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BEHAVIOURIST APPROACHES TO LEARNING AND TEACHING Education Foundations, Sec., Week 5, Semester 1, 2012
BEHAVIOURIST APPROACHES TO LEARNING AND TEACHINGEducation Foundations, Sec., Week 5, Semester 1, 2012
Overview What is learning? Behaviourist view of
learning Key premises and concepts Knowledge, learning, and
motivation Applications in classroom
instructions – Explicit and direct instructions
Behaviourist approach to classroom management
Advantages and limitations
Stimulus and response mechanism
External and observable behaviour
Contiguity Classical conditioning Operant conditioning
Reinforcement and punishment
Learning as a-b-c Learning objectives
Task breakdown Modelling and thinking
aloud Practice and drilling Kinaesthetic activities Constant formative
feedback Group consequences
Token economy Contracts
What is learning? The parrot’s learning to count/ greet Learning to smoke Learning the lyrics of the Sesame Street song Learning to ride a bike Learning English, maths, history, … Learning the times tables / a formula / an
algorithm Learning about thinking, learning, and self Learnt helplessness …
Permanent change rather than temporary
Assimilation or adaptation Due to experience rather
than natural maturation Definitions of learning and
underlying epistemologies Behavioural, psychological,
or psychical? Conscious and rational,
subconscious, or holistic?
Behaviourist view of learning
Change in behaviour
Subject to active control and shaping by external factors
Outcome-orientation
Key premises and concepts
Psychology as the science of stimulus and response
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors” (Watson,1930, p.82). John B.
Watson (1878-1958)
Focuses on objectively observable and measurable actions and behaviour
“The mentalistic problem can be avoided by going directly to the prior physical causes while bypassing intermediate feelings or states of mind. The quickest way to do this is to confine oneself to … only those facts which can be objectively observed in the behavior of one person in its relation to his prior environmental history. If all linkages are lawful, nothing is lost by neglecting a supposed nonphysical link” (Skinner, 1976, p.23).
Burrhus F. Skinner(1904-1990)
Contiguity principle Learning by association Formation of S-R relation
Pavlov’s dog experiment Involuntary (emotional or
physiological) association / responses Unconditioned association:
Neutral stimulus Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response
Conditioned association: Conditioned stimulus Conditioned response
Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
What are the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR in this ad?
Operant conditioning
Behaviour as operants rather than respondents
Thorndike’s cats
Skinner’s pigeons
Reinforcement Positive Negative
Schedule Continuous Intermittent – fixed or unpredictable
a) Intervalb) ratio
Punishment
Learning as a-b-c (antecedent-behaviour-consequence)
Knowledge, Learning, and Motivation
Knowledge: a repertoire of behaviours or behavioural capacities
Learning: formation of appropriate S-R association
Motivation: schedules of positive and negative reinforcement
Behaviourist principles of classroom instruction
Explicit and direct instructions Clear communication of learning objectives
(Kizlik, 2012; Linder-Crow, 2000) 1) Focus on student rather than the teacherBad objective statements
Good objective statements
To acquaint students with behaviourist learning theories
Students will be able to identify 3 behaviourist learning principles
To familiarise students with neo-behavourist learning theories
Students will be able to describe neo-behaviourist learning theories
Learning objectives as behavioural antecedents
2) Contain action words (verbs) of behavioural goal
Students will understand the rhythm of the poem by Edgar Allen Poe.
Students will be able to describe and demonstrate with a percussion instrument the rhythm of the poem.
Students will appreciate the composition of English words.
Students will be able to apply the rules of word composition. When asked, ‘Is cttn an English word?’, students will reply, ‘No, because it has no vowels. All English words must have at least one vowel.’
Task breakdown
Task analysis
Task analysis
Behaviour modelling Skinner’s pigeons video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erhmslcHvaw&feature=related
Thinking aloud and justify thinking rationale Explicit teaching video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h4q-bok644
Practice and drilling (first 1.5 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwODCQ9BnU&feature=related
Using kinaesthetic movements to help retention http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yStzJjLXdxM Using paper folding to do multiplication by fractions
Monitoring and constant formative feedback Formative feedback video (2 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY0U7axgdHY&feature=related
Behaviourist approach to classroom management Group consequences
Rewards or punishments given to a class /group as a whole for adhering to or violating rules of conduct
Good behaviour game Token economy programs
Tokens earned for academic work and positive classroom behaviour can be exchanged for desired reward.
Contracts Agreement between teacher and
student specifying behaviour and its reward or punishment
Advantages of behaviourist instructions Effective strategies for teaching action
sequences that need to be automated Widely applied in teaching young
students and students with LD Effects in eliminating SES-related
differences of school achievement
Limitations Dependence on extrinsic forms of
reinforcement Neglect of complex thinking processes
leading to behavioural performance
References
Kizlik, B. (2012) How to write learning objectives that meet demanding behavioural criteria, www.adprima.com/objectives.htm
Linder-Crow, J. (2000) Writing behavioural leaning objectives and assessment, http://www.apa.org/ed/sponsor/about/faq/objectives.pdf
Skinner, B. F. (1976) About Behaviorism, Vintage Books, New York.
Watson, J. B. (1930) Behaviorism, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
