2012 EDLD 655 Watch 1, Day 1: Empiricist/Behaviorist
October 2012: 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. (You may be asked to create an account and login.)
Meg Guerreiro - I observed classical conditioning occurring during a third grade math classroom. The teacher often uses clapping to get students' attention (teacher claps a pattern and the students repeat the pattern back). The students were engaged in small group activities and I witnessed the teacher use the pattern clap twice during the lesson to get students' attention. Both times, the students obediently clapped back. Once the groups continued their individual activities, the teacher was working with a small group of students when she excitedly clapped 3 times when the students understood the concept. At this response, the other students in the class automatically repeated the clap (even though it was not meant to gain students' attention).
I think this is a classic example of "conditioning" in an elementary classroom. I was able to witness the students conditioned to repeat the clapping and freeze from activity (looking for teacher guidance/redirection). During this particular lesson, I was also able to observe the conditioned (accidental) clapping repeated by student clapping without redirection.
I wonder if the students were so conditioned that any "noisemaking" by the teacher would get the same response. Or probably the better question, is could the teacher introduce other sounds so that they are conditioned in the same way.
I am not sure why it would be necessary to have a variety of sounds, but it would be interesting to put the theory to practice...
Jackie Brody I see this example all the time in schools. I like this type of behaviorist technique or when students are required to repeat a chant. I think it's more effective than the blowing of a whistle, ringing a bell, or flickering the lights to get student attention. The type of conditioning you witnessed at least requires students to engage in an active behavior rather than just stop what they are doing in order to listen.
Meg, Everyone of our 700 students at my middle school when I was a principal was taught at the beginning of the year that when a whistle blew 3 times you stopped what you were doing as it was time for additional directions or time to go. This was started 8 years ago, and is still used today in our gyms, out on the field and at lunchtime when kids are outside. Teachers came up with this due to a need to communicate with large groups of kids in open spaces that were often times loud. New students who came to the school learned what this meant immediately, most often not from the teachers, but from other kids. So simple, and so effective.
The active response is indeed superior to the bell or whistle. I saw two excellent examples of the active response this week.
One teachers sings the first part of melody "shave and a haircut" and the students respond with the melody of "six bits."
Another teacher says "1-2-3 voices" and the students respond with "shhhh."
In both cases students must change their conversation into an active response. This provides a much crisper transition that relying on a bell or other passive signal.
Hand clapping, while being an active response, still allows students to continue their conversation during the transition.
Hi Don, I observed something similar to your hypothetical flashing lights scenario (see below). Although I did not observe the students "lose" the conditioning response - I also wonder how long it would take the students to stop processing the conditioning response. I never used "turning off the lights" to gain students' attention - but I cannot help but remember many times when I turned off the lights as the students were lining up (just to prep the room as we were about to leave it empty) and automatically the room became noticeably quieter (as if conditioned from a previous teacher).
Don, your question might make a good research question. There is continuum of scenarios that are possible. One, the students see the light and perform the correct response. Two, the students see the light and ignore it. Three, the students see the light and have an incorrect response (e.g. yelling at each other). If set up in a number of classroom, say 10, there would be a wide variety of responses to the stimulus after a week or month of exposure.
It would be interesting to determine what conditions were present in the classroom that might affect the continuation or extinction of the correct stimulus response.
Tonight - I was watching the Curiosity on the Discovery Channel (if you're not familiar with the show, I included a link below). Tonight's episode was to determine if people could be brainwashed to assassinate through hypnosis. The study surveyed dozens of people through multiple phases to determine their ability to become hypnotized. Through the phases, they weeded out almost all of the candidates but 1 person who they strategically hypnotized (without the person knowing) to assassinate a foreign dignitary. The person, under hypnosis, successfully assassinated the person (staged on the other end, of course) which proved that a human CAN become brainwashed to commit murder.
The purpose of me sharing this is that the person was able to become hypnotized by the same hypnotist IMMEDIATELY with just a handshake and the word "sleep" (in under a second) even when the person did not expect to become hypnotized. This was a conditioning response based on the training and previous connection established during prior sessions of hypnosis. Fascinating!
More information about the show: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/brainwashed-to-assassinate.htm
This is a very scary example! Zoikes. This is not typically one of the dangers we anticipate in the classroom, but can be applied on a lesser scale, for sure. It points out that behaviors can be conditioned, even by stimuli that have little to do with the natural response, and manipulated because of that fact.
