Reflection 2 EDAT 6115

Hello, it’s Timothy again.  I am going to reflect on the weekly readings from my EDAT 6115 class.  This week’s blog is centered on week 3 readings and assignment for EDAT 6115.  During this week, the class read and discussed behavioral theories of learning.  The thoughts and discussions were in response to chapter five from Robert E. Slavin’s (2012) book, Educational Psychology (10^th edition). The issues presented in this week’s discussion post brought about some interesting viewpoints for teachers to consider.

This chapter discussed learning, behavioral learning theories and their principles, and social learning theory.  Slavin (2012) comments that learning can be intentional or unintentional.  What I really enjoyed was Slavin’s closing remarks in the introduction to learning.  “How do we present students with right stimuli on which to focus their attention and mental effort so that they will acquire skills” (Slavin, 2012, p. 117)?  Behavioral learning theories and social learning theory are tools that can help teachers answer the question listed above.

The first behavioral learning theory discussed was Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning.  Pavlov conducted a well-known theory with the salivation of a dog.  The dog would salivate when meat was presented.  Furthermore, a bell would be rung when the meat was presented to the dog.  Consequently, the dog would begin to salivate when a bell started ringing.  The dog would become conditioned to associate the bell with meat being provided.  “Pavlov and his colleagues showed how learning could affect what were once thought to be involuntary, reflexive behaviors, such as salivating” (Slavin, 2012, p. 117).

The second behavioral learning theory discussed was B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning.  Skinner’s theory proposes that different types of reinforcers (actions that support behaviors) and punishments (actions that reduce behaviors) aid in determining behaviors (Slavin, 2012).  The central question of our class’s weekly discussions dealt with a how sending the student to the office could be a positive reinforcer.  Much of the class agreed that the most common way of this being a positive reinforce was allowing a child to miss class time when the child’s intended outcome was to escape classroom responsibilities or gain attention.  I have witnessed this type of circumstance occur with different students.  A child may feel that going to the office is an “escape” from class.  I also agreed with my classmates in determining that sending a child to the office should be a last resort.  This should serve to weaken the child’s negative behavior, rather than endorse or reinforce negative behaviors.

The weekly readings went on to discuss the need for consequences to immediately follow behaviors to be affective (Slavin, 2012).  We also learned about shaping a child’s learning.  Shaping involves added reinforcers in increment that ultimately aid in the child reaching a goal (Slavin, 2012).  Eventually, the goal is to remove reinforcers from teaching a student to learn to stop certain behaviors.  Slavin (2012) called this process extinction.  The text also discussed having a schedule of reinforcement (Slavin, 2012).  This schedule is “used to increase the probability, frequency, or persistence of desired behavior” (Slavin, 2012, p. 138).  The final principle of behavioral learning theories was discussing how antecedents could be used to determine behaviors. 

The chapter closed with discussing social learning theory.  The main premise of this theory is based on the idea that learning is more often based on the observations of others, modeling (Slavin, 2012).  The theory was developed by Albert Bandura.  He felt that “observational learning involves four phases: attentional, retention, reproduction, and motivational phases” (Slavin, 2012, p. 132).  The idea is that teachers should encourage students to develop self-regulation of their own behaviors and develop personal reinforcers (Slavin, 2012).  Finally, Slavin (2012) says that behavioral learning theories are central in explaining most human actions.  The limitations to these theories are that they are restricted to “observable behaviors” (Slavin, 2012, p. 137).

The theories in the text apply to me greatly as a classroom teacher.  I need to understand whether the actions that I take towards my students’ behaviors weaken or strengthen my students’ behaviors.  The theories mean that they are actions that cause behaviors, and the manners in which the actions are received help determine the persistence or reduction of the behaviors.  These theories confirmed previous held beliefs that I had about dealing with my students’ behaviors.  If I want a child’s behavior to strengthen, I need to find methods that promote and encourage the behaviors.  Similarly, if I wish to reduce or abolish a student’s behaviors, I need to find punishments that discourage the behaviors.  Furthermore, reinforcement or punishment for behavior must come immediately following the behavior if I wish to influence future behaviors.  I might change some ways that I deal with my students’ behaviors after reading the text.  I will try to include a variable-ration schedule to my students’ activities.  Perhaps, this can be used when I teaching writing essays.  Instead of waiting until students finish a particular section (prewrite, rough draft, editing, final draft, or revision), I might have the students partake in an assignment and check their process at random intervals.  This may cause students to focus more on each section of the assignment.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading more about behavioral learning theories in this chapter.  It is always insightful for me to study the research and ideas that have been presented about instructional techniques.  I will attempt to use the ideas presented to inform my future instruction.

Wow, that was a long reflection.  In my opinion, the ideas presented this week are of the utmost importance to good teaching.  Too much of educational instruction learning focuses solely on the curriculum.  I have seen teachers who knew their curriculum well, but they were ineffective because of a failure to properly reinforce or punish their students’ actions and behaviors. 

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education