2011 EDLD 655 Watch 1, Day 1: Empiricist/Behaviorist
2011: Hear teachers and educational leaders discuss observations of learning theories at work. To post, just click on "Post a Comment" below and a screen will come up for typing.
A clear behaviorist instance that I observed today happened with the new "tardy sweep" system we are implementing in the high school where I work. In response to teacher concern about tardies our admin team has instituted a system to collect all tardy students in the commons at the start of class to issue a consequence. On day three of this program I'm witnessing students actually running to class when the bell rings (not all, but some!). So, the conditioned response is: bell rings, students who previously would linger in the halls now rush to class.
Question to colleagues: this type of learning theory seems the most easily observable in schools. Do others agree, and what does this say about our school system?
Today I was observing an 8th grade band lesson; students were filing in and beginning to warm up. The teacher was checking in with students and there were multiple side conversations. However, as soon as the teacher said, "And Standby" the room fell silent, students straightened their backs, sucked in a good lungful of air, positioned their instruments to play, and waited with their eyes on the teacher for the command to play. Clearly these students have been conditioned to respond to this verbal phrase from the teacher and to assume a specific attitude, posture, and readiness for the next verbal instruction.
In response to Amanda: I think that this is a very observable learning style during transitions and as a technique that teachers use to bring students back to focus. So often it is sprinkled in throughout a classroom. I also think that it is so observable because it trains and entire group, so that when 30-40 people respond at once, it becomes more noticeable than say the other two learning styles which seem to be more motivated by individual(s) and their disparate time-lines.
Today I was in a classroom and observed a pretty classic use of positive reinforcement. The teacher was asking open ended questions to his class regarding the unit they have been covering in social studies ("Manifest Destiny"). Energy was pretty low, and there weren't the number of responses the teacher was hoping for. Without saying much he went over to his desk and pulled out a roll of raffle tickets, and started to separate them by tearing them into a pile in his hand as he spoke. He then asked the next question: "For one ticket, someone please raise your hand and tell me..." There were about double the number of hands raised to answer this question. The student who answered correctly was given a ticket, as were two other students for "good hand raise." As this went on, participation in the discussion continued to increase. Students knew that at the end of the class period there would be a drawing for a PowerAide drink to be given at lunch. Because the teacher did not have to explain the system of R+ that was being implemented, and because they changed their behavior based on the principle of reward (and the sight of red raffle tickets), I believe this fits well with the Behaviorist theories.
After reading the first two comments, I begin to see how these actions and responses also fit nicely into the theory of Sociocultural influences, and the groups are responding the same as their peers in the environment for each given situation. If the bell ringing, the words "stand by," and the red tickets were not effective for the group, they probably wouldn't be effective for an individual. This lends to the concept of overlapping or encompassing theories in learning and behavior.
My observation took place in the gym watching students in an adaptive PE class. My observation allowed me many opportunities to see examples of the behaviorist approach. The class participated in warm-up laps, stretching, and a game of kick ball. Students were continously reading cues from others (both adult staff and students) before completing tasks. It was surprising to see how little verbal direction the adults were giving. When the whistle blew students began to run. When staff lined up in the middle of the gym, students began to stretch. And when students did not know which base to run to a staff would point and the student would run.
I agree with Andy as to how effective and critical positive reinforcement is to good teaching. During my observation it was interesting to watch the effects of + reinforcement. When one student received positive reinforcement the effort of others would greatly increase.
Today, I observed the behaviorist theory at work. While in a second grade classroom, the teacher was soliciting responses from those students who had a "quiet hand". After a cued reminder (both verbal and visual), the teacher ignored students who blurted out responses and called on students with a quiet hand. In addition, she got out a pad of "Beep, Beeps" (our PBIS recognition notes) and began distributing them to those students who were following directions. Like magic, all the talk outs stopped and everyone had a quiet hand.
During this same observation, a teacher used a green/yellow/red card system to remind students of acceptable behavior. A youngster was playing at his desk and not paying attention to the lesson. The teachers said, "You are on yellow right now. You will need to flip your card to red if you don't..." The student responded positively to the teacher's cue and completed his assignment. It was clear that these students have a thorough understanding of classroom expectations and have been trained to respond to stimuli designed to promote a smoothly run classroom.
As I read about the observations made by Amanda, Wes, and Andy, I am amazed at how simple the stimuli needs to be to result in such a powerful change. And...when the behaviors of a few begin to change, the impact seems to be even greater on the group as a whole. For example, in the beginning only a few students responded to the tardy bell. By day three, more and more students begin to rush to class.
Yesterday I observed a Guest Artist, who came in to do a special session with a group of our high school students on the history and process of making felt. The artist first talked a good deal about the history of felt making then each student got large chunks of wool to start the process of making felt themselves. They each followed along very closely with each step since, though not complicated, they were fully engaged with all their senses (smell in particular! It is GOD AWFUL!). In any case, the artist preceded each step with some sort of verbal cue like "so the next thing. . ." which, for the most part, caught the student's attention enough to look up from their felt and see what to do next.
And in reference to a number of the comments above, it's interesting to me that so much of "condition response" in school is evident mostly in managing behavior or managing a learning environment. Seems like it takes a lot of time to constantly find rewards for stimulus/response - and meaningful ones.
I was able to see the Empiricist/Behaviorist Theory at work in a couple of different instances. The easiest to identify example was students' response to the bell at the end of recess. They heard the bell, and their response was to run to line up to go back to class. This was a clear response to a sound stimulus.
I also wanted to identify an example of this theory at work in the classroom. I wanted to find something outside of PBS, because it feels like it is easy to find examples in how we teach behavior, but a little more challenging to find examples more specifically related to academics. I found it in a small reading group, doing direct instruction. The teacher said, "The word is 'twig,'" followed with "What's the word?" and students chimed in with "twig."
I have mixed feelings about instruction that aligns with this theory. However, it seems to fit well in elementary school, especially in the early grades, because so much of what we do is focused on teaching students how to act in school.
Good job, everyone, nice work so far! Wanted to let you know two students are helping facilitate this activity, Emi and Jeremy. They will post some comments and ideas. Be sure to help them out by responding back :) They are doing "virtual" reciprocal teaching.
I was observing yesterday looking for behaviorist instances and was able to see many. However, most that I observed were directly related to student behavior management. In one instance, the lunch room supervisor blows a whistle which signals the students to be quiet so they can be excused to recess. The students have obviously been conditioned to know that they do not get to go out unless they are quiet.
After reading all the previous posts, I agree with Amy about this type of learning having a place in the very early grades especially in regards to class management and learning how to behave in a school setting. However, all of us respond to being positively and negatively reinforced and I believe this theory has applications in all levels of education.
I perform lunch supervision duty for 6th, 7th, 8th grade students in the cafeteria. The music teacher comes into the room just before dismissal to assist in excusing the students. When he sits down at the piano some students look around and begin to clean up their table. He plays a variety of songs and when he begins to play one of the songs maybe famous by Charlie Brown musical the students automatically stand and exit the room. The song is their cue to move. They are seeking the reward of being outside and enjoying unstructured recess time. Bob Kaminski
Using a behaviorist approach to teach has its place. In response to question/thread about observing it and/or using it in schools... There is a time and a place for a dominate use of each learning theory. As mentioned, transitions (Some teachers begin a song, students join in, and then move desks to the edge of the room to prepare for a classroom meeting; And some teachers use "ritual" with a candle during classroom meetings to cause the preferred mood of respecting others when addressing issues). In arenas outside of schools, I believe using behaviorist strategies is important for community safety, ie responding to fire alarms, red flashing lights, the cry of a baby, etc. It seems to me behaviorist strategies overlap socio-historical strategies more often then constructivist strategies. What do you think? BKaminski
…my comment disappeared, so if this appears 2x I apologize.
On Thursday, I witnessed the behaviorist approach in one of my graduate courses. Our professor asked the class what their definition of “student” was. One colleague responded with their interpretation and the professor shot it down by basically saying it was “wrong” and not what he was looking for. For the rest of the class period anytime the professor asked for volunteers to formulate definitions of key terms, no one in the class responded.
I believe this is an example of the classic stimulus/response. Stimulus: professor asking for definitions & Response: silent class, unwilling to be wrong in front of cohort.
In response to Amanda, I agree that the behaviorist learning approach is observable in our schools, more specifically at the elementary level. I connect this theory with rudimentary learning or memorization – lower levels of thinking, which are (unfortunately) a lot of how we teach early grades to gain basic skills. ---Whitney Davis
Many elementary teachers employ some form of behaviorist theory to get students attention inside their classrooms. I was observing a 5th grade teacher who was transitioning her students from recess to math. Upon the students entering the room they looked at the whiteboard to see they needed to have two sharp pencils, their math journal and begin their warm. When majority of the students had completed the task, she rang a bell and began counting down from five to one. As soon as she reached three she was holding a couple of marbles to add to the marble jar if when she said one all pencils were down and eyes on her with voices were turned off. The students were conditioned to respond check the board upon entering the room completing the tasks until the bell and countdown.
Whitney is correct. The elementary level uses behavior theory a lot especially for teaching transitions, to avoid safety issues, and teaching of skills such as beginning reading skills. The behaviorist theory seems to be the easiest way to teach the basics, thus preparing the way for the other theories to of learning to be used.
The classical conditioning I observed was 4th grade students in a reading intervention group. At the beginning of the group period, the students entered the room, removed individual folders and began working independently using materials and equipment (ipods) located 3 separate storage areas in the room. The routine was listed on a poster in the room. The students continued to work until a staff member indicated "time's up". The students put away the materials without prompting and lined up at the door. Once in line, they began to chat with each other. When a staff member indicated, they left the room. The staff explained that there was a rewards system based on both individual time on task, and on group behavior, and that the group was rewarded each week if the routine was followed successfully daily. The students had been rewarded for learning and following the routine, and continued to respond to the rewards system by maintaining the routine. My impression was that the students were compliant and satisfied with their participation in the process. In addition to the token reward offered for behavior, I observed continued verbal reinforcement by staff for the progress of individual students, which reinforces student gains made through the routinized process.
I agree with Michael F. that classical conditioning is easy to spot relating to behaviors and the learning environment. I'm a fan of PBS and have seen its benefits on the academic outcomes in a school - so not an unbiased opinion - but I think it definitely has a place beyond just behaviors. For example, I watched an ELD Kindergartener this week pointing to letters as she sung the ABC song and getting rewarded with a big "Good Job" by her teacher. I agree with Whitney - really, how else should we teach letter recognition in young children? Sometimes even in instruction its just the right approach.