I'm also noticing that hardly any of our conditioning examples involve anything but behaviors. There has been no discussion of problem solving, critical thinking, etc., as those learning behaviors are somewhat antithetical to conditioned responses.
I noticed the same thing in my watch. Behaviorist approaches were all used to focus attention and structure class. They were not used in the actual learning activities themselves (in this case and exercise in critical thinking). It seems that behaviorist techniques are very useful in creating structure and reflexive response, but not good for work that requires careful consideration.
I did notice that the children (4th/5th graders) seemed to like the conditioned responses. They never seemed annoyed by them and moved into the new activity (be it listening or working with small groups) with the appropriate focus and energy.
I work in a building where there is a behavior classroom. Many of these students do not respond well to your traditional classroom wide conditioning, but they do respond to a behaviorist approach. What is interesting to watch in a behavior classroom is the INTENSITY and FREQUENCY to which a conditioned response needs to occur to learn a new behavior. It takes a while but it does work for some of our neediest students.
Driving in a 55mph speed zone, I observed several drivers conditioned response to a police car. Even though the police officer was not running radar and gave no indication that traffic was of interest, every car on the road slowed down significantly, usually below the posted speed. Just the presence of a police car has conditioned most drivers to respond by slowing, often below the required speed. I finally made it to school just in time to watch elementary students playing on the playground. If required to observe student behavior, I head directly to my behavior laboratory, the elementary playground. Immediately after I started my observation the bell rang, every student on the playground stopped what they were doing and quickly found their place in the line of their respective classrooms. The sound of the playground bell was all that students needed to respond by quickly lining up. I believe these two observations are examples of conditioned response to learned behavior.
Hi Brock. I love your example of cars slowing down when they approach/see a police car. I wonder if people would have the same reaction to a car that resembled a police car (ie: mall security or another car with a light on the roof). It would be interesting to see what was the cause of the conditioning (the light in the front driver window, the light on the roof, or the markings on the car).
Hey Meg. I know it works on me... if I see anything that approximates an official vehicle (associated patterns of; car type, color combinations, rack of lights, official plates…) I pump my breaks and check myself. This response is especially true the more discrepant my behavior is from legal. The cause of the conditioning seems to be the associated financial implications of illegal behavior. The negative reinforcement of making bail and increased insurance cost has heightened my awareness of these stimuli.
Brock, that's a pretty darn good example. I wonder if speed limit signs, in combination with the police officers, also work as a form of conditioning. As in, I know I can probably go 60 mph if the speed limit is 55 mph because I've been conditioned to believe that driving only 5 mph over won't get me a ticket.
Daniel, On one of my drives out to the coast... I think towards Bandon? One of the little towns has a black and white "police car" along side the main road. The first few times through town I slowed down appropriately, now I tend to ignore the decoy. If they ever replaced the fake car with a real police car? I wonder if this revers conditioning would net many ticket? I wonder if you could plead entrapment by means of Classical Conditioning? I wonder the rational everyone uses to justify the amount over the posted speed limit they travel? I say your doing fine at 5mph over. I risk 7mph over without much worry but, I have no justification for my excess speed.
Brock, I too, am very familiar with the black and white car on the way to the coast. I can remember the very first time that I saw the car and panicked, looking down at my speed while "instantly" slowing down. That week I made three trips back and forth due to work and vacation with family. By day three of driving by the car I was not "phased" at all because I knew it was not really a "real" police car. Fast forward to teaching my son to drive and teaching him to "scan" his surroundings as he is driving, including keeping your speed down and scanning for the police. Guess what happened as he drove to the coast for the first time and passed the black and white "police car?"
Observing students lining up after the recess bell is a fascinating event. You can tell a lot about students in 30 seconds or less.
There are students that line up immediately in the right place ready to go.
There are students that help the duty teachers collect equipment.
There are students that continue playing after the signal, trying to squeeze out every last second of recess they can before they cross the threshold of getting in trouble.
There are also students who don't fit into any of those categories. They might be wandering the other direction of the lines, they could be walking as slowly as possible, or they could be infiltrating the lines of other classrooms to cause chaos.
The process of lining up after recess should be taught in every elementary education program. That minute or two can directly affect the next 60 minutes of instruction.
Steve, I have been to schools where bell behavior was never explicitly taught and students still complied with amazing regularity. Only through observation of their peers behavior did students figuring out adult expectations.
I happen to be in Phoenix AZ observing high school classes which makes this assignment not only interesting but also timely. I have little background with any of the teachers and absolutely none with any of the students. As a result, I am able to truly observe, however, I do feel with such limited knowledge I may be making assumptions as I classify teacher/student interactions to a learning theory..
