2. Behaviorism the theory:
Who has
How I plan to
What is helped the How is it
use it in my
behaviorism? theory to used?
classroom.
develop?
3. What is behaviorism?
• Behaviorism is primarily concerned with
observable and measurable aspects of human
behavior.
• Behavior is directed by stimuli.
• Behaviorists assert that the only behaviors
worthy of study are those that can be directly
observed; thus, it is actions, rather than
thoughts or emotions, which are the
legitimate object of study.
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4. More about
behaviorism…
• In education, advocates of behaviorism have effectively
adopted this system of rewards and punishments in their
classrooms by rewarding desired behaviors and
punishing inappropriate ones.
• For example, if a teacher wishes to teach the behavior of
remaining seated during the class period, the successful
student's reward might be checking the teacher's
mailbox, running an errand, or being allowed to go to the
library to do homework at the end of the class period.
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5. Who has advocated this
theory:
• Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) was
studying the digestive
process and the interaction
of salivation and stomach
function when he realized
that reflexes in the
autonomic nervous system
closely linked these
phenomena.
• To determine whether
external stimuli had an affect
on this process, Pavlov rang a
bell when he gave food to the
experimental dogs. 1 of 2
6. More contributors:
• Skinner developed a more
comprehensive view of
conditioning, known as
operant conditioning.
• His model was based on the
premise that satisfying
responses are conditioned,
while unsatisfying ones are not.
• Operant conditioning is the
rewarding of part of a desired
behavior or a random act that
approaches it.
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7. How it would be used in
the classroom:
• By teachers:
• The teachers could use rewards and punishment in the
classroom to follow operant conditioning.
• For example if a student answers a question right they get
candy, or a gold star.
• Or if they get 3 A’s in a row on quizzes they get extra free time.
• If the teachers wanted to use classical conditioning they
could correlate an activity with a desired response.
• For example they could turn the lights off and ask the students
to be silent. After I few times when the teacher turns the lights
off the students will become silent without being asked.
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8. Behaviorism in the
classroom
• By students:
• On the students end they will be responding to
the stimuli.
• They will receive reinforcement for the actions
and either chose to repeat them or stop.
• For example if they answer correctly and
receive a reward they will be more likely to
repeat this action.
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9. How I plan to use this in
my classroom:
• I plan to use operant conditioning in my classroom by
positive and negative reinforcement.
• I want to have a point system in the class room where you
receive a certain number of points for an assignment
based on your grade.
• The points will be used for things like; a homework pass
(an excuse for one homework assignment), an extra
bathroom pass, extra credit, and so on.
• The students can chose to use their points whenever they
want to or let them all add up and use them later on. Each
item they can “purchase” with their points will be worth a
different amount, so if they chose to save the points they
can “buy” different things.
• For example the extra credit option will be worth more
points than the bathroom pass. 1 of 2
10. More about my
classroom
• The negative will be that if they receive less than a
C on the assignment or quiz they will not receive
points, and if they miss an assignment or quiz they
will lose points.
• This will make the students want to turn in every
assignment and do well on them, as well as study
for the quizzes and come to class to take them.
• I also plan to allow any students who never lost
any points, to receive extra points added to their
mid term and final exam.
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