Repetition and Reinforcement: Behaviorism at Its Best

Currently I am taking an online course titled “Bridging Learning, Theory and Technology”. This week we are learning about the theory of Behaviorism and how it relates to two learning strategies. The two learning strategies are ‘reinforcing effort’ and ‘homework and practice’. In this blog entry I will be commenting on how the two strategies correlate with Behaviorism.

We know that for learning to occur in the classroom, student and teacher behavior must support a caring learning environment. Students come to school with a repertoire of behaviors based on their culture, prior experiences and, perhaps even, brain chemistry. Some student behavior fosters learning and some doesn’t. One key tenant of behaviorism is reward. Students are given positive and negative reinforcement in order to support or extinguish certain behaviors. Likewise students will behave in ways that bring them positive feelings and the approval of people they hold in high esteem (Orey, 2001).

I recall reading a book some years ago by Anthony Robbins titled “Awaken the Giant Within.” In the book he discussed how people will change their behaviors to gain pleasure and/or avoid pain. He said that given the choice between the two, we will first avoid pain. Thus if we want to change a behavior we should reflect upon and write down all the pleasure we will receive when we change the behavior and all the pain we will endure if we don’t change the behavior. I use this exercise with all of my students at the beginning of the school year. It helps them to see the correlation between their behavior and the results of that behavior. I did not realize that I was teaching them the basics of Behaviorism.

There are many ways Behaviorism can be used in teaching/learning. According to James Hartley (1998) two of the key principles of learning are repetition and reinforcement. By using the strategy of ‘reinforcing effort’, students gain a better understanding of the correlation between effort and eventual achievement (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski, 2007, p. 156). This is a valuable life lesson for them to learn.

Technology is very useful in the strategies of reinforcement and repetition. Students can use an excel spreadsheet to track their effort by evaluating their attention in class, participation in discussion, homework, studying and note taking (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski, 2007, p. 158). This can then be used to correlate with the formative and summative classroom assessments. In my accounting class, I used to keep a hand spreadsheet that I used for inputting their online grades. Next year I will be having students complete and reflect (in writing) upon their own spreadsheets. I will try to find a way for students to anonymously post this information to a class spreadsheet. This will permit them to see their efforts and results in relation to their classmates.

The text by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski also suggested using http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and rubrics. I have used Survey Monkey only once, but plan to use it frequently in the future. It is easy to set up and fun for the students to use. More importantly for me; it allows the teenagers I teach to express themselves without peer pressure and permits me to accumulate useful data. One survey I plan to present early in the school year will deal with their homework habits.

I learned some valuable information in the chapter on homework and practice in the text by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski. I need to articulate the purpose and outcomes of the homework assignments to students along with giving them timely feedback. This has not been a strong suit for me.

Students often tell me they don’t understand why they need to practice a skill. I now have research to support my intuitive sense on the importance of practice. Students usually need approximately 24 practice session with a skill to obtain 80% competency (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski, 2007, p. 188). I am keeping that statistic handy for next year.

My greatest challenge is in getting my high school students to do any homework outside of the classroom. I teach all elective courses. My administration has already told me to give ample time during class for most students to complete their homework. Most of my students either participate in extracurricular activities or work after school. Many work 30-40 hours per week. It is not unusual for them to get 4-5 hours of sleep, not getting home until 11 p.m. from work and then beginning homework in their core courses. Most of my students are not honor students and are happy with less than average grades. Too much contact with parents tends to ‘shut down’ my students. They are at a very ‘independent’ stage in their psychological development and don’t like Mom/Dad to be very involved in their education. Of course the parents feel differently. My challenge is to get my students to see beyond today and tomorrow and into their future five, ten or twenty years from now. I need to help them see education as their ticket to freedom. Wish me luck!!!


References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2009. Program 4. Behaviorism. [Motion picture].
Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore. Author.

Orey, M.(ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved
June 30, 2009 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/indes.php?title=Main_Page.

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

Smith, M. K. (1999) ‘The behaviourist orientation to learning’, the encyclopedia of informal
education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm, Last update: Mark K. Smith
1999.