Today I was able to visit three different class periods. Each a different "core" subject and of roughly the same grade level. What I noticed was each class began with the teacher describing (the stimulus) a warm-up activity. However, the stimulus took a significantly different form in each class. One teacher said do you bell ringer, another pointed to the task, and the third had a few slides describing the process. What I noticed from the students was much more consistent. The all had taken out their notebooks, written the prompt, and responded. So I realized that it really did not matter what the teacher said, the students had been conditioned to have a certain response. Further, it really didn't matter if the prompt was closely related to the learning targets of the class, the response was still very predictable.
I left actually wondering if the stimulus that created the response was actually simply entering the room. It seemed that as soon as a student entered, they were going through their "warm=up" process...
Hi Brian - interesting example. I also wrote about "ready behaviors", talking about the behaviors I see around our research shop when a meeting, small or large group, is about to begin. We close laptops, stop talking, generally letting whoever is leading the meeting know that we're present for the task ahead. Thinking about this more deeply, it doesn't even have to be either of our directors, as the entire office has been conditioned to demonstrate readiness when collaboration is about to begin.
Sounds like the students you observed are doing something similar. Regardless of the actual routine, the teacher walking through the door means that it's go time.
Jackie Brody I observe a behaviorist or empiricist approach to teaching several times every day. Most of the time it’s related to behavior management: the ringing of a bell, blow of a whistle, flicker of lights to signal it’s time for students to stop and listen. In an elementary small reading group on Friday, I observed a teacher tap her book to elicit a choral response. The teacher would give a direction, allow think time, and then tap her book. The students would wait to respond until the cue was given. If the teacher wanted only 1 student to respond rather than the whole group chorally, she would give a direction, allow think time, and immediately before the stimulus tap would say the student’s name who she wanted to respond. This technique illustrates empiricist/behaviorist behaviors because there is an external auditory stimulus that causes the students to elicit the response they have been trained to do.
Alexa Pearson I often see these techniques used by teachers in elementary or middle school settings. I see them less at high school even though I think they would be just as effective.
Our middle school just started a replacement core program called Language! and it uses a ton of direct instruction techniques. Students are corral responding and using hand signals and the teacher is signaling and calling out and moving around, verbally testing and delay testing... The program is a ton of energy for staff and students.
Based on the video, I would view the empiricist/behaviorist definition as being someone displaying a response - physical, emotional, or otherwise - to some given stimulus. It's interesting to me because in the realm of research that I work in, we're generally always looking for empirical evidence that something is a certain way. So, in that regard, I see empiricist/behaviorist actions constantly, but perhaps not through direct observation. For example, just today I was talking with some colleagues about a study they are in the middle of conducting, where they are trying to gauge the standards alignment of test items. In this case, the teacher was responding to a stimulus (test item) by judging it as aligned or not. Yet, one rater was extremely harsh, rating nearly all items as "not aligned", and my colleagues postulated that it was because he had not gone through the online training properly. So, if their hypothesis was true, then the teachers responses to the items (i.e., their ratings) were conditioned on their training.
However, in perhaps a less complex example, I also noticed that I seem to want to go to the water cooler every time I hear the "bubbles" from somebody else filling up their cup. I drink a lot of water. Maybe this has something to do with it : )
Hi Daniel, What an interesting flip perspective: having a negative assumption because of a lack of training. I wonder if the person completed the online training properly if he/she would view the items as aligned. Or, if the raters discussed their reasonings, if the person would be persuaded to change perspectives (due to a lack of knowledge or understanding). This would prove if the person was conditioned to rate every item as unaligned or if they were just a really tough rater. It would also be interesting to see the data of the other raters...are they selecting most items as 'aligned'? Maybe they missed out on some key training or points to not pick up the discrepancies.
Meg & Daniel, (I hope this one makes it to the website - third try is the charm, I say!)
As one of the colleagues involved in this discussion, I want to weigh in on a related note. There were several behaviors that this participant conveyed that had us concerned from the beginning, and then we kind of got what we expected. I think it points out some critical behaviors involved in learning, as well as some of the downside of conditioning.
I don't want to go into a myriad of sundry details, but we had challenges with this participant from the beginning. S/he missed the webinar training and had to watch a video of the webinar to "catch up". S/he waited until the day before the ratings were due before starting. S/he had difficulty completing straightforward tasks related to the assignment. S/he clearly missed the point, as his/her ratings were clearly discrepant compared to peers. In addition, some of the reviews that this participant levied denoted a certain lack of humility, shall we say.