Also, I agree with Andy's comment about overlapping theories. Pavlov's dogs received the treatment in isolation. I'm sure some grad student has studied the effects of multiple treatments (conditioned response AND constructivist or sociocultural) because that's what school is really like.
I observed a classroom, as I was curious to see how teachers conditioned the behavior of students to conform to the 3 big rules of PBIS. The teacher I observed had strategically posted the PBIS rules in several locations throughout the classroom. During the classroom discussion, a student spoke out interrupting another student, and the teacher pointed to the "be respectful" rule. This student caught the cue and raised his hand. The teacher acknowledged the student's behavior by walking over to the student and quietly thanking him for following the rules. She did not call on him immediately. However, she eventually called on him and acknowledged him again for keeping his hand raised and told the class how this was an example of respect. Good stuff! My comment is for Suzy... Your blog was very similar to mine in terms of PBIS in the classroom. Did your school district immediately move PBIS into the classroom or was it phased in after it was successfully implemented school-wide? It is pretty amazing to thing about the number of strategies that can be used to teach student the 3 rules of PBIS!
This post is part of my online reciprocal teaching assignment. Please read through it and see if your comments might take on a slightly different approach to those above:
We are clearly seeing examples of the Behaviorist theory working to help students learn when to clean up, how to respond to questions in class, what to do when they enter class, etc. Several of us commented on the appropriate time and place for this type of learning - not everyone in (or out of) our EDLD class think this is the "best" approach. For those of you posting after this comment, I challenge you to look at the observation you made and come up with a way to teach this same concept (i.e. getting to class on time, when to leave, etc.) to students using either the Constructivist or Sociohistoric theories. My prediction is that for the most simple of concepts (i.e. line up when you hear the bell), this would be challenging. What do you think?
I've seen some middle schools try to combine the empiricist/constructivist approach with the constructivist approach (though not explicitly stated as such). When teaching expected behaviors, part of those lessons included some open-ended questions, in which students were asked about the "why" of the expected behaviors. I've also seen some anti-bullying lessons that had students do more of the thinking together in role plays and group activities involving scenarios.
During our lunch time, students are expected to sit, eat and visit quietly with their neighbors. Dismissal to recess after lunch is done by staff that recognizes students who have exhibited the behavior most closely to the taught behaviors for the cafeteria. Frequently a colored card is offered as a “go to recess early” reward to a few students who exhibit exceptional respect for the cafeteria rules, so they can go to recess 5 min before their peers. What I was looking for was the change in behavior for students when they saw the colored cards in the hand of the staff member approaching them. The immediate recognition was the noise level in the room began to diminish. Visually, the number of students sitting with their bottoms on the bench increased. The hand signal “quiet coyote” or “quiet Fox” increased by students as they turned their heads and identified the colored cards in the staff member’s hand. Finally, heads began to lie down on the table to exhibit a quieter mode of behavior they must have conditionally learned in another setting at school.
I observed a 9th grade classroom this morning through the lens of a Behaviorist looking for conditioned behavior within the first 10 minutes of class. The teacher used a warm-up that was well organized. All the students realized this and were conditioned to begin working immediately as the bell rang. This is exactly what I was looking for as we are working on conditioning the students from the bell ringing to the start of the activity to cut down on tardies.
Today I was observing basketball practice for the University of Oregon men's basketball team as I am a graduate assistant coach. I noticed several instances of conditioned response learning behaviors throughout the practice. One instance specifically, at the beginning of practice most of the players were shooting around in a lazy manner and talking with each other about there day off. As soon as the head coach walked through the door and made his presence known, the players became quiet and started shooting with a lot more intensity. The players response to the coaches voice and very distinctive clap was a conditioned response to get focused and ready for practice to begin.
In response to Whitney, I think this is a great example of behaviorist learning. Teachers can change the culture of a classroom or practice with a single comment. By reacting negatively to the students response, the entire class was unwilling to volunteer answers. This doesn't allow for a very open learning environment.
Candace- I observed a Kindergarten class and the behavioral methods the teacher used to bring the class in after being out of the room. Following morning recess, the class lined up outside the door with the class aide. The teacher than had the kids take a pebble. It took a few minutes for each child to take a pebble but when the students went into the classroom, they dropped the pebbles in a plastic bucket in front of their choice of book and took their seat on the rug in reading circle. It was done very orderly. After lunch recess the teacher had the lights dimmed and soft music on, the students came into the room quietly and put their heads down for about five minutes then the teacher want around the room and tapped each child individually to put their head up. Each child who had been tapped began to work on the letter sheet that was on their desk. All of this was done by environmental stimulus rather than verbal direction. This must have taken some work in the beginning of the year to get to this point.
Back at Bob Kaminski- I agree that much of behavioral conditioning is for safety and for learning the social norms. Humans in our society are conditioned from early on to respond to stimuli in particular ways. Without the correct response, individuals would not long survive. In this, I do believe that we might consider that behavioral conditioning is the chicken or egg dilemma of teaching and learning. It might be a prerequisite for two other types of learning. CCardiff
Amanda's Question to colleagues: this type of learning theory seems the most easily observable in schools. Do others agree, and what does this say about our school system?
I'd say this type of learning theory is most observable in even stricter institutions, such as the military, where reactions are drilled in until decision to act are almost unconscious /unquestionable... So if schools are becoming reliant on conditioning behavior, are we training students to be more passive and less involved in decision-making?
Today I saw students at recess time run to line up before the teachers blew the whistle. I asked them why they lined up when it was still play time only to be interrupted by the whistle. They told me that they always watch a particular teacher because that teacher will pull her whistle out and do a complete circle around in one spot and then blow the whistle. They were watching for that predictable behavior from the teacher to tell them what to do.
In response to Emi...I think that using behaviorist techniques for managing students is a smart thing to do and doesn't necessarily make students more passive and less involved. Did the students have a say in how to respond and to what? I also think that a lot of teachers are not consistent with the behaviorist techniques and see students not responding because of it.
Today I saw a teacher using "tickets" as a means for rewarding students who were on task and completing their work. I inferred that prior to the lesson the students were aware that the teacher might hand out tickets (they were sitting right next to her). The teacher reminded the students that they would be able to use the tickets to be in a drawing for prizes. Students continued being on task and focused during the entire observation. While I can assume that some of this motivation to behave comes from the tickets, I also think other things contributed: respect for the teacher and her desires, a motivation by the content of the lesson, and knowing what consequences would come if they didn't follow directions.
In response to Candace - wow! That sounds like a very organized and prepared kindergarten teacher. I know the challenges of keeping 25-30 6-year-olds in line and doing the right thing and I hope it's OK if I share some of those behaviorist strategies with the teachers at my school.
I agree that this behaviorist approach is easily observable in our schools and may lead students to simply be "rule followers" instead of critical thinkers and problem solvers. I think most educators recognize this but, given our limited daily time with kids, find this approach the most efficient in getting kids to meet standards. Also, If we were to shift entirely away from this approach, then I think there would some level of disorder that would make it hard to keep everyone on the same page.
Possible middle ground: I've seen some classroom teachers have no rules or procedures posted at the start of the year and spend several days or even a week creating the rules with the kids (often finding that kids ideas for rules are more strict than what the teacher would have come up with by him/herself). After these rules and consequences are in place, the teacher can then add/substitute behaviorist strategies to reinforce the system.
Today was the first day of my class and since it’s only 50 minutes and the students come from very different backgrounds, I had planned to spend it all on introduction and breaking the ice. However my students seemed to be conditioned to ask about the course book, absent sessions, rules and regulations on the first day. They kept asking me questions like “Do we have any quizzes?”, “Where can we buy the course book”, “How many sessions can we be absent”, etc. and I kept telling them “keep it for tomorrow!”. I think this shows that the first day of a class is a stimulus which triggers all different questions about the course material and process.
In response to Jeremy: I think you observed the situation very carefully since you came up with more than one stimulus to the response of the students. As you said the ticket was not the only stimulus here, there were other factors contributing to the students’ behavior. I believe it’s important to look at each behavior and response from different angles to be able to see all different factors affecting the behavior.
Emi said; So if schools are becoming reliant on conditioning behavior, are we training students to be more passive and less involved in decision-making? My response is, although it appears we are training students to be more passive, I believe the behaviorist framework set a foundation for all to develop relationships with others. I read of staff teaching respect for others in class by warning them of turning a card from yellow to red. As students grow to high school we expect students to show respect for others without any verbal or other stimuli from staff, but by their own recognition that their action towards others is as a result of a learned response from others body language or voice. Do we consider our learned interactions with others in early years of life a behaviorist theory and sociocultural as adults interact with each other? or am I off the mark?
An instance that I am going to write happened in my classroom in Korea. I taught English(-listening) to students at secondary level. At the beginning part of class, students did the dictation when I said "Ready to dictation." while listening to the recording sound that I turned on. The recording sound started with short music. After a few days later, I didn't have to say any anoucement, just only turned on the recording sound my students were ready to dictate. In this example, short music as a neutral stimulus was changed into conditioned stimuli by training. I think it could be one of the examples of Behaviorism. But I think this example is belong to operant behaviorism. It is hard to say my example is in classical conditioning.
In response to Andy: It is a good example of positive reinforcement. I have also same experience that you observed. I observed Korean class in Willagillespie elementary school. During the class, one student helped the other student who had difficulty in following class. So, the teacher gave compliment to her with thumps-up. After that, the other students checked and considered each other and started to help each other and wanted to get teacher's thumps-up.
After studying the theory of behaviorism and where I have been able to observe conditioned response learning behaviors, I need to say that I can not describe a clear example.
The point is that an unconditioned response is an instinctive reaction such as fear. Classical conditioning is based on this instinctive/intrinsic reaction! Otherwise it could be already cognitive or sociocultural learning.
Following I am trying to give an example of a classical conditioning as it might happened to many students in school/universities.
US (e.g. bad grade) -> UR (e.g. bad feeling) In this example the neutral stimulus (NS) could be the announcement of a test. After several repetitions the NS replaces the US and just the announcement makes the student afraid in taking the test (UR bad feeling/fear).
After two hours of thinking I can not describe a classical conditioned example I observed in school during the last days.
In a Kindergarten class the teacher was using sign language with phonics (initial consonant) in reciting student names during a whole group/rug activity. The teacher said a name, emphasizing the initial sound. Then she asked the students if they hear the initial sound, and if so to sign "yes". She repeats the name, most students sign "yes' and then she tells them to sign the sound they hear, and they all do. The teacher then positively reinforces with specific praise "Yes, you know that is an M, good listening"and repeats with a new name.
This is an example of a non-behavioral use of behaviorist-based teaching in that it is not about transition times or following rules or class behavioral norms. However, it is training their learning behavior through maintaining focus, choral recitation, and includes the motivators of participation and praise.
