In looking at this week’s resource in Using Technology With Classroom Instruction That Works, we were to look at the reinforcing effort & homework and practice sections and reflect on the instructional strategies in these sections and how they relate to the behaviorist learning theory. In the reinforcing effort section, they modeled many different activities using technology where students make the connection between effort and achievement by making graphs representing their own effort and achievement. To me this section showed the use of the behaviorist theory to increase a student’s effort in class. The goal of behaviorist techniques in education is to promote behaviors that are desirable in the classroom and discourage those that are not (Orey, 2001). From the examples in this section that is what they are doing. They give examples of activities using spreadsheets and rubrics where the students got to chart their own effort and then see their grades. In most findings, if not all, the more effort that was given, the better the grades were for the student. This tries to promote the idea that giving better effort will give you a better grade, and this will work in promoting desirable behaviors in class. This is a part of observational learning where they use shaping to breakdown a desired behavior and reinforce it as it progresses towards the overall goal (Orey, 2001). The homework and practice section had similar activities that teachers could use to come up with different methods to provide feedback that will help their students practice particular skills until they get the desired outcome (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, pg. 195). This goes along with the behaviorist theory as well.
MS
References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Pg. 195
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
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Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteDo you see any Behaviorist theory in your instructional strategies? If so, what does it look like?
I found all of the resources this week very interesting. I try to incorporate alot of positive reinforcement into my lessons. As a music teacher, sometimes I see that it is hard for students to step out of their "comfort zone" and fully participate in our singing and music making activities.
The use of tutorials that Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, 2009) discussed in the video segment "Behaviorist Learning Theory" really caught my attention. My nearly nine year old son's favorite activity is playing Flight Simulator on his computer. He does many tutorials and has logged over 800 hours in the past 18 months on the game. For his birthday next weekend, a friend has arranged for him to try a real (commercial) flight simulator (the ones commercial pilots get certified in). I hear he'll be "flying" a 777. I can't wait to see how well his home tutorials have prepared him for this experience.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging Learning Theory, Technology, and Education. [DVD]. Baltimore: Author.
Hi Michael-
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about trying to increase students' effort in class. Making graphs or displaying data is to give students more of an intrinsic motivation. I feel that the ideas presented in the reading were good but might not work with all students. What if some students "just don't care" or feel that this method won't help them do better as far as grades? I like the idea of having students keep track or their effort in correlation to their grades and plan on trying it when I get my own classroom.
Providing effective homework and practice is also important. The reading mentioned something about students having group homework as well were they could work on a site such as a wiki. Do you think students would like having group homework as an option? A complication would probably be access to computers, but besides that.
What are some ways you use drill and practice in your room? I use a lot of computer software programs because I like the immediate feedback and the way it allows students to progress at their pace.
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