Behaviorist Learning Theory and the Impact it has on Instructional Strategies: Reinforcing Efforts and Homework.

This week we were asked to explore two instructional strategies that were embedded with technology.  These two strategies are closely aligned with the behaviorist learning theory.  Behaviorist learning theory emphasizes changes in behavior that results in stimuli-response association made by the learner (Orey, 2002). 

The first instructional strategy I explored was reinforcing efforts; this strategy allows students to see the correlation between effort and achievement.  In “Using Technology with Classroom Strategies that Work” the authors gave two recommendations on using this strategy; i) explicitly teach students about the importance of effort, and ii) having students keep track of their efforts and achievements (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p.156).  Since behaviorist believes all behaviors are learned, I can definitely see how reinforcing effort align with one of James Hartley‘s key principles that “reinforcement is the cardinal motivator,” (Smith, 1999).  Even though I have stressed “you get what you put in” in my classroom, I never thought to designing a rubric which my students can use to chart their effort and achievements.  As a high school math teacher, I can see how this would benefit majority of my students, since my students cannot see how valuable it is to study or even read over their note.  With the implementation of technology, it is now easier for teachers to develop a rubric or a spreadsheet which they can provide to students with an opportunity to chart their effort and achievement.  Once students are able to see how both effort and achievement correlate, they will in turn want to be successful.

The second instructional strategy I explored was Homework and practice; this strategy extends the learning opportunities for students to practice, review and apply what they have learned (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 9).  In math it is imperative that students are given the opportunity to practice what they have learned, thus the need for homework.   In order for students to deepen their understanding and achieve proficiency, they will need multiple exposures to the material, (Pitler et. al., 2007, p. 188).   I find when we start the assignment in class; the students are more inclined to doing the assignment.  With homework and practice, the following key principles of James Hartley come to mind, “repetition, generalization, and discrimination are important notions, and learning is helped when objectives are clear” (Smith, 1999).  With the use of word processing applications, spredsheet applications, multimedia, web resources, and communication soft ware, we can take our homework assignment to an innovative level.  One website that I allow my students to use for practice is Khan Academy, whenever I introduce a new topic I pull instructional videos from this site to present the materials, my students also use the practice problems provided on this site to check for understanding.  Our text also offer an online module that allow students to self-assess, where they can take the assessment for the given section, this is for personal use and at times can count towards n extra-credit activity.

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References:

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

Smith, M. K. (1999) The behaviorist orientation to learning”, the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behaviourist.htm.  Last updated: December 01, 2011.

Strandridge, M..(2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved March 05, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Behaviorism