Regarding Emi's comment about overuse of behavioral techniques possibly dampening the capacity for higher level thinking and reasoning, I think that is a possibility if this theoretical technique was never paired with constructivist or social learning approaches. At its most intensely used level it is all about not thinking for oneself, merely reacting.
That said, I agree with Candace and others who posited that behaviorally based instruction provides a foundation or grounding for working in a social group setting. We have many behaviorally based elements of our society that are crucial to smooth operation, and in fact, I would say as did Bob (maybe?) that much of it is sociocultural learning formalized for automatic incorporation. But, the higher level reasoning piece should be presented along side for a more complete understanding of this.
Amanda, I agree that in the secondary setting that observing behaviorism is clear. We are having the same problem with tardies and believe that through upfront classroom activities that what can change their behavior.
I observed a classroom where a teacher was working with students on a self directed project. The students chose the topic, researched and presented the information to the class. I had the opportunity to see the presentations. It was clear that the students had constructed their own learning and it became much more meaningful because of their involvement.
Amy's thought on behavior and the constructivist approach was very interesting to me. I have found that students self discovery when it comes to rules and regs seems to really be more effective.
Yesterday I witnessed several conditioned responses at basketball practice. This week we are preparing for upcoming games and we have statements that have become standard in our basketball team. One that comes to mind is "BEND YOUR KNEES!". It is used early and often. This statement is used to imply that our players need to take a physical stance to be ready to move on the court. It is used early and often, When it is used players instinctively assume an athletic position to show that they are ready to play. It is a coaching tactic used by our staff to condition these guys to be ready for the play.
My in-class empiricist observation: Desk crits. The professor rotates around the studio and at each desk, his/her mere presence and close proximity gets the student to a. get all their best sketches arranged b. cringe in fear c. start defending their ideas d. start talking and not let anyone interrupt them e. sweat profusely f. all of the above simultaneously and unconsciously. Sometimes the encounter is so eventful that one must debrief with fellow students in private about the professor’s reactions…
I’m concerned with the empiricist approach because it’s “training” people to expect rewards and fear punishment. Are teachers today constantly finding new ways to reward and punish students? Is the simplest way to keep a class quiet and focused also setting up a worldview that there will always be simple consequences? I might challenge someone to help the student understand that their disruptive behavior causes a chain of reactions, and have the student feel the responsibility and the broad effects their actions have on their peers as well.
I’ll never forget my 5th grade teacher tossing out candy out to students who answered correctly. I told my parents that evening and they asked me why I felt upset. I thought about it for awhile and realized that I felt insulted and sad that the he had degraded our craving to learn to an equally powerful craving for sugar. I appreciate Amy’s comment about asking the “Why” of expected behavior. I believe it’s important for students to understand how their actions affect so much more than they’re led to believe with simple rewards/punishments. I’d say lets leave the empiricist/behaviorist approach to issues of safety, emergency, and children you can’t reason with.
Note: I’ve never spent much time at the head of a classroom so please consider my comments from the heart of a newbie! And I’ve also never been a reciprocal teacher or professional encourager (I have a critical research/architectural background) so I look forward to learning from all of you!
I wish I could rearrange the classes I am observing as I am fairly sure the last class I plan on visiting (an ESL class) is the only one where I may find clear behaviorist theory. The other two are more leadership scenarious. On Tuesday I watched a Student success study group session. Where colleagues are presenting their work in student success and people are to learn from one another. Behaviorist actions? Boy its a stretch, but the best thing I can think of is when they showed the "shock and Awe" statistics of the horrifying completion rates, people responded by listening a little closer to what was being told. That the best I can give.
Having said that, adding to the discussion of overlapping theories, Its really difficult to tell the difference sometimes between behviorist actions and sociocultural actions. Aren't they all just stimulus response. Just is the stimuli a single stimuli, or is the stimuli the culture around us.
While most have commented on students, I want to comment on adults. Given a task and a timeline about two months ago, I found that about half of my teaching staff do not respond to a 'hard' due date for critical curriculum. This is despite weekly reminders for 2 months and an impending due date. I intentially set my due date for curriculum guides a week ahead of what I really needed, and much like our K-12 students, adults wait until the last minute and then have reasons why they cannot meet the due date. As I am new to the staff, I have realized that due dates have not been firm in the past from prior expererence of my staff, so this is a conditioned response I will need to work on, albeit in a careful fashion with attention to individual circumstances that can affect any of us when it comes to completing tasks in a timely fashion.
My observation happened between a two-year-old girl and me when I read a story before her regular nap. The story book is designed to teach kid recognize different animals by means of imitating those animals' yelps. When we came to the animal dog in the book, I tried to imitate dog's bark as vivid as possible---who knows my acting was too vivid to resonate her pet dog's barking as a result---to arouse her interest of learning! Well, I had to admit this was just an accident however gained unexpected result. Later when we moved to the animal cat, her pet dog barked again which made her speak out "doggy" immediately! This may be just an accidental empirical process.
The Empirical/behavioral learning theory seems to serve as the fundamental process in education. I agree with most people's comments on observing this learning behavior mostly in early childhood or elementary level. However other levels of learning also evolved with this theory. I remember the learning organization class I took last winter. The single-loop learning is basically referring to this learning theory. It happened in organizations all over different kinds of industries which means we always need people to simply obey the rules.
I am a member of the University of Oregon football team and whenever we have team meetings there are two types of this behaviorist conditioned response that happen on a regular basis. The first one is that usually the last person to enter the room is the head coach and that usually signifies the begining of the meeting and so when the head coach enters the room regardless of whether he is actually going to start the meeting or not people quiet down, sit up strait, turn their ball caps forward, and watch him until he either begins talking or he sits down. If he is not addressing the team the hush and body posture of the rest of my team mates quickly returns to whatever state it was before he entered and conversations pick up where they left off. The second is if when he enters and he stands at the front and does not begin talking the majority of the room looks around for who is not doing what they are suppose to be doing with must be the only reason he has not started yet because he does not start until everyone is sitting up, caps forward, quiet and looking at him.
So these are examples of both conditioned response to the learder and to one another.
In response to Jeremy Smith's post on Jan 11th 2011 1:06 pm.
As for the order vs. caos. I substituted for a week of 1st graders and for a substitute the conditioned learned behaviors saved my bacon. without the "back-pack boogy" i would have never been able to get the kids to get their things together and line up at the door to go catch the buses. I think that familiarity allows for things that would otherwise seem impossible the full time teacher could do things freely but as a replacement i was bound to the structure of the day and the learned responses of the students based on where i was in the room, time of day, types of songs and a million other things.
When I went back to work after being in Arizona with the football team, I noticed some immediate responses in my own behavior that remind me of conditioned responses. Through my observations of watching my students walk into our building for their academic appointment with me, I made judgements on if they were going to be efficient in our appointment. The students that walked in with their heads down and moped in, I developed a conditioned response that it would be really hard to get them to do any work. By me creating this conditioned response I was already reacting to their behavior before we even started our session.
I really liked reading your observation of the conditioned response at basketball practice. When I originally started reading and watching the video about the empiricist/ behaviorist, it confused me. However, reading your post and how you related the conditioned response into athletics, really helped me understand the conditioned response more. I started thinking of all the conditioned responses that I learned through playing lacrosse and how since then some of those specific phrases still make me want to do the triggered response, years after I have finished playing my sport. Thanks for helping me make this connection!
My first observation was in a French immersion class at Roosevelt MS. When the bell rang, students were in their seats with all eyes on the teacher. She directed their attention to the agenda written on the whiteboard. The first item was 10 minutes of silent reading in a book of their choice (in French). They immediately opened their books and began the task at hand, with no questions or talking. When time was up, they quietly transitioned to item 2, writing a paragraph in their spiral notebooks to summarize what they had read. Subsequent activities included teacher-led discussions, group work, and review games; however, student behavior at the beginning of the period indicated a conditioned response to an established routine.
This comment is in response to Jeremy Smith. I agree that the Behaviorist approach is the most logical to use when establishing routines, even when working with adults. Example: I use a particular noisemaker to signal the end of small group activities when I facilitate workshops for teachers. They automatically know to stop conversation and turn their attention back to whole-group discussion when they hear that sound. It's quick, effective, and doesn't require explanation.
This weekend I was able to go outside my practice setting and attend a high school volleyball tournament where I observed a great deal of learning. One instance where I observed a conditioned response was simply making unforced errors. I watched one girl go back and miss the first serve of the game. She was then disciplined by her coach and as she came around the next time, she missed the serve again. She was immediately pulled from the game. The next game started and she was back in starting off as the first server on the team. She went back and with encouragement by her coach, she made the serve. This is a skill that players at this level have mastered and it is the mental lapses that cause the player to miss the serve, it is not lack of skill. The reaction and actions of the coach made that player really concentrate on making that serve, creating a learning experience.
With many responses to read through, it is interesting to see the variety of learning settings that these theories can exist. Conditioned responses are seen throughout the day and not only in learning settings. They may exist in job settings where an employee acts the way they do because the boss around (possibly similar to Jay's comment). Learning is all around us and it is interesting to step outside our daily setting and see it occur in a natural setting.
I observed the conditioned response I was looking for, class silence when I stand silently at the front of the room, at the start of my first period class. The bell had rung and I was informing my student aides of their tasks for the day. The students in the room were chatting about... Once I completed my conversation with my aides I moved to the front of the room and silently waited for the classes attention. Much like a round of telephone, a few students noticed my behavior and tapped the kids around them and asked them to be quiet. As more table groups noticed the activity around the room they joined in on the silent attentive behavior. Within 1 minute the class was silent and attentive without me saying a word. I believe this is a display of empiricist/behaviorist because the class was given a specific stimuli and responded appropriately.
Interesting, Jackie. My observation was very much the same. At the beginning of the year I start each day by walking to the front of the room and sitting on a particular stool. I then ask for the student's attention. Now, all I need to do is sit on the stool and the students sit down, quiet down and look up. I don't say a thing.
Classroom teachers rely on behaviorist theory as they establish predictable routines to create smooth transitions for their students from one activity to another. During a kindergarten math lesson today the teacher needed the students to move in small groups from their tables to the rug in front of the presentation screen. She moved to a spot in front of the presentation station and all students fell silent. Next she called out table numbers, one by one. As each table's number was called all the students at that table moved to a row on the rug. It was apparent that this routine is used on a regular basis. Because the students had been conditioned to observe the signals, they needed a minimum of direction to quickly transition to the next activity.
While conditioned responses definitely help create a smooth flow of activity throughout the day, could there be circumstances in which this strategy could be misused, short-circuiting student problem solving and independent thought?
