm .
Certain aspects of behaviorism seem like they provide natural consequences to our students. For example, the amount of effort students put into their learning largely determines rates of success. However, I have emotionally impaired students in my classroom who, at times, are unable to make these connections. They view their successes and failures as results of external causes. I struggle with this accountability piece - do you have suggestions for different approaches with these children?
ReplyDeleteI have very few emotionally disturbed students, with that said; I think that having students use the spreadsheet described in the course material could work. If you stress to your emotionally disturbed students that effort is correlated to success and have them repeatedly complete the effort to success spreadsheet, I think eventually they would start to see the correlation.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the spreadsheet because the students can see their progress and see which assignments they are missing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the flashcard website. Flashcards and educational games have a score at the end which gives the students immediate feedback.