Behaviorism In Practice by Lynne Krewson

The most important characteristic of a learner is effort. In order to ensure the continuation of effort, it must be recognized and reinforced. Students will not realize the importance of effort unless they are taught about its importance (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). There are predesigned effort checklists that can assist students in learning what the definition of effort is (Saphier, 2008). I adapted materials from an educational resource book to create a math effort checklist. I distributed this chart at my first math data grade level meeting. I need to follow through to see if teachers are using it. It is much more simplistic than the one in our text since I am in an elementary school setting (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). The effort checklist can be introduced through shaping (Orey, 2001). One characteristic can be taught at a time and then more may be added to the chart a little bit at a time (Orey, 2001). I thought the graphing and keeping track of the effects of effort were exceptional, however I do not visualize that working well in elementary school. The checklist I developed, however, would serve as an excellent self-monitoring tool for students in third and fourth grade. When students can understand and experience the value of effort, they will put forth more effort and have more success with their learning. Initially, students will need praise and other extrinsic rewards to reinforce their effort. According to the behaviorist learning theory, these will be the positive reinforcement (Laureate Education, 2009a). The positive reinforcement is what increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated. Eventually, as students internalize the value of effort and the effects on their grades and learning, intrinsic motivation will take over and praise or extrinsic rewards may no longer be necessary. Lessons that incorporate technology are interesting to students. The interest level increases students’ desire to put more effort into working hard and doing well since they are enjoying learning with technology. Also, students incorporate technology when they are creating their own projects. Students take ownership of projects they choose and they design. More effort is applied for projects such as this. Currently, our school is using a math program called First In Math. The more effort our students put into this program, the more virtual rewards they earn. They earn stickers and points on the computer program. At the end of each week I post the top players for the week in each grade and the class that scored the most points. These students receive certificates and the top class of the week houses the large trophy. Winners are announced over the school system weekly too. Students enjoy this program and put forth a lot of effort on it. “Online educational games have an inherent appeal and generate immediate feedback that allows a student, parent, and teacher to monitor progress toward mastery” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 195). Since learning how important it is to connect effort with learning, I am going to talk to the teachers to recommend they praise the effort of their students and explain how their effort is paying off academically for their students. I gladly admit that technology, in combination with behaviorism, is improving effort with mathematics in my school.

Homework fits in well in the behaviorist learning theory. Homework should be independent practice of skills or lessons that were taught during the school day. The purpose of homework is two-fold. First, it allows the student to review and practice what they are learning. We know from brain based learning that the more a concept is repeated, the more it is learned (Laureate Education, 2009b). Secondly, homework informs parents about what their child is working on in school and how well their child understands these skills. Therefore, according to the behaviorist learning theory, homework reinforces what students are learning. Completing homework will most likely result in good grades, which is positive reinforcement to do the assignments (Laureate Education, 2009a). In addition, homework may be graded and completing it will make the teacher happy. The negative consequence of not completing homework is that either your grades will not be good or you may have to stay in for recess or serve a detention to complete it (Laureate Education, 2009a). Technology can facilitate homework in many ways. Students may need to respond to a blog for homework. Their responses can be reinforced and rewarded by others responding to their blog posts. My own children really enjoy the blog communications with their classmates. Also, when teachers give students a homework choice about how to demonstrate their learning using technology, students are motivated to do well (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). Creating a project about which they feel pride positively reinforces them. They will receive further positive reinforcement from teacher and peer comments as well as their grade. Plus, technology has changed how homework papers are written. Not too long ago students hand wrote papers to hand in. These papers took a long time to write and correction fluid had to be used when a mistake was made. Nowadays students use word processing to complete their homework. After a paper is typed in, students can use a spelling and grammar check to give immediate feedback about their work. The typed paper is very clean and nice to look at. If an entire paragraph was forgotten, it is easy to go back and edit the paper. Feedback is immediate and adaptations are very easy to make. Students receive reinforcement in how to improve their paper prior to handing it in to be graded. There are programs, such as turnitin.com, where students submit their papers online and another student edits the paper (providing feedback) and returns it. The student may choose to make changes to his/her paper, based on the feedback, prior to handing it into the teacher to be graded. Technology is often utilized for homework assignments. Students receive immediate feedback and reinforcement from technology to improve their work. This increases the chances that homework will be completed since the student receives helpful feedback to improve their work.

In conclusion, students “change behaviors to satisfy the desires they have learned to value” (Orey, 2001, p. 5). It is our responsibility to teach students the value of effort and homework. Behaviorism is an educational tool to reinforce positive behaviors we want our students to develop. These positive behaviors will benefit the students their entire lives. Technology assists students with effort and homework. The use of technology to improve student achievement will continue to grow.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Behaviorist learning theory. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Understanding the brain. Baltimore: Author.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page on December 31, 2009.

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

Saphier, J. (2008). The skillful teacher (6^th ed.) Acton, MA: Research for better teaching.