As part of a school-wide literacy program, our staff is focusing on improving student engagement. One strategy we are employing is for students not to raise their hands in response to questions posed by a teacher. Every student is expected to formulate a response and be ready to participate regardless of whether the teacher calls on them, assigns a partner discussion or other activity. Today, I was in an algebra I class and the teacher was asking questions about specific steps in factoring polynomials. In response to every question some of the students continued to raise their hands despite the teacher reminding them not to. I was really struck by the powerful conditioning these students were exhibiting and the difficulty they had with a new expectation.
School cafeterias are always busy places. Student pick-up in the cafeteria after lunch at our school varies from teacher to teacher. Today I decided to observe the response of students from different classes when their teacher arrived to pick them up. The most conditioned response that I observed was when some of the teachers walked through the doorway their students automatically got up from their tables and lined-up. Not all students did this. Students from other classes waited for someone to excuse them and then they lined up. The expectation at the beginning of the year was for students to wait at their tables until they were excused but because some teachers have not held to the expectation their students began to line-up on their own. The stimuli is the teacher entering the cafeteria and the student’s learned response has become lining up. Each class is familiar with their teacher’s expectations.
In a second grade classroom I observed a spelling practice lesson. The teacher had the students "tutor" each other. Times for practice were specific. The teacher started a countdown---5-4-3-2-1. Students quickly gathered clipboards, spelling lists, pencils, and paper and went to a part of the room with their partner. At the count of one, one of the partners gave words for their "tutee" to practice and then switched places at the call of switch. When the teacher counted down from 3, all students gathered in the front of the room. It was obvious that this has been a practice in the classroom.
It is interesting to see how much this behaviorist and conditioning is used throughout the school with routines and transitions. The learned responses to a teacher countdown, or a teacher standing silently in front of the classroom, as Jackie stated, is much a part of the classroom today.
I routinely facilitate discussion groups based on daily reading of the local newspaper. I observed several students were puzzled and frustrated on Thursday because they could not find the sports section. For unknown reasons, the paper had changed the order of the sections that day, reversing the normal position of Local and Sports. Without prompting the students began to express their displeasure with this unexplained change. I believe this was based on their repeated previous exposure to the normal order of the newspaper sections.
I also see similar behaviors (as Bob viewed 4/19) where students struggle to NOT raise their hand when encouraged to have an informal discussion. Many automatically raise their hand before speaking.
I agree with Gayle in that conditioned responses are important in running schools for reasons of organization and safety. Direct instruction techniques might be another use of this conditioned response but hopefully DI is being used for a specific purpose in learning. I don’t think the conditioned response could be used for deeper understanding. It seems to be fairly routine with an immediate response not one that would require much contemplation.
At the beginning of the year I mentioned to the students as part of the behavior expectations of the class that I would start a stopwatch when the class was particularly off task and the time accumulated would be time the whole class owed at the end of the period. As I recall it took a few times of the class staying during passing time to catch on. I put it aside however as our passing time is only 4 minutes so often students were late to my co-teachers annoyance. Recently, however the class was a bit off task, so I simply started my old countdown to time they owed me. The class fell silent before I got to start the timer. Though I hadn't used this technique in some time, the students still were conditioned to stop their off task behavior.
In response to Burley, I hadn't thought of DI and conditioned response, but that is a pretty good example. Now that I think of it though, is the conditioning around the student learning how to respond to the instructional stimuli or is there a connection made to how they can use the learned information outside of the DI setting?
This week I was observing in one of our off-campus behavior programs for students with emotional and behavioral challenges. These students receive instruction and support for both academic and behavior goals. All of these students are identified as having a handicap and all have IEPs. The first lesson I observed was a reading lesson for students who are below grade level. The program is a Direct Instruction program. These are characterized by scripted lessons and signals to initiate student response. Clearly the signals have multiple purposes, including quick assessment of understanding and classroom management. It also have the effect of teaching the students to respond in a behaviorist manner. Like Gayle mentioned in her watch, the signals have the effect of seamlessly managing transitions because the students are conditioned to respond in a specific way to a stimulus. In the case of a DI lesson, it is a finger snap. In the case Gayle shared, it was the positioning of the teacher.
I agree with Burley, conditioned responses are not appropriate to higher level thinking or problem solving. They seem most appropriate to “housekeeping” issues that arise in the delivery of education. Conditioned responses are important for safety and convenience, but aren’t suited for critical thinking. In fact, conditioned responses may be the antithesis of cognitive engagement.
Jon, I used to have a similar thing happen when teaching high school. I had a spot on the chalkboard where I kept a tally of student off task behavior. After a while, just picking up the chalk, or walking towards the board would quiet the class.
I observed in a 4th grade classroom this week and witnessed 2 clear examples of Behaviorist behaviors. 1. When the teacher needed to gather everyone back in from a work time/activity, she would say "Class,class,class" in different tones and voices and the students would repeat in the same tone/voice. Examples I saw were Valley Girl voice, quick voice, and caveman voice. The students quickly repeated and were silent, ready to listed for the next instruction/direction. 2. One student was given the bell responsibility for the day. This students job was to ring a small bell when the noise level reached an unacceptable level. When the bell was rung, students immediately dropped the noise level.
In respsonse to Burley's post....cafeterias are an amazing place as food and large groups of children are amazing. We also have the expectation that no one gets up without permission and somehow our 3 cafeteria supervision gals have absolutely perfected this procedure. Each day I witness children sitting with hands raised and they wait for a grown up to hear their need to get up- typically a second trip to the salad bar, a forgotten fork, going to the bathroom, etc. are the reasons. Our 3 gals get quite a work out from this. K - 2 dismiss to recess & 3 - 5 dismiss back to class so the teachers don't supervise or pick them up.
In my position, Student Services, I spend part of my day teaching and part working in the office. When I am in the classroom I have a teacher/student relationship with the kids. When I am in my other role part of what I do is discipline. One of my goals this year was to get the students where they should be during non-class times (before school, lunch/recess, after school). As I walked through the halls I would let the students know that they needed to move to the appropriate area with verbal directions, hand signals and “the look”. Now, when I enter the hallways during these times student slink away to the appropriate place without a word, signal or look from me. Much of this has to do with my position and kids not wanting consequences. At the beginning of the school year some students truly do not know where they should be at that time. And, over time, they get the routine down. However, the neutral stimulus to response does come into play with those who test the boundaries.
On Wednesday, we had a planned fire drill at our elementary school. This was a great opportunity for me to observe both students and staff behaviors that are promoted, reinforced, and conditioned through multiple practices and clearly identified perimeters of expected behavior. The drill went off without a hitch; this practice is a well-oiled machine. The necessary staff was notified ahead of time, we talked about our plan for coverage and monitoring of students/staff compliance. I was to take my regular route and “clear” my assigned wings of the building and then radio in all clear once that was accomplished. A few minutes prior to the sound of the alarm, two chronically tardy students came to check in for the day. We advised them to stay with the secretaries until the drill was over. So, the alarm sounded and all went as planned and practiced on multiple occasions prior. Students filed out in silence, teachers gather their lines of students and turned them around waiting for the all-clear signal without any spoken words. I made my rounds, called in the all clear, and waited for the other administrative staff to do the same. Once the bell sounded to return to class, the students remained quietly organized in lines and now you could hear a collective exhale and low murmurs of conversation. I was walking back to the office when, an educational assistant was blowing her whistle, running toward two tardy students and me. She seemed to be somewhat panicky. She wondered where those students came from, they were not with their classes and, “this is not okay.” This exchange illuminated that she addressed the perceived problem with another tool for eliciting a conditioned response-her whistle. We have never practice what to do when we find students who are out of area during these drills. I was surprised she chooses to use her whistle, but it was interesting for me to notice her reaction in relationship to the Empiricist/Behavior Model. It seems this drill is inherently conditioned responses from beginning to end.
In response to Healy…….. I also notice students responding to me being in their area, when those students are in areas that they should not be in. It is very often I enter a classroom and either the students or the instructor asks, "who do you need", meaning who did something wrong. Recently a first grade student was standing outside of the bathroom area. As I approached, he immediately started moving and looked away. He is also a student I spend time with on a regular basis because he is sent to the office for discipline. He chose not to engage with me as I came upon him. I worked hard to get something positive out of him. I started with hi, asked him if he liked reading, asked if he was having a good day and if everything was going well. I ended with I noticed you doing a good job in your reading group I just saw. He asked me if I wanted to come back and see more. I have learned that sometimes I have to work intentionally to get beyond the conditioned response; my relationships with some students have become much stronger(when I have time and focus beyond my conditioned responses) because I am aware of the negative responses those students expect. The trick for me is how to balance what has is expected and reinforced over time and across environments while making adjustments for human relationships.
Two weeks ago- as part of my “Watch” I walked into the math classroom just to see what kids were doing (as I do 3-4 times a week). The math teacher’s voice got louder and he immediately got up from his desk to walk around the room and monitor student work. The teacher responded to the students in a much more engaging manner when I was in the classroom as opposed to when I just stood by the door or looked through the window. Students, however, did not change their behavior whether I was physically in the room or not. The teacher responded to the visual pattern of me being in class in a more appropriate teaching style than if we just talked about his classroom management techniques.
As I finished evaluations for this year I talked to this math teacher about being more aware of what is going on his classroom; with students sleeping, talking loudly, moving around class while he is talking, etc. As part of a plan of assistance for improvement, he has been keeping a log of behaviors and interventions – which looks great on paper but when I consistently “happen by” his classroom his teaching style improves. I pointed this out to him and he said it was unintentional.
I don’t believe the plan will work for him as when the stimulus is not consistent (me in the room). Even though there are several days of improvement without immediate supervision, he eventually returns to his old ways of giving the assignment and retiring to his desk to wait for students to come to him.
It is so important to lay that groundwork at the beginning of the year. As others have said, conditioned response is great for everyday “routine” type management. It makes the classroom run like a well-oiled machine without a lot of time wasted for repeated requests, explanations or varied methods. I find it interesting too that, while you stopped the practice for a while, the students did not forget the actions that preceded the stopwatch timing.
A clear behaviorist instance that I observed today happened with the new "tardy sweep" system we are implementing in the high school where I work. In response to teacher concern about tardies our admin team has instituted a system to collect all tardy students in the commons at the start of class to issue a consequence. On day three of this program I'm witnessing students actually running to class when the bell rings (not all, but some!). So, the conditioned response is: bell rings, students who previously would linger in the halls now rush to class.
ReplyDeleteQuestion to colleagues: this type of learning theory seems the most easily observable in schools. Do others agree, and what does this say about our school system?
