A Behaviorist Perspective

Knock, Knock or Ring, Ring

:: Who’s there?

Pavlov!

::I forgot to feed my dogs!

Ok, so maybe that wasn’t the best intro to a blog ever, but it is better than a boring definition. I will get right to it, since this assignment in this class is supposed to reflect professional work I will be turning off my “blogging language.” There will be no more wise cracks and no more Mrs. Nice. This blog is now total business with correct grammar (hopefully) and APA format (optimistically). Yes, I am stalling.

In this blog post, I will analyze the two instructional strategies that embed technology: “Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition” and “Assigning Homework and Providing Practice” and how they correlate with the principles of a behaviorist learning theory.

(This is where I would normally say something like, HUH, COME AGAIN? But since this is a professional blog I will not say it…)

I will try to explain in the best way I can. Perhaps this is too much writing and since you saw my post is too long you will not read it (been there).

According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald (2008), “behaviorism sees learning as the response to an external stimulus” (p.15). Teachers who are advocates of behaviorism will use rewards and punishments in their classrooms by rewarding good behaviors and punishing bad ones (Orey, 2001). For example, a physical education teacher may say to their students that if they work really hard today, maybe they can have a choice day the following lesson.

Reinforcing effort is a good thing, right? “The instructional strategy of reinforcing effort enhances students’ understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kahn, 2012, p.57). Adding on to my example above, a student may not know what exactly working hard means in order to have the choice day. They may run two laps and that is really hard to them, but to another student two laps is a warm up. A physical education teacher could create rubrics and even have the class create a rubric to describe what effort will look like to them. Also, students could keep track of their effort and achievement on a class blog (Pitler et al., 2012).

(http://www.3rdgradethoughts.com/2012/03/management-monday-checking-for.html)

Providing recognition is second nature to a teacher. Great job you ran the mile! Nice form! Keep up the awesome work! Yes, I have heard that this can have negative effects on motivation, so why do I still do it? If students believe what a teacher is saying it can promote student engagement and decrease behavioral problems (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kahn, 2012). A physical education teacher could use an online source like a blog or Flickr to upload photos as a means of recognition (2012).

If one asks a room full of teachers if they assigned homework in their classroom, I am almost positive half of them would raise their hand. “Homework and practice give students a chance to review and apply what they have learned” (Pitler et al., 2012, p. 167).

So how do all of these definitions connect? In my analysis, behaviorists would use praise and reinforcement often in their classroom. They will praise the good behaviors by saying good job or allowing a choice a day. In turn, they will punish the students who have unacceptable behavior. However, I do not believe that a true behaviorist would create a rubric on what acceptable behavior would look like because one learns as a response to the environment, not specific mental activity (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). Behaviorists may assign homework in the classroom for all the wrong reasons. If the students are talking and the teacher cannot get a word in, they may say something like, “fine,you are just going to have to have this as homework!” For instance, a behaviorist may use homework as a punishment. Assigning homework should allow students to deepen their understanding. Who wants to deepen their understanding when it is a punishment?

Do I support B.F. Skinner’s, Pavlov, and Watson’s theory of behaviorism in my physical education classes? Stay tuned and I may answer in another post!

References:

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.