It really seems like some folks develop conditioned learning strategies that simply don't work and I'm curious about that. I also have seen a common thread of concern, basically that conditioned behaviors might be very good at managing group behaviors. However, when applied to academic contexts the prognosis does not appear as positive. We run the risk of developing rote learners who do not know when to apply an existing schema to solve a problem; they just keep applying the schema that they know, unaware or inattentive to the nuances that make the challenge different.
I'm an administrator in a large suburban high school, and usually I try to be in the commons during passing time. In order to get students to class on time, we have a bell that rings and then 6 minutes later music plays to let students know they only have a minute left to get to class.
This morning the music did not go off and students were still standing in the commons despite the fact that the tardy bell had just rang. One girl argued with me that I was wrong about the time until I showed her the clock. The rest of the day the music was back on and students fell into their usual routine of rushing to class once they heard the music (for some students it takes more prodding than the music). Sometimes I am amazed that this system works for the 2400 teenagers at our school, but it makes sense that this conditioning is strongly in place for them by the time they are in high school. Today I was much more aware of how ingrained this conditioning is for our students. I'm curious if anyone works in a school that does not use bells and/or music during passing time to get students to class. If so, what does this look like at your school?
I don't think you find another high school that does not use bells/music for passing time. High school students do not have a motivator that would not be a stimuli to respond and be on time to class. But at the same time, unlike many years ago everyone probably has a cell phone because there are not clocks in all the halls.
When I was in high school, our school used music for the students to get to class on time in the morning (to this day I can still remember the odd tune). When the music did not play - the students were LOST. I remember mass-hysteria in the hallway - half not knowing what time it was and rushing to class and the other half not really caring. Interesting concept and great example.
That is a very interesting observation of classical conditioning. When I was in High School our school was in a block schedule so we had long breaks between our 3 classes each day, but we had a 5 minute warning bell and then a tardy bell. There was no way that it could take more than 5 minutes to walk anywhere on campus but the second that first bell rang, there was this "mass-hysteria" running around, pushing to get to class. It almost seemed this panic set in by the unprepared alert. I'd be curious how much more effective classical conditioning is when the stimuli is not as predictable/subtle if it loses some of its effect.
I was looking for examples for my own class, Marching Band, through the lens of an Empiricist/Behaviorist. I realized that where so many examples it made me realize that my entire class is based on stimuli given and the students respond to customary patterns. The conductor of a group gives many signals to the group and the group responses. At one point I give a reminder of an “o”, not for the ducks but for the sound I want the group to sound like. Another example is how we reset which is a count-down and when we do something really good we have a call and response. Another example that I came across was this evening when my husband and I were having dinner with another parent and we were talking about ways to get our kids attention. We were discussing the “snapping” signal that we have all used to get our kids attention and other signals we use to get them to listen to directions or to stop doing something. For some reason, talking to little kids does not seem to grab their attention. Then I remember to do my blog.
Hoping to see examples of the empiricist/behaviorist response other than the ones I am aware happen in my fourth grade classroom, I visited the kindergarten teacher's classroom in my school. When the teacher went behind her desk and retrieved her guitar, a group of students moved immediately to the rug and sat down on their "number", anxiously looking toward their teacher as she approached her chair at the circle. Soon after, the remaining students who had been engaged in activities or socializing, also moved to the rug and found their spot. All of this happened with no verbal instruction or cues or reminders. The simple visual of seeing the guitar in the teacher's hands elicited the student's multi-step response (stop current activity, move to circle rug, sit down on "their" spot, and wait quietly). Quite an explicit example of conditioning I believe. And so cute.
Catherine, I to had an example similar to this and reading yours I thought to myself. I wonders how response times vary with different activities. Specially ones that are not as desirable as "guitar time". Possibly something that they children are not that interested it but also have non verbal cues?
I witnessed an interesting example related to the guitar situation above. In a conference I was attending last week, lunch was to be served in the back of the same room. As the servers began set up in the back, attention shifted to their preparations. But the presenter only raised her hand, a signal often used in elementary classrooms, and participants' attention shifted back to her. She kept speaking without interruption, and did not address the incident overtly, but her raised hand drew attention back to the rest of her presentation. Not so cute, maybe, but an effective cue nevertheless.
I also saw this in a kinder class this last week. I was watching the students get ready for calendar and there were many students absent. The teacher had rearranged seating for the day on the rug. Still, there were two students who had to stay in their original spots way back on the rug sit upon because "that is where they usually sit."