-Amanda Ryan
Today I was observing an 8th grade band lesson; students were filing in and beginning to warm up. The teacher was checking in with students and there were multiple side conversations. However, as soon as the teacher said, "And Standby" the room fell silent, students straightened their backs, sucked in a good lungful of air, positioned their instruments to play, and waited with their eyes on the teacher for the command to play. Clearly these students have been conditioned to respond to this verbal phrase from the teacher and to assume a specific attitude, posture, and readiness for the next verbal instruction.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Amanda: I think that this is a very observable learning style during transitions and as a technique that teachers use to bring students back to focus. So often it is sprinkled in throughout a classroom. I also think that it is so observable because it trains and entire group, so that when 30-40 people respond at once, it becomes more noticeable than say the other two learning styles which seem to be more motivated by individual(s) and their disparate time-lines.
Wes Flinn
Today I was in a classroom and observed a pretty classic use of positive reinforcement. The teacher was asking open ended questions to his class regarding the unit they have been covering in social studies ("Manifest Destiny"). Energy was pretty low, and there weren't the number of responses the teacher was hoping for. Without saying much he went over to his desk and pulled out a roll of raffle tickets, and started to separate them by tearing them into a pile in his hand as he spoke. He then asked the next question: "For one ticket, someone please raise your hand and tell me..." There were about double the number of hands raised to answer this question. The student who answered correctly was given a ticket, as were two other students for "good hand raise." As this went on, participation in the discussion continued to increase. Students knew that at the end of the class period there would be a drawing for a PowerAide drink to be given at lunch. Because the teacher did not have to explain the system of R+ that was being implemented, and because they changed their behavior based on the principle of reward (and the sight of red raffle tickets), I believe this fits well with the Behaviorist theories.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first two comments, I begin to see how these actions and responses also fit nicely into the theory of Sociocultural influences, and the groups are responding the same as their peers in the environment for each given situation. If the bell ringing, the words "stand by," and the red tickets were not effective for the group, they probably wouldn't be effective for an individual. This lends to the concept of overlapping or encompassing theories in learning and behavior.
-Andy Bracco
My observation took place in the gym watching students in an adaptive PE class. My observation allowed me many opportunities to see examples of the behaviorist approach. The class participated in warm-up laps, stretching, and a game of kick ball. Students were continously reading cues from others (both adult staff and students) before completing tasks. It was surprising to see how little verbal direction the adults were giving. When the whistle blew students began to run. When staff lined up in the middle of the gym, students began to stretch. And when students did not know which base to run to a staff would point and the student would run.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andy as to how effective and critical positive reinforcement is to good teaching. During my observation it was interesting to watch the effects of + reinforcement. When one student received positive reinforcement the effort of others would greatly increase.
Today, I observed the behaviorist theory at work. While in a second grade classroom, the teacher was soliciting responses from those students who had a "quiet hand". After a cued reminder (both verbal and visual), the teacher ignored students who blurted out responses and called on students with a quiet hand. In addition, she got out a pad of "Beep, Beeps" (our PBIS recognition notes) and began distributing them to those students who were following directions. Like magic, all the talk outs stopped and everyone had a quiet hand.
ReplyDeleteDuring this same observation, a teacher used a green/yellow/red card system to remind students of acceptable behavior. A youngster was playing at his desk and not paying attention to the lesson. The teachers said, "You are on yellow right now. You will need to flip your card to red if you don't..." The student responded positively to the teacher's cue and completed his assignment. It was clear that these students have a thorough understanding of classroom expectations and have been trained to respond to stimuli designed to promote a smoothly run classroom.
As I read about the observations made by Amanda, Wes, and Andy, I am amazed at how simple the stimuli needs to be to result in such a powerful change. And...when the behaviors of a few begin to change, the impact seems to be even greater on the group as a whole. For example, in the beginning only a few students responded to the tardy bell. By day three, more and more students begin to rush to class.
Yesterday I observed a Guest Artist, who came in to do a special session with a group of our high school students on the history and process of making felt. The artist first talked a good deal about the history of felt making then each student got large chunks of wool to start the process of making felt themselves. They each followed along very closely with each step since, though not complicated, they were fully engaged with all their senses (smell in particular! It is GOD AWFUL!). In any case, the artist preceded each step with some sort of verbal cue like "so the next thing. . ." which, for the most part, caught the student's attention enough to look up from their felt and see what to do next.
ReplyDeleteAnd in reference to a number of the comments above, it's interesting to me that so much of "condition response" in school is evident mostly in managing behavior or managing a learning environment. Seems like it takes a lot of time to constantly find rewards for stimulus/response - and meaningful ones.
ReplyDeleteI was able to see the Empiricist/Behaviorist Theory at work in a couple of different instances. The easiest to identify example was students' response to the bell at the end of recess. They heard the bell, and their response was to run to line up to go back to class. This was a clear response to a sound stimulus.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to identify an example of this theory at work in the classroom. I wanted to find something outside of PBS, because it feels like it is easy to find examples in how we teach behavior, but a little more challenging to find examples more specifically related to academics. I found it in a small reading group, doing direct instruction. The teacher said, "The word is 'twig,'" followed with "What's the word?" and students chimed in with "twig."
I have mixed feelings about instruction that aligns with this theory. However, it seems to fit well in elementary school, especially in the early grades, because so much of what we do is focused on teaching students how to act in school.
Good job, everyone, nice work so far! Wanted to let you know two students are helping facilitate this activity, Emi and Jeremy. They will post some comments and ideas. Be sure to help them out by responding back :) They are doing "virtual" reciprocal teaching.
ReplyDeleteI was observing yesterday looking for behaviorist instances and was able to see many. However, most that I observed were directly related to student behavior management. In one instance, the lunch room supervisor blows a whistle which signals the students to be quiet so they can be excused to recess. The students have obviously been conditioned to know that they do not get to go out unless they are quiet.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the previous posts, I agree with Amy about this type of learning having a place in the very early grades especially in regards to class management and learning how to behave in a school setting. However, all of us respond to being positively and negatively reinforced and I believe this theory has applications in all levels of education.
I perform lunch supervision duty for 6th, 7th, 8th grade students in the cafeteria. The music teacher comes into the room just before dismissal to assist in excusing the students. When he sits down at the piano some students look around and begin to clean up their table. He plays a variety of songs and when he begins to play one of the songs maybe famous by Charlie Brown musical the students automatically stand and exit the room. The song is their cue to move. They are seeking the reward of being outside and enjoying unstructured recess time.
ReplyDeleteBob Kaminski
Using a behaviorist approach to teach has its place. In response to question/thread about observing it and/or using it in schools...
ReplyDeleteThere is a time and a place for a dominate use of each learning theory. As mentioned, transitions (Some teachers begin a song, students join in, and then move desks to the edge of the room to prepare for a classroom meeting; And some teachers use "ritual" with a candle during classroom meetings to cause the preferred mood of respecting others when addressing issues). In arenas outside of schools, I believe using behaviorist strategies is important for community safety, ie responding to fire alarms, red flashing lights, the cry of a baby, etc.
It seems to me behaviorist strategies overlap socio-historical strategies more often then constructivist strategies. What do you think?
BKaminski
…my comment disappeared, so if this appears 2x I apologize.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, I witnessed the behaviorist approach in one of my graduate courses. Our professor asked the class what their definition of “student” was. One colleague responded with their interpretation and the professor shot it down by basically saying it was “wrong” and not what he was looking for. For the rest of the class period anytime the professor asked for volunteers to formulate definitions of key terms, no one in the class responded.
I believe this is an example of the classic stimulus/response. Stimulus: professor asking for definitions & Response: silent class, unwilling to be wrong in front of cohort.
In response to Amanda, I agree that the behaviorist learning approach is observable in our schools, more specifically at the elementary level. I connect this theory with rudimentary learning or memorization – lower levels of thinking, which are (unfortunately) a lot of how we teach early grades to gain basic skills.
---Whitney Davis
Many elementary teachers employ some form of behaviorist theory to get students attention inside their classrooms. I was observing a 5th grade teacher who was transitioning her students from recess to math. Upon the students entering the room they looked at the whiteboard to see they needed to have two sharp pencils, their math journal and begin their warm. When majority of the students had completed the task, she rang a bell and began counting down from five to one. As soon as she reached three she was holding a couple of marbles to add to the marble jar if when she said one all pencils were down and eyes on her with voices were turned off. The students were conditioned to respond check the board upon entering the room completing the tasks until the bell and countdown.
ReplyDeleteWhitney is correct. The elementary level uses behavior theory a lot especially for teaching transitions, to avoid safety issues, and teaching of skills such as beginning reading skills. The behaviorist theory seems to be the easiest way to teach the basics, thus preparing the way for the other theories to of learning to be used.
Devery Stoneberg
Hey -
ReplyDeleteThe classical conditioning I observed was 4th grade students in a reading intervention group. At the beginning of the group period, the students entered the room, removed individual folders and began working independently using materials and equipment (ipods) located 3 separate storage areas in the room. The routine was listed on a poster in the room. The students continued to work until a staff member indicated "time's up". The students put away the materials without prompting and lined up at the door. Once in line, they began to chat with each other. When a staff member indicated, they left the room.
ReplyDeleteThe staff explained that there was a rewards system based on both individual time on task, and on group behavior, and that the group was rewarded each week if the routine was followed successfully daily.
The students had been rewarded for learning and following the routine, and continued to respond to the rewards system by maintaining the routine. My impression was that the students were compliant and satisfied with their participation in the process. In addition to the token reward offered for behavior, I observed continued verbal reinforcement by staff for the progress of individual students, which reinforces student gains made through the routinized process.
I agree with Michael F. that classical conditioning is easy to spot relating to behaviors and the learning environment. I'm a fan of PBS and have seen its benefits on the academic outcomes in a school - so not an unbiased opinion - but I think it definitely has a place beyond just behaviors. For example, I watched an ELD Kindergartener this week pointing to letters as she sung the ABC song and getting rewarded with a big "Good Job" by her teacher. I agree with Whitney - really, how else should we teach letter recognition in young children? Sometimes even in instruction its just the right approach.
Cathy Lambeth
Also, I agree with Andy's comment about overlapping theories. Pavlov's dogs received the treatment in isolation. I'm sure some grad student has studied the effects of multiple treatments (conditioned response AND constructivist or sociocultural) because that's what school is really like.
ReplyDeleteI observed a classroom, as I was curious to see how teachers conditioned the behavior of students to conform to the 3 big rules of PBIS. The teacher I observed had strategically posted the PBIS rules in several locations throughout the classroom. During the classroom discussion, a student spoke out interrupting another student, and the teacher pointed to the "be respectful" rule. This student caught the cue and raised his hand. The teacher acknowledged the student's behavior by walking over to the student and quietly thanking him for following the rules. She did not call on him immediately. However, she eventually called on him and acknowledged him again for keeping his hand raised and told the class how this was an example of respect.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff!
