Although
some view behaviorism as being outdated, it is still present in almost all of
today’s classrooms in some way, shape, or form.
At the root, behaviorism stands on the foundation that all changes in
behavior and learning come from a stimulus-response which is driven by
reinforcement (to increase the likelihood of a preferred activity) or
punishment (to decrease the likelihood of an event) (Standridge, 2002). As I thought about how this applies to
current classrooms, I immediately thought of several examples and would like to
share the ones related to technology
1.)
Xtramath.org (https://www.xtramath.org/)
: This is a site that my students use daily.
It is similar to Rocket Math, but done on the computer. I have an account and then each of my
students has their own account with a 4-digit PIN number so they can access
both in school and at home. Students
take a placement test and start working on the appropriate difficulty of
facts(all my students are working on mastering addition facts). Then, they do daily drill-and practice
lessons/games. The more correct answers
they get, the more smiley faces they get at the end of each section. Students didn’t make this connection at
first, but now are excited to share with me (and their classmates) how many
smiley faces they earned.
2.)
Compass Learning (https://www.thelearningodyssey.com/)This
is a site that my district subscribes to, but it has a TON of great lessons
that are set up somewhere between a quiz and a video game. I create learning paths for each student for
the unit of study we are currently working on and they work through at their
own pace. If they do not score at least
75% on the quiz at the end of the lesson, they must go back and repeat it (and
I am sent a progress alert). If they
score higher than 75%, they are congratulated and move on to the next lesson.
3.) Class
Dojo (http://www.classdojo.com/): This
is an online behavior management software where students have their own “dojo”
and they are able to earn positive points as well as negative points if they
are not following directions (pictures above and below). I used
this with a group of kindergarteners last year and it worked beautifully. Unfortunately, due to the uniqueness of my
learning support setting this year I haven’t found an effective way to use it
with so many groups going on, but would love to get back to it. Parents can also request to be sent weekly
reports of how much positive/negative reinforcement students are receiving to
keep track of their behavior. The site
is free and does all of that for you! It’s
also great to look at your class data as a whole and reflect upon how much
positive versus negative feedback you are giving students. We all know, the
more positive the better!
The
use of Class Dojo (or a similar behavior management system) is a perfect
example of a classroom strategy that involves behaviorism, reinforcing effort. Student get a positive or negative response
based upon the stimulus they provide.
The one area where the software needs additional support is linking
classroom performance to their grades so students can be taught that their
efforts pay off. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuh,
and Malenoski (2007) suggest using an effort rubric to teach students that hard
work does pay off since many students attribute their success or failure to
outside factors and not their personal effort.
This idea is made easy by the use of a spreadsheet, and one of the inputs
to the rubric could be their number of “points” on the Class Dojo system.
Homework
and practice is another strategy that incorporates behaviorism. This creates another opportunity for practice
in order for the target skill to be reinforced.
. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuh, and
Malenoski (2007) comment on homework and additional practice: “Because it is
easy for errors to slip in when students are practicing, teachers should give
feedback as quickly as possible” (p. 188).
I experienced this first-hand during my first year of teaching where I
was not checking and reviewing homework with students regularly. Thus, the homework assignments that were
completed became less and less and students started not to care. Their behavior (doing their homework) was not
being reinforced and as a result, they stopped doing it.
While
I don’t believe behaviorism is the only theory of teaching and learning present
in the classroom today, I do believe it is a critical one which we call fall
back on when things seem to be going awry.
When students get out of control and disorderly, we tend to fall back on
a behavior management system. If
students aren’t getting it, we give them extra practice. Students succeed and we reinforce their
effort, or correct their inaccurate attempt and continue modeling and
scaffolding in order for them to be successful.
References:
Pitler,
H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with
classroom
instruction
that works. Alexandria,
VA: ASCD.
Standridge,
M. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging Perspectives on learning,
teaching, and technology. Retrieved 6 March 2013, from
Kara,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the resources that you use! I have never seen Compass Learning or Xtra Math. I have seen Class Dojo and have always meant to try and use it but couldn't make it work in my mind. What a great idea to use Class Dojo to show the students how their effort really does pay off! It also really hit home for me when you talked about homework and getting students to care about it. When students don't see the importance or relevance in their homework, especially in the older grades, they are less likely to complete it, let alone give it their best effort. What kinds of things have you done to get your students to invest and care about doing their homework? Great post!
Emily Meier
Emily,
DeleteI am still working on getting students to care 100% about homework. I don't feel that it is fair to punish students (especially very young ones) because they don't have a consistent home environment or anyone to help them. Mostly, homework should be able to be completed independently, but sometimes they need help. I'm trying to help students see the connection between their grades on assignments when they do their homework versus when they do not, but have not figured out a simple enough way to do that yet. Just a thought: maybe include homework as an incentive on Class Dojo that students earn a point for each night they complete all their homework?
Great work Kara
ReplyDeleteThanks for your generosity in sharing with us some of the available resources in your subject of specialty, including those that you have tested and have worked wonders for you in the classroom. All of the learning resources alluded to above such as xtramath, compass learning and class dojo help underscores the importance of homework & practice and reinforcement as behaviorist tools that facilitates learning in the classroom. This notion is in keeping with Pitler et al (2007) theory that the aforementioned instructional strategies correlate with behavioral learning theories. That is, with reinforcing efforts, students enhance their understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning. However, it may also be prudent to have a learning tool that allows students to be able to continuously track their scores online both past and present which will keep them intrinsically motivated and in sync with the applicable instructional tools.
Elicious Cyril
Elicious,
DeleteI would love to develop a system to help keep track of scores online and compare it to their effort scores as described in our course textbook. However, working with K-3 learning support students, at this time I don't know of a way simple enough for them to be able to see it on their own. Have you ever tried tracking scores, effort, and motivation with students? What tool(s) did you use?
Kara,
DeleteTo be honest i haven't come across any such tool. However, the search is still on. If you do come across something that appears usable before me i would be grateful if youu would be so kind and share it with me.For me it is still work in progress.