Application Week 2 ~ Behaviorism in Practice
Instructor: Kathryn Arnold
EDUC-6711I-1 Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology
According to behaviorists, the learner acquires behaviors, skills and knowledge in response to the rewards punishments or withheld responses associated with them” (Lever-Duffy, 2008). With that thought in mind how does behaviorism relate to reinforcing student effort and the practice of homework?
Reinforcement is some times need to encourage student effort, especially when a student is not intrinsically motivated to participate and practice the skills of a given subject. Therefore, motivating students through games and technologies that incorporate behaviorist theory of positive reinforcement can help motivate students to spend the necessary amount time practicing a given skill to help them reach proficiency. There are many web sites that can be resourced to aid the effort of student motivation, http://www.brainpop.com; www.iknowthat.com; and www.explorelearning.com; (Pitler, 2007) http://www.webmath.com/k8drill.html; http://englishgrammar101.com; http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cjh/appliedtech/Business/Keyboarding just to name a few. I must however agree with Dr. Orey from Walden University Laureate videos (2009), using only drill and practice oriented technology to further student learning falls short of the goal of creating intrinsically motivated life long learners.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program four. Behaviorist Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom that works.
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Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteI agree technology tools are a great way to have students reinforce their learning. I believe that the majority of students are NOT intrinsically motivated. Once a person develops a passion for their learning a skill or concept they will have deep motivation to strive towards sucess and knowledge.
Joy
Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteI agree reinforcement is some times needed to encourage students when they are not motivated to do the required work. That is why I like to use technology as often as I can, because students are typically motivated to use the computers. My school has bought a program called Study Island that covers all academic areas. It begins with a pretest that assesses the students working ability so that when they come back to the program it will be at their level. The program also has educational games and they can access it from home too. I have recently been introduced to http://www.mathplayground.com/, which is a website filled with math activities, videos, manipulatives and logic problems. It is for grades K-8. This site provides immediate feedback as the students work out the problems which gives reinforcement to motivate them to keep trying and all the while they are learning a necessary skill.
Gayla