My comment is for Suzy... Your blog was very similar to mine in terms of PBIS in the classroom. Did your school district immediately move PBIS into the classroom or was it phased in after it was successfully implemented school-wide? It is pretty amazing to thing about the number of strategies that can be used to teach student the 3 rules of PBIS!
-Ed Krankowski
This post is part of my online reciprocal teaching assignment. Please read through it and see if your comments might take on a slightly different approach to those above:
ReplyDeleteWe are clearly seeing examples of the Behaviorist theory working to help students learn when to clean up, how to respond to questions in class, what to do when they enter class, etc. Several of us commented on the appropriate time and place for this type of learning - not everyone in (or out of) our EDLD class think this is the "best" approach. For those of you posting after this comment, I challenge you to look at the observation you made and come up with a way to teach this same concept (i.e. getting to class on time, when to leave, etc.) to students using either the Constructivist or Sociohistoric theories. My prediction is that for the most simple of concepts (i.e. line up when you hear the bell), this would be challenging. What do you think?
I've seen some middle schools try to combine the empiricist/constructivist approach with the constructivist approach (though not explicitly stated as such). When teaching expected behaviors, part of those lessons included some open-ended questions, in which students were asked about the "why" of the expected behaviors. I've also seen some anti-bullying lessons that had students do more of the thinking together in role plays and group activities involving scenarios.
ReplyDeleteDuring our lunch time, students are expected to sit, eat and visit quietly with their neighbors. Dismissal to recess after lunch is done by staff that recognizes students who have exhibited the behavior most closely to the taught behaviors for the cafeteria. Frequently a colored card is offered as a “go to recess early” reward to a few students who exhibit exceptional respect for the cafeteria rules, so they can go to recess 5 min before their peers. What I was looking for was the change in behavior for students when they saw the colored cards in the hand of the staff member approaching them. The immediate recognition was the noise level in the room began to diminish. Visually, the number of students sitting with their bottoms on the bench increased. The hand signal “quiet coyote” or “quiet Fox” increased by students as they turned their heads and identified the colored cards in the staff member’s hand. Finally, heads began to lie down on the table to exhibit a quieter mode of behavior they must have conditionally learned in another setting at school.
ReplyDeleteI observed a 9th grade classroom this morning through the lens of a Behaviorist looking for conditioned behavior within the first 10 minutes of class. The teacher used a warm-up that was well organized. All the students realized this and were conditioned to begin working immediately as the bell rang. This is exactly what I was looking for as we are working on conditioning the students from the bell ringing to the start of the activity to cut down on tardies.
ReplyDeleteToday I was observing basketball practice for the University of Oregon men's basketball team as I am a graduate assistant coach. I noticed several instances of conditioned response learning behaviors throughout the practice. One instance specifically, at the beginning of practice most of the players were shooting around in a lazy manner and talking with each other about there day off. As soon as the head coach walked through the door and made his presence known, the players became quiet and started shooting with a lot more intensity. The players response to the coaches voice and very distinctive clap was a conditioned response to get focused and ready for practice to begin.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Whitney, I think this is a great example of behaviorist learning. Teachers can change the culture of a classroom or practice with a single comment. By reacting negatively to the students response, the entire class was unwilling to volunteer answers. This doesn't allow for a very open learning environment.
-Jay Anderson
Candace-
ReplyDeleteI observed a Kindergarten class and the behavioral methods the teacher used to bring the class in after being out of the room. Following morning recess, the class lined up outside the door with the class aide. The teacher than had the kids take a pebble. It took a few minutes for each child to take a pebble but when the students went into the classroom, they dropped the pebbles in a plastic bucket in front of their choice of book and took their seat on the rug in reading circle. It was done very orderly.
After lunch recess the teacher had the lights dimmed and soft music on, the students came into the room quietly and put their heads down for about five minutes then the teacher want around the room and tapped each child individually to put their head up. Each child who had been tapped began to work on the letter sheet that was on their desk. All of this was done by environmental stimulus rather than verbal direction. This must have taken some work in the beginning of the year to get to this point.
Back at Bob Kaminski- I agree that much of behavioral conditioning is for safety and for learning the social norms. Humans in our society are conditioned from early on to respond to stimuli in particular ways. Without the correct response, individuals would not long survive. In this, I do believe that we might consider that behavioral conditioning is the chicken or egg dilemma of teaching and learning. It might be a prerequisite for two other types of learning.
CCardiff
Amanda's Question to colleagues: this type of learning theory seems the most easily observable in schools. Do others agree, and what does this say about our school system?
ReplyDeleteI'd say this type of learning theory is most observable in even stricter institutions, such as the military, where reactions are drilled in until decision to act are almost unconscious /unquestionable... So if schools are becoming reliant on conditioning behavior, are we training students to be more passive and less involved in decision-making?
Today I saw students at recess time run to line up before the teachers blew the whistle. I asked them why they lined up when it was still play time only to be interrupted by the whistle. They told me that they always watch a particular teacher because that teacher will pull her whistle out and do a complete circle around in one spot and then blow the whistle. They were watching for that predictable behavior from the teacher to tell them what to do.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Emi...I think that using behaviorist techniques for managing students is a smart thing to do and doesn't necessarily make students more passive and less involved. Did the students have a say in how to respond and to what? I also think that a lot of teachers are not consistent with the behaviorist techniques and see students not responding because of it.
ReplyDeleteToday I saw a teacher using "tickets" as a means for rewarding students who were on task and completing their work. I inferred that prior to the lesson the students were aware that the teacher might hand out tickets (they were sitting right next to her). The teacher reminded the students that they would be able to use the tickets to be in a drawing for prizes. Students continued being on task and focused during the entire observation. While I can assume that some of this motivation to behave comes from the tickets, I also think other things contributed: respect for the teacher and her desires, a motivation by the content of the lesson, and knowing what consequences would come if they didn't follow directions.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Candace - wow! That sounds like a very organized and prepared kindergarten teacher. I know the challenges of keeping 25-30 6-year-olds in line and doing the right thing and I hope it's OK if I share some of those behaviorist strategies with the teachers at my school.
In response to Emi and angelag:
ReplyDeleteI agree that this behaviorist approach is easily observable in our schools and may lead students to simply be "rule followers" instead of critical thinkers and problem solvers. I think most educators recognize this but, given our limited daily time with kids, find this approach the most efficient in getting kids to meet standards. Also, If we were to shift entirely away from this approach, then I think there would some level of disorder that would make it hard to keep everyone on the same page.
Possible middle ground: I've seen some classroom teachers have no rules or procedures posted at the start of the year and spend several days or even a week creating the rules with the kids (often finding that kids ideas for rules are more strict than what the teacher would have come up with by him/herself). After these rules and consequences are in place, the teacher can then add/substitute behaviorist strategies to reinforce the system.
Today was the first day of my class and since it’s only 50 minutes and the students come from very different backgrounds, I had planned to spend it all on introduction and breaking the ice. However my students seemed to be conditioned to ask about the course book, absent sessions, rules and regulations on the first day. They kept asking me questions like “Do we have any quizzes?”, “Where can we buy the course book”, “How many sessions can we be absent”, etc. and I kept telling them “keep it for tomorrow!”. I think this shows that the first day of a class is a stimulus which triggers all different questions about the course material and process.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Jeremy: I think you observed the situation very carefully since you came up with more than one stimulus to the response of the students. As you said the ticket was not the only stimulus here, there were other factors contributing to the students’ behavior. I believe it’s important to look at each behavior and response from different angles to be able to see all different factors affecting the behavior.
Emi said; So if schools are becoming reliant on conditioning behavior, are we training students to be more passive and less involved in decision-making? My response is, although it appears we are training students to be more passive, I believe the behaviorist framework set a foundation for all to develop relationships with others. I read of staff teaching respect for others in class by warning them of turning a card from yellow to red. As students grow to high school we expect students to show respect for others without any verbal or other stimuli from staff, but by their own recognition that their action towards others is as a result of a learned response from others body language or voice. Do we consider our learned interactions with others in early years of life a behaviorist theory and sociocultural as adults interact with each other? or am I off the mark?
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ReplyDeleteAn instance that I am going to write happened in my classroom in Korea. I taught English(-listening) to students at secondary level. At the beginning part of class, students did the dictation when I said "Ready to dictation." while listening to the recording sound that I turned on. The recording sound started with short music. After a few days later, I didn't have to say any anoucement, just only turned on the recording sound my students were ready to dictate. In this example, short music as a neutral stimulus was changed into conditioned stimuli by training. I think it could be one of the examples of Behaviorism. But I think this example is belong to operant behaviorism. It is hard to say my example is in classical conditioning.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Andy: It is a good example of positive reinforcement. I have also same experience that you observed. I observed Korean class in Willagillespie elementary school. During the class, one student helped the other student who had difficulty in following class. So, the teacher gave compliment to her with thumps-up. After that, the other students checked and considered each other and started to help each other and wanted to get teacher's thumps-up.
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ReplyDeleteAfter studying the theory of behaviorism and where I have been able to observe conditioned response learning behaviors, I need to say that I can not describe a clear example.
ReplyDeleteHere is the reason why.
1. unconditioned stimulus (US) -> unconditioned response (UR)
The point is that an unconditioned response is an instinctive reaction such as fear. Classical conditioning is based on this instinctive/intrinsic reaction! Otherwise it could be already cognitive or sociocultural learning.
Following I am trying to give an example of a classical conditioning as it might happened to many students in school/universities.
US (e.g. bad grade) -> UR (e.g. bad feeling)
In this example the neutral stimulus (NS) could be the announcement of a test.
After several repetitions the NS replaces the US and just the announcement makes the student afraid in taking the test (UR bad feeling/fear).
After two hours of thinking I can not describe a classical conditioned example I observed in school during the last days.
In a Kindergarten class the teacher was using sign language with phonics (initial consonant) in reciting student names during a whole group/rug activity. The teacher said a name, emphasizing the initial sound. Then she asked the students if they hear the initial sound, and if so to sign "yes". She repeats the name, most students sign "yes' and then she tells them to sign the sound they hear, and they all do. The teacher then positively reinforces with specific praise "Yes, you know that is an M, good listening"and repeats with a new name.
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of a non-behavioral use of behaviorist-based teaching in that it is not about transition times or following rules or class behavioral norms. However, it is training their learning behavior through maintaining focus, choral recitation, and includes the motivators of participation and praise.
