I have always associated behaviorism with the renowned Pavlov’s dog experiment. The dog’s desirable behavior is rewarded with food and thus the dog repeats the behavior. After reading this week’s resources, I have realized I have implemented many behaviorism concepts in my classroom practice. I use a system of rewards and punishments to modify student behavior. Particularly, I use incentives and rewards to reinforce classroom management routines and procedures, as students will repeat certain behaviors in order to receive rewards. The hope is that the student will learn and elicit the desirable behavior.
Based on behaviorism stimulus-response concepts, many drill and practice programs and tutorials help students learn and strengthen basic skills. The program presents a small amount of information, asks a question, the student makes a choice and receives immediate feedback. Positive reinforcement motivates the student to complete the lesson and to progress to the next level of difficulty. I have found that well-designed programs are multi-sensory and address various learning styles. Despite criticisms about the design and implementation of drill and kill programs, my objective is to select the most appropriate, well-structured software and tutorials. I have embedded online tutorials in many of my project-based units. The students enjoy the self-paced autonomous structure of the programs as well as the animated graphics and interactive games.
The effort/ reinforcement project described by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski (2007) is another example of how teachers integrate behaviorism into their classroom practice. The objective of the project is to have students recognize the direct correlation between the amount of effort one applies to a task and the amount of increase in test grades. Students enter data into the spreadsheet, Excel, (the amount of time spent preparing notes, reviewing homework and other factors) which influences their test grades and academic achievement. The data results and graphs provide immediate feedback to students and encourages them to make appropriate behavior changes. Behaviorism, applied appropriately, can help students strengthen and reinforce skills as well as motivate students to change behavior.
References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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Karla,
ReplyDeleteI too always used to just associate behaviorism with Pavlov and the dogs. I actually find it interesting now how much we actually use this theory in our every day teaching and managing.
As for the different tutorials, I do believe that they can be very useful. As a reinforcement, not instruction. I like the point you brought up about making sure the tutorials are well designed to reach a lot of learning styles as well. Teachers definitely have to do their research to make sure the programs they are putting their students on, actually have some value.
Magan:
ReplyDeleteThat's my challenge, to find and implement well-designed software. At times, this can be a daunting task and I've included my students in this software review process. My objective is to motivate students therefore; I encourage the students to choose from a variety of learning activities.
Karla,
ReplyDeleteGood point about selecting appropriate and well-developed tutorials and programs for students. With each passing semester (or year), a new group of students arrives at our doors. Programs that have worked with previous students may not be as effective with a new group. I like your idea about allowing students to help in the process of reviewing programs and choosing from a variety of learning activities. Allowing students to choose their activities gives them a sense of ownership and empowerment (I believe that was in our reading recently). I know when I give my students a choice they often do a better job with the assignment.
~Leilani
Karla,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leilani. Your point about the teacher selecting appropriate programs and software is important. Just because a program is advertised as being helpful for teaching a topic, that doesn't mean that it is going to help a particular group of students. The teacher should always preview and decide if a program is waht is best for his or her students. Great posting,
Tyler
Any ideas about how to shorten this software selection process? I agree with Leilani that a program that was effective with one group of students may not be with another. I've tried to match software to a student's learning preference, but sometimes it is difficult to find software or online writing activities for the kinesthetic learner. Do you know of a website that organizes computer-based programs by a student's learning preference?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering with using excel and other spreadsheet programs to track similarities with effort and testing, are we expecting the students to do all of the work. If students do not want to put in the effort to study and do homework, are they going to do the work putting all the information into the computer. Plus they need to know how to use the program to effectively show them correct information. What happens when they see a column where they put in a lot of effort and the test score was still low? These were just a few questions that I had when I was reading the section.
ReplyDeleteMike
Great point, Mike. Many of my students would become very frustrated if they have made a strong effort to study and completed homework assignments, but still performed poorly on tests. For this reason, the teacher has to conference with the student to discuss what the data shows and what modifications must be made.
ReplyDeleteI too had the same question as what Mike had brought up. What about those students who try and fail? I discussed this on my blog this week and had some good suggestions made my contributors. One of the suggestions made my Tyler was giving students examples of times we ourselves tried so hard and put our best effort forth, but still did not have the immediate outcome that we had hoped for. Sometimes it takes time for the effort pay off. I believe this is a great suggestion and students would gain a lot of motivation from knowing that even their teacher, who they often see as knowing everything, even has had struggles. In my own classroom I always make sure to factor in participation and effort into grades. While it might not be enough to boost their grade to what the student was hoping for, it is still a great opportunity to give some positive feedback to the student and let them know that their hard work is being recognized and appreciated.
ReplyDeleteIt is sometimes difficult to see that you are learning a great deal in the face of a failing grade. I have experienced a stiuation where I learned much, but still had a failing grade in the class. The summer before my last year of college it was "discovered" that I needed to take a class for graduation, but I had not taken the prerequisite classes. I muddled through the first semester and failed. Then I took the second semester class. I had a good deal of help in the form of peer tutors and such. I barely passed the second semester and I worked harder in that class than any other. I learned a lot, much of it about myself. I understood the situation, I'm not sure that many of my middle schoolers are mature enough to see the effort connection.
ReplyDeleteI too, think that the technology-based tutorials can help build students' skills, and you pointed out that you use well-researched programs, which is key. There are many sites and program that are engaging and encourage students to strengthen their skills. There are also some programs and sites that simply bore students to tears, which we certainly want to avoid!
ReplyDeleteTrina Godwin