Behaviorist Approaches in a Classroom Setting
I spent the day observing instances of effective conditioning in my Leaders of Change classroom. There were elements of both operant conditioning as well as classical conditioning at work, some of which were more uniform in their effects than others.
Classical Conditioning: This seems to be most commonly used/ most effective for establishing classroom norms and expectations. When the lead teacher stands in front of the class and begins talking, all students take this as a cue to cease other activities and focus on the teacher. They put away their iPods, end conversations among themselves, sit up straight, and get pencils and paper ready for note-taking. The degree to which each student does all of these things and is actually focusing will vary, but there is a visible response of some kind evident in each of them.
Another instance of classical conditioning occurs when the teachers want to emphasize an important point. We have used a couple techniques to signal this: writing it on the board, including it in a power point presentation, or repeating the idea verbally. The students take these stimuli as cues to increase their note-taking. Every time a new power point slide appears or a phrase is repeated, there is a visible increase in the number of students actively taking notes.
A technique I admire in my lead teacher is that he includes key terms on his visuals, but does not include the definitions. Instead he only says the definitions verbally. This means that the students can’t simply copy down all the information straight from the board. If they are to have good notes, they must make more of a mental effort to engage with and understand the material. At first, the teacher gave visuals containing terms and definitions. Now he only gives terms, but he vocalizes the definitions firmly and repeatedly to signify their importance. Over time, he will start to move more quickly from one topic to the next, letting students determine importance via context. He is using conditioning, particularly shaping, in order to make students take more responsibility for their own notes and by extension their own learning over time.
Operant Conditioning: Today we had a pop quiz with the goal of reinforcing student responsibility and note-taking. Students who have been taking notes and keeping them organized were rewarded by being allowed to use them on the quiz. So the extra tool of having notes to use on the quiz is a positive reinforcer for past responsible behavior. Reduction of stress is a negative reinforcer for coming to class prepared. Increased likelihood of a better grade is also a positive reinforce for coming prepared.
Some students came to class late, missed the quiz entirely, and will receive a zero grade for this quiz as a result. In this instance the students receive the punishment of a bad grade for the irresponsible behavior of excessive lateness. Of course, their initial avoidance of class could be a form of negative reinforcement in that this behavior of avoidance (whether intentional or not) might reduce negative feelings of stress or boredom that might have been otherwise present were the student in class for both the quiz and the lesson. If that is the case, then the student is likely to continue to be late or maybe even increase just how late they are. For a different type of student, the lateness might add stress to their lives in that it makes them worry more about doing poorly, being judged, or displeasing the teacher. In this case, stress acts as a natural consequence for the behavior and the behavior is likely to be reduced for the sake of reducing the stress.
In general, my observations have taught me that the behaviorist perspective is great for teaching kids how to learn/ the behaviors that increase the likelihood of learning. However, in terms of improving content knowledge itself, there are other perspectives that I think will be more influential.
I spent the day observing instances of effective conditioning in my Leaders of Change classroom. There were elements of both operant conditioning as well as classical conditioning at work, some of which were more uniform in their effects than others.
Classical Conditioning: This seems to be most commonly used/ most effective for establishing classroom norms and expectations. When the lead teacher stands in front of the class and begins talking, all students take this as a cue to cease other activities and focus on the teacher. They put away their iPods, end conversations among themselves, sit up straight, and get pencils and paper ready for note-taking. The degree to which each student does all of these things and is actually focusing will vary, but there is a visible response of some kind evident in each of them.
Another instance of classical conditioning occurs when the teachers want to emphasize an important point. We have used a couple techniques to signal this: writing it on the board, including it in a power point presentation, or repeating the idea verbally. The students take these stimuli as cues to increase their note-taking. Every time a new power point slide appears or a phrase is repeated, there is a visible increase in the number of students actively taking notes.
A technique I admire in my lead teacher is that he includes key terms on his visuals, but does not include the definitions. Instead he only says the definitions verbally. This means that the students can’t simply copy down all the information straight from the board. If they are to have good notes, they must make more of a mental effort to engage with and understand the material. At first, the teacher gave visuals containing terms and definitions. Now he only gives terms, but he vocalizes the definitions firmly and repeatedly to signify their importance. Over time, he will start to move more quickly from one topic to the next, letting students determine importance via context. He is using conditioning, particularly shaping, in order to make students take more responsibility for their own notes and by extension their own learning over time.
Operant Conditioning: Today we had a pop quiz with the goal of reinforcing student responsibility and note-taking. Students who have been taking notes and keeping them organized were rewarded by being allowed to use them on the quiz. So the extra tool of having notes to use on the quiz is a positive reinforcer for past responsible behavior. Reduction of stress is a negative reinforcer for coming to class prepared. Increased likelihood of a better grade is also a positive reinforce for coming prepared.
Some students came to class late, missed the quiz entirely, and will receive a zero grade for this quiz as a result. In this instance the students receive the punishment of a bad grade for the irresponsible behavior of excessive lateness. Of course, their initial avoidance of class could be a form of negative reinforcement in that this behavior of avoidance (whether intentional or not) might reduce negative feelings of stress or boredom that might have been otherwise present were the student in class for both the quiz and the lesson. If that is the case, then the student is likely to continue to be late or maybe even increase just how late they are. For a different type of student, the lateness might add stress to their lives in that it makes them worry more about doing poorly, being judged, or displeasing the teacher. In this case, stress acts as a natural consequence for the behavior and the behavior is likely to be reduced for the sake of reducing the stress.
In general, my observations have taught me that the behaviorist perspective is great for teaching kids how to learn/ the behaviors that increase the likelihood of learning. However, in terms of improving content knowledge itself, there are other perspectives that I think will be more influential.