Regarding Emi's comment about overuse of behavioral techniques possibly dampening the capacity for higher level thinking and reasoning, I think that is a possibility if this theoretical technique was never paired with constructivist or social learning approaches. At its most intensely used level it is all about not thinking for oneself, merely reacting.
That said, I agree with Candace and others who posited that behaviorally based instruction provides a foundation or grounding for working in a social group setting. We have many behaviorally based elements of our society that are crucial to smooth operation, and in fact, I would say as did Bob (maybe?) that much of it is sociocultural learning formalized for automatic incorporation. But, the higher level reasoning piece should be presented along side for a more complete understanding of this.
Amanda, I agree that in the secondary setting that observing behaviorism is clear. We are having the same problem with tardies and believe that through upfront classroom activities that what can change their behavior.
ReplyDeleteRandy Fisher
I observed a classroom where a teacher was working with students on a self directed project. The students chose the topic, researched and presented the information to the class. I had the opportunity to see the presentations. It was clear that the students had constructed their own learning and it became much more meaningful because of their involvement.
ReplyDeleteAmy's thought on behavior and the constructivist approach was very interesting to me. I have found that students self discovery when it comes to rules and regs seems to really be more effective.
Yesterday I witnessed several conditioned responses at basketball practice. This week we are preparing for upcoming games and we have statements that have become standard in our basketball team. One that comes to mind is "BEND YOUR KNEES!". It is used early and often. This statement is used to imply that our players need to take a physical stance to be ready to move on the court. It is used early and often, When it is used players instinctively assume an athletic position to show that they are ready to play. It is a coaching tactic used by our staff to condition these guys to be ready for the play.
ReplyDeleteMy in-class empiricist observation: Desk crits. The professor rotates around the studio and at each desk, his/her mere presence and close proximity gets the student to a. get all their best sketches arranged b. cringe in fear c. start defending their ideas d. start talking and not let anyone interrupt them e. sweat profusely f. all of the above simultaneously and unconsciously. Sometimes the encounter is so eventful that one must debrief with fellow students in private about the professor’s reactions…
ReplyDeleteI’m concerned with the empiricist approach because it’s “training” people to expect rewards and fear punishment. Are teachers today constantly finding new ways to reward and punish students? Is the simplest way to keep a class quiet and focused also setting up a worldview that there will always be simple consequences? I might challenge someone to help the student understand that their disruptive behavior causes a chain of reactions, and have the student feel the responsibility and the broad effects their actions have on their peers as well.
I’ll never forget my 5th grade teacher tossing out candy out to students who answered correctly. I told my parents that evening and they asked me why I felt upset. I thought about it for awhile and realized that I felt insulted and sad that the he had degraded our craving to learn to an equally powerful craving for sugar. I appreciate Amy’s comment about asking the “Why” of expected behavior. I believe it’s important for students to understand how their actions affect so much more than they’re led to believe with simple rewards/punishments. I’d say lets leave the empiricist/behaviorist approach to issues of safety, emergency, and children you can’t reason with.
Note: I’ve never spent much time at the head of a classroom so please consider my comments from the heart of a newbie! And I’ve also never been a reciprocal teacher or professional encourager (I have a critical research/architectural background) so I look forward to learning from all of you!
I wish I could rearrange the classes I am observing as I am fairly sure the last class I plan on visiting (an ESL class) is the only one where I may find clear behaviorist theory. The other two are more leadership scenarious. On Tuesday I watched a Student success study group session. Where colleagues are presenting their work in student success and people are to learn from one another. Behaviorist actions? Boy its a stretch, but the best thing I can think of is when they showed the "shock and Awe" statistics of the horrifying completion rates, people responded by listening a little closer to what was being told. That the best I can give.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, adding to the discussion of overlapping theories, Its really difficult to tell the difference sometimes between behviorist actions and sociocultural actions. Aren't they all just stimulus response. Just is the stimuli a single stimuli, or is the stimuli the culture around us.
While most have commented on students, I want to comment on adults. Given a task and a timeline about two months ago, I found that about half of my teaching staff do not respond to a 'hard' due date for critical curriculum. This is despite weekly reminders for 2 months and an impending due date. I intentially set my due date for curriculum guides a week ahead of what I really needed, and much like our K-12 students, adults wait until the last minute and then have reasons why they cannot meet the due date. As I am new to the staff, I have realized that due dates have not been firm in the past from prior expererence of my staff, so this is a conditioned response I will need to work on, albeit in a careful fashion with attention to individual circumstances that can affect any of us when it comes to completing tasks in a timely fashion.
ReplyDeleteMy observation happened between a two-year-old girl and me when I read a story before her regular nap. The story book is designed to teach kid recognize different animals by means of imitating those animals' yelps. When we came to the animal dog in the book, I tried to imitate dog's bark as vivid as possible---who knows my acting was too vivid to resonate her pet dog's barking as a result---to arouse her interest of learning! Well, I had to admit this was just an accident however gained unexpected result. Later when we moved to the animal cat, her pet dog barked again which made her speak out "doggy" immediately! This may be just an accidental empirical process.
ReplyDeleteThe Empirical/behavioral learning theory seems to serve as the fundamental process in education. I agree with most people's comments on observing this learning behavior mostly in early childhood or elementary level. However other levels of learning also evolved with this theory. I remember the learning organization class I took last winter. The single-loop learning is basically referring to this learning theory. It happened in organizations all over different kinds of industries which means we always need people to simply obey the rules.
-Peilin Ye
I am a member of the University of Oregon football team and whenever we have team meetings there are two types of this behaviorist conditioned response that happen on a regular basis. The first one is that usually the last person to enter the room is the head coach and that usually signifies the begining of the meeting and so when the head coach enters the room regardless of whether he is actually going to start the meeting or not people quiet down, sit up strait, turn their ball caps forward, and watch him until he either begins talking or he sits down. If he is not addressing the team the hush and body posture of the rest of my team mates quickly returns to whatever state it was before he entered and conversations pick up where they left off. The second is if when he enters and he stands at the front and does not begin talking the majority of the room looks around for who is not doing what they are suppose to be doing with must be the only reason he has not started yet because he does not start until everyone is sitting up, caps forward, quiet and looking at him.
ReplyDeleteSo these are examples of both conditioned response to the learder and to one another.
-Mark Asper
In response to Jeremy Smith's post on Jan 11th 2011 1:06 pm.
ReplyDeleteAs for the order vs. caos. I substituted for a week of 1st graders and for a substitute the conditioned learned behaviors saved my bacon. without the "back-pack boogy" i would have never been able to get the kids to get their things together and line up at the door to go catch the buses. I think that familiarity allows for things that would otherwise seem impossible the full time teacher could do things freely but as a replacement i was bound to the structure of the day and the learned responses of the students based on where i was in the room, time of day, types of songs and a million other things.
-mark asper
When I went back to work after being in Arizona with the football team, I noticed some immediate responses in my own behavior that remind me of conditioned responses. Through my observations of watching my students walk into our building for their academic appointment with me, I made judgements on if they were going to be efficient in our appointment. The students that walked in with their heads down and moped in, I developed a conditioned response that it would be really hard to get them to do any work. By me creating this conditioned response I was already reacting to their behavior before we even started our session.
ReplyDeleteIn Response to Brandon Lincoln on Jan 12th:
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading your observation of the conditioned response at basketball practice. When I originally started reading and watching the video about the empiricist/ behaviorist, it confused me. However, reading your post and how you related the conditioned response into athletics, really helped me understand the conditioned response more. I started thinking of all the conditioned responses that I learned through playing lacrosse and how since then some of those specific phrases still make me want to do the triggered response, years after I have finished playing my sport. Thanks for helping me make this connection!
-Anna Poponyak
My first observation was in a French immersion class at Roosevelt MS. When the bell rang, students were in their seats with all eyes on the teacher. She directed their attention to the agenda written on the whiteboard. The first item was 10 minutes of silent reading in a book of their choice (in French). They immediately opened their books and began the task at hand, with no questions or talking. When time was up, they quietly transitioned to item 2, writing a paragraph in their spiral notebooks to summarize what they had read. Subsequent activities included teacher-led discussions, group work, and review games; however, student behavior at the beginning of the period indicated a conditioned response to an established routine.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is in response to Jeremy Smith. I agree that the Behaviorist approach is the most logical to use when establishing routines, even when working with adults. Example: I use a particular noisemaker to signal the end of small group activities when I facilitate workshops for teachers. They automatically know to stop conversation and turn their attention back to whole-group discussion when they hear that sound. It's quick, effective, and doesn't require explanation.
ReplyDeleteThis weekend I was able to go outside my practice setting and attend a high school volleyball tournament where I observed a great deal of learning. One instance where I observed a conditioned response was simply making unforced errors. I watched one girl go back and miss the first serve of the game. She was then disciplined by her coach and as she came around the next time, she missed the serve again. She was immediately pulled from the game. The next game started and she was back in starting off as the first server on the team. She went back and with encouragement by her coach, she made the serve. This is a skill that players at this level have mastered and it is the mental lapses that cause the player to miss the serve, it is not lack of skill. The reaction and actions of the coach made that player really concentrate on making that serve, creating a learning experience.
ReplyDeleteWith many responses to read through, it is interesting to see the variety of learning settings that these theories can exist. Conditioned responses are seen throughout the day and not only in learning settings. They may exist in job settings where an employee acts the way they do because the boss around (possibly similar to Jay's comment). Learning is all around us and it is interesting to step outside our daily setting and see it occur in a natural setting.
I observed the conditioned response I was looking for, class silence when I stand silently at the front of the room, at the start of my first period class. The bell had rung and I was informing my student aides of their tasks for the day. The students in the room were chatting about... Once I completed my conversation with my aides I moved to the front of the room and silently waited for the classes attention. Much like a round of telephone, a few students noticed my behavior and tapped the kids around them and asked them to be quiet. As more table groups noticed the activity around the room they joined in on the silent attentive behavior. Within 1 minute the class was silent and attentive without me saying a word. I believe this is a display of empiricist/behaviorist because the class was given a specific stimuli and responded appropriately.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Jackie. My observation was very much the same. At the beginning of the year I start each day by walking to the front of the room and sitting on a particular stool. I then ask for the student's attention. Now, all I need to do is sit on the stool and the students sit down, quiet down and look up. I don't say a thing.
ReplyDeleteClassroom teachers rely on behaviorist theory as they establish predictable routines to create smooth transitions for their students from one activity to another.
ReplyDeleteDuring a kindergarten math lesson today the teacher needed the students to move in small groups from their tables to the rug in front of the presentation screen. She moved to a spot in front of the presentation station and all students fell silent. Next she called out table numbers, one by one. As each table's number was called all the students at that table moved to a row on the rug. It was apparent that this routine is used on a regular basis. Because the students had been conditioned to observe the signals, they needed a minimum of direction to quickly transition to the next activity.
