Behaviorist Learning Theories and Technology-S.Karabaic Application Assignment 2

Behaviorist Learning Theories and Technology


There are many tools that  Behaviorists would encourage teachers to employ to help students make the connection to their own learning. Students in the 21st Century need to have digital tools that allow them to gain from instruction in the fastest way possible. No longer are our students like ‘The Beaver” or families like, “The  Huckstables”. For better or worse, many of our students might resemble Honey Boo Boo and Snooki and the families might be more like “Two and a Half Men”. We can not  assume that  the world has not changed since the Behaviorists reigned, and their theories coincided with the dedication and commitment to education of that time period.

Using motivational tools like spreadsheets and rubrics can help students to make the connection  between what they are doing/not doing to achieve success. Any methods that heighten students awareness of how their own actions affect outcomes can be invaluable. Some students will never get it as I am told “You gave me a C” and  they clearly do not make a connection between their lack of on task behavior, unassisted completion of a product showing level of understanding, and/or attention to detail with what  they are able to produce. My students especially have a ‘disconnect’ between what  they perceive as the task and the task itself. If I offer them a model of a paragraph, they will write the very minimum to just get the paragraph completed and done. There is not a focus in doing their very best for the sake of learning and growing. Instead, their mentality is how quickly can I get it done and move on. I visually see the way they approach their learning as assembly line workers with the tasks coming down the belt in which they have to do something with them and move quickly before the next object  moves down the line to take its place.

Unfortunately,  there is a lack of student investment or a quest to learn for the mere sake of learning. If homework is to be viewed as stated in, Using Technology In Classroom Instruction That Works, “As an extension of the classroom, homework provides opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of the content and to gain proficiency with their skills. “ (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn,& Malenoski, (2007).), then perhaps there needs to be a different model. Technology can help to provide a Flipped Classroom model that allows students to engage in the task of learning through connecting to the school digitally. If students were to create interesting lessons with message boards where students post and reply to posts of their peers, this format could assist students in raising their engagement and interest levels. The immediate feedback from their peers also can provide the Behaviorist’s goal of reinforcing learning. On the chart on page 19, in Key Theorists and Their Differences, B.F. Skinner’s Stimulus Response indicates that the teacher’s role is to reinforce in the way of a response, and “with immediate and appropriate feedback.” Just  imagine a scenario where a middle school student is given the assignment watching a video clip of Dr. King’s I Have A Dream speech and then posting their response on a Discussion Board, instead of reading a dull chapter in a history text book and answering questions. The immediate feedback would be incredibly more powerful than ‘just’ the teacher’s response as the students’ own peers would engage in the discussion post, too!

The Flipped Classroom has been very much in the news in the last few years and is gaining in popularity and in acceptance. In the article, Flipped Classroom Offers New Learning Path, (Bergman,2011) Jonathan Bergman was asked to define a flipped classroom, “The classic definition is kids watch videos at home for their homework and they come to class and do class work that used to be done as their homework.” Bergman went on to talk about the benefits of a Flipped Classroom model,

Number one, students become their own learners. They learn how to learn for themselves, instead of being spoon-fed. That is very powerful. Second, they become collaborators and help each other out. For teachers, they are able to differentiate since class is no longer a lecture chalk talk.(Bergman, 2011)

The  Flipped Classroom Model can put some teachers off, but I do believe this model would  support certain key pieces of Behaviorism. Students would be rewarded or receive a consequence if they were not following the flipped model. The responsibility moves from the teacher to the student and could further support the reward model of Behaviorism. Having students watch video clips at home,essentially receiving the lecture at home and then in class doing the actual application of the activity is project based learning at it’s best and offers students the immediate or close to immediate feedback, also known as stimulus and  reward. Rather than traditional drill and practice, take those same learning objectives and give them life by asking students not merely for a worksheet of fractions but instead ask them to apply their fraction understanding to a project. Reinforcement can come in the actual application of the learned objective, the demonstration to the class, and the increased student engagement and responsibility.

For the behaviorist’s strategies to work in the 21st Century,, students need to have a certain level of internal motivation. If its not there naturally, can we provide motivation to students so they can gain a higher degree of engagement in the process, by making them part of  their own learning? With digital tools, comes the potential to do more, expect more, provide more and support students in ways we could never do before. Behaviorism’s elements are spread far and wide within the educational setting. We need  to take what we like from Behaviorism and expand on them. Technology tools can help us in the areas of improving student input and output, engagement, responsibility, and achievement.

Electronic Education Report; 11/28/2011, Vol. 18 Issue 23, p1-3, 3p, retrieved January 15, 2013.

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008).Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.).Retrieved January 15, 2013, Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007).Retrieved, January 15, 2013, Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.