While conditioned responses definitely help create a smooth flow of activity throughout the day, could there be circumstances in which this strategy could be misused, short-circuiting student problem solving and independent thought?
As part of a school-wide literacy program, our staff is focusing on improving student engagement. One strategy we are employing is for students not to raise their hands in response to questions posed by a teacher. Every student is expected to formulate a response and be ready to participate regardless of whether the teacher calls on them, assigns a partner discussion or other activity. Today, I was in an algebra I class and the teacher was asking questions about specific steps in factoring polynomials. In response to every question some of the students continued to raise their hands despite the teacher reminding them not to. I was really struck by the powerful conditioning these students were exhibiting and the difficulty they had with a new expectation.
ReplyDeleteSchool cafeterias are always busy places. Student pick-up in the cafeteria after lunch at our school varies from teacher to teacher. Today I decided to observe the response of students from different classes when their teacher arrived to pick them up. The most conditioned response that I observed was when some of the teachers walked through the doorway their students automatically got up from their tables and lined-up. Not all students did this. Students from other classes waited for someone to excuse them and then they lined up. The expectation at the beginning of the year was for students to wait at their tables until they were excused but because some teachers have not held to the expectation their students began to line-up on their own. The stimuli is the teacher entering the cafeteria and the student’s learned response has become lining up. Each class is familiar with their teacher’s expectations.
ReplyDeleteIn a second grade classroom I observed a spelling practice lesson. The teacher had the students "tutor" each other. Times for practice were specific. The teacher started a countdown---5-4-3-2-1. Students quickly gathered clipboards, spelling lists, pencils, and paper and went to a part of the room with their partner. At the count of one, one of the partners gave words for their "tutee" to practice and then switched places at the call of switch. When the teacher counted down from 3, all students gathered in the front of the room. It was obvious that this has been a practice in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see how much this behaviorist and conditioning is used throughout the school with routines and transitions. The learned responses to a teacher countdown, or a teacher standing silently in front of the classroom, as Jackie stated, is much a part of the classroom today.
I routinely facilitate discussion groups based on daily reading of the local newspaper. I observed several students were puzzled and frustrated on Thursday because they could not find the sports section. For unknown reasons, the paper had changed the order of the sections that day, reversing the normal position of Local and Sports. Without prompting the students began to express their displeasure with this unexplained change. I believe this was based on their repeated previous exposure to the normal order of the newspaper sections.
ReplyDeleteI also see similar behaviors (as Bob viewed 4/19) where students struggle to NOT raise their hand when encouraged to have an informal discussion. Many automatically raise their hand before speaking.
I agree with Gayle in that conditioned responses are important in running schools for reasons of organization and safety. Direct instruction techniques might be another use of this conditioned response but hopefully DI is being used for a specific purpose in learning. I don’t think the conditioned response could be used for deeper understanding. It seems to be fairly routine with an immediate response not one that would require much contemplation.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the year I mentioned to the students as part of the behavior expectations of the class that I would start a stopwatch when the class was particularly off task and the time accumulated would be time the whole class owed at the end of the period. As I recall it took a few times of the class staying during passing time to catch on. I put it aside however as our passing time is only 4 minutes so often students were late to my co-teachers annoyance. Recently, however the class was a bit off task, so I simply started my old countdown to time they owed me. The class fell silent before I got to start the timer. Though I hadn't used this technique in some time, the students still were conditioned to stop their off task behavior.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Burley, I hadn't thought of DI and conditioned response, but that is a pretty good example. Now that I think of it though, is the conditioning around the student learning how to respond to the instructional stimuli or is there a connection made to how they can use the learned information outside of the DI setting?
ReplyDeleteThis week I was observing in one of our off-campus behavior programs for students with emotional and behavioral challenges. These students receive instruction and support for both academic and behavior goals. All of these students are identified as having a handicap and all have IEPs.
ReplyDeleteThe first lesson I observed was a reading lesson for students who are below grade level. The program is a Direct Instruction program. These are characterized by scripted lessons and signals to initiate student response.
Clearly the signals have multiple purposes, including quick assessment of understanding and classroom management. It also have the effect of teaching the students to respond in a behaviorist manner. Like Gayle mentioned in her watch, the signals have the effect of seamlessly managing transitions because the students are conditioned to respond in a specific way to a stimulus. In the case of a DI lesson, it is a finger snap. In the case Gayle shared, it was the positioning of the teacher.
Posted for Bob Nash:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Burley, conditioned responses are not appropriate to higher level thinking or problem solving. They seem most appropriate to “housekeeping” issues that arise in the delivery of education. Conditioned responses are important for safety and convenience, but aren’t suited for critical thinking. In fact, conditioned responses may be the antithesis of cognitive engagement.
Jon, I used to have a similar thing happen when teaching high school. I had a spot on the chalkboard where I kept a tally of student off task behavior. After a while, just picking up the chalk, or walking towards the board would quiet the class.
ReplyDeleteI observed in a 4th grade classroom this week and witnessed 2 clear examples of Behaviorist behaviors.
ReplyDelete1. When the teacher needed to gather everyone back in from a work time/activity, she would say "Class,class,class" in different tones and voices and the students would repeat in the same tone/voice. Examples I saw were Valley Girl voice, quick voice, and caveman voice. The students quickly repeated and were silent, ready to listed for the next instruction/direction.
2. One student was given the bell responsibility for the day. This students job was to ring a small bell when the noise level reached an unacceptable level. When the bell was rung, students immediately dropped the noise level.
In respsonse to Burley's post....cafeterias are an amazing place as food and large groups of children are amazing. We also have the expectation that no one gets up without permission and somehow our 3 cafeteria supervision gals have absolutely perfected this procedure. Each day I witness children sitting with hands raised and they wait for a grown up to hear their need to get up- typically a second trip to the salad bar, a forgotten fork, going to the bathroom, etc. are the reasons. Our 3 gals get quite a work out from this. K - 2 dismiss to recess & 3 - 5 dismiss back to class so the teachers don't supervise or pick them up.
ReplyDeletePosted for Jen Healy:
ReplyDeleteIn my position, Student Services, I spend part of my day teaching and part working in the office. When I am in the classroom I have a teacher/student relationship with the kids. When I am in my other role part of what I do is discipline. One of my goals this year was to get the students where they should be during non-class times (before school, lunch/recess, after school). As I walked through the halls I would let the students know that they needed to move to the appropriate area with verbal directions, hand signals and “the look”. Now, when I enter the hallways during these times student slink away to the appropriate place without a word, signal or look from me. Much of this has to do with my position and kids not wanting consequences. At the beginning of the school year some students truly do not know where they should be at that time. And, over time, they get the routine down. However, the neutral stimulus to response does come into play with those who test the boundaries.
On Wednesday, we had a planned fire drill at our elementary school. This was a great opportunity for me to observe both students and staff behaviors that are promoted, reinforced, and conditioned through multiple practices and clearly identified perimeters of expected behavior. The drill went off without a hitch; this practice is a well-oiled machine. The necessary staff was notified ahead of time, we talked about our plan for coverage and monitoring of students/staff compliance. I was to take my regular route and “clear” my assigned wings of the building and then radio in all clear once that was accomplished. A few minutes prior to the sound of the alarm, two chronically tardy students came to check in for the day. We advised them to stay with the secretaries until the drill was over. So, the alarm sounded and all went as planned and practiced on multiple occasions prior. Students filed out in silence, teachers gather their lines of students and turned them around waiting for the all-clear signal without any spoken words. I made my rounds, called in the all clear, and waited for the other administrative staff to do the same. Once the bell sounded to return to class, the students remained quietly organized in lines and now you could hear a collective exhale and low murmurs of conversation. I was walking back to the office when, an educational assistant was blowing her whistle, running toward two tardy students and me. She seemed to be somewhat panicky. She wondered where those students came from, they were not with their classes and, “this is not okay.” This exchange illuminated that she addressed the perceived problem with another tool for eliciting a conditioned response-her whistle. We have never practice what to do when we find students who are out of area during these drills. I was surprised she chooses to use her whistle, but it was interesting for me to notice her reaction in relationship to the Empiricist/Behavior Model. It seems this drill is inherently conditioned responses from beginning to end.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Healy……..
ReplyDeleteI also notice students responding to me being in their area, when those students are in areas that they should not be in. It is very often I enter a classroom and either the students or the instructor asks, "who do you need", meaning who did something wrong. Recently a first grade student was standing outside of the bathroom area. As I approached, he immediately started moving and looked away. He is also a student I spend time with on a regular basis because he is sent to the office for discipline. He chose not to engage with me as I came upon him. I worked hard to get something positive out of him. I started with hi, asked him if he liked reading, asked if he was having a good day and if everything was going well. I ended with I noticed you doing a good job in your reading group I just saw. He asked me if I wanted to come back and see more. I have learned that sometimes I have to work intentionally to get beyond the conditioned response; my relationships with some students have become much stronger(when I have time and focus beyond my conditioned responses) because I am aware of the negative responses those students expect. The trick for me is how to balance what has is expected and reinforced over time and across environments while making adjustments for human relationships.
Posted for Debbie Gillespie:
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago- as part of my “Watch” I walked into the math classroom just to see what kids were doing (as I do 3-4 times a week). The math teacher’s voice got louder and he immediately got up from his desk to walk around the room and monitor student work. The teacher responded to the students in a much more engaging manner when I was in the classroom as opposed to when I just stood by the door or looked through the window. Students, however, did not change their behavior whether I was physically in the room or not. The teacher responded to the visual pattern of me being in class in a more appropriate teaching style than if we just talked about his classroom management techniques.
As I finished evaluations for this year I talked to this math teacher about being more aware of what is going on his classroom; with students sleeping, talking loudly, moving around class while he is talking, etc. As part of a plan of assistance for improvement, he has been keeping a log of behaviors and interventions – which looks great on paper but when I consistently “happen by” his classroom his teaching style improves. I pointed this out to him and he said it was unintentional.
I don’t believe the plan will work for him as when the stimulus is not consistent (me in the room). Even though there are several days of improvement without immediate supervision, he eventually returns to his old ways of giving the assignment and retiring to his desk to wait for students to come to him.
Response to Jon from Jen Healy:
ReplyDeleteIt is so important to lay that groundwork at the beginning of the year. As others have said, conditioned response is great for everyday “routine” type management. It makes the classroom run like a well-oiled machine without a lot of time wasted for repeated requests, explanations or varied methods. I find it interesting too that, while you stopped the practice for a while, the students did not forget the actions that preceded the stopwatch timing.
This is a test. This is only a test.
ReplyDelete