I observed a conditioned response related to a whistle, which seems to be a theme going around these parts. Consistent with some of my comments above, it also points out the challenges of utilizing conditioned responses in our personal learning environments. My son was playing in a soccer game. There were three fields at this facility, Willamalane, and his team was playing on the middle field, with one game going on on either side of his game. Toward the end of the first half the opposing team was driving toward goal on the far side of the field. The referee on the next field over blew his whistle to stop play because of a foul. The forward on our field heard the whistle, threw his hands up in the air, and slowed to a stop, believing that it was our referee who had stopped play thinking that he was offsides. Play continued as our defense caught up, finally, and regained possession.
I think that this is an interesting situation because it highlights the danger of conditioned transfer of learning patterns to inappropriate contexts. Soccer players are conditioned to stop when they hear a whistle. This is a very important safety issue for all players involved. However, this player was not accustomed to playing in an environment where several whistles were blaring and he had to attend to the one on his field (which wasn't even the one closest to him on some occasions). The fact that he was unable to adapt his conditioned response to a new environment may have cost his team the game in this case.
As an aside, my son's team was down 2-0 at that time. They came back to tie in the second half, 2-2. The game went to PKs, which my son's team won after the second round. Great game, but it could have been a much different results if not for conditioned responses!
I observed in a meeting with colleagues at our research shop that when our director walked in to the conference room that all of us showed behaviors exhibiting that we were ready for business. Though the behaviors were different from person to person, when the director walked in we all immediately showed signs that we were attentive and ready for the meeting. Some people closed laptops, others stopped their conversation (research-related or not), others opened files/folders they thought would be needed during the meeting. Our director did not have to say that the meeting was about to start, he did not have to verbally prompt us to get ready to listen and discuss matters of importance – he simply had to walk into the room – we’re classically conditioned to exhibit behaviors associated with attentiveness in a collaborative professional setting.
Another example from my teaching days..
As a former science teacher, an example might be that when I raised my hand, my students became quiet and waited for instructions. It go to the point that I no longer had to raise my hand to garner their attention, that when I went to the front of the room, many students would raise their hand, instigating others to do the same and the class would be ready for instruction. In this example, careful observation would reveal that I had classically conditioned my students to classically condition themselves to be ready for instruction and learning.
As a member of the Superintendent's Leadership team our meetings are organized and must be run efficiently. All Directors are required to have cell phones at all times, and we bring our laptops to the meeting as well. We take turns facilitating the meeting and the facilitator is to sit at the head of the table. As we enter the room we choose our seat for the meeting, knowing that the job of facilitator has conditioned us as to where we sit. As we arrive, we talk with others, check our phones for messages and maybe scan email on a computer. Each time the door opens, people look up to see who is entering and the first three times it was not the superintendent. Each of these three times everyone went back to talking, laughing, doing whatever they were doing prior to the door opening. The fourth time the door was opened it was the superintendent. The response was different this time. Phones went to the tabletop, computers were closed and those who were out of their seats went immediately to their seat. As computers closed each person grabbed their agenda and a pen. It was quiet, talking had stopped and all eyes were on the superintendent as we waited to make sure she was ready to go. Once the facilitator saw that she was ready ~ as evidenced by her putting her phone down, her computer on the table, and her agenda and pen ready to go, he began our meeting.
Dawn- In my former district when we had an all admin meeting we were not allowed to have our cell phones on. Interesting about the cell phones automatically going onto the table. So did your leadership team create a set of group agreements? Did you ever think about these meetings in this way before?
I intended to conduct my Empiricist/Behaviorist observation in a local middle school classroom, however the best example occurred in the hallway prior to class starting. The assistant principal was giving me a brief tour of the school, but was distracted by a student in the hallway, standing outside a classroom window. The AP responded by going over and asking what the student was doing, then told the student to sit down. Thirty second later the student stood up, and the AP again went over to the student and had them sit down. The student stood a third time but sat down as the AP started to walk towards them. The question is who was being conditioned, both the student and the AP of course. The student’s behavior was certainly getting reinforced by the attention. I believe it would have gone on longer but the AP gave up and walked me down the hall. Final thought here is that at the end of the period as I was leaving I overheard that the student had wandered off and they were looking for the student.
Great example!! What a fascinating concept (training on both ends). Now that you gave this example, I am thinking back to many times in the classroom where something similar was going on. Specifically, I think about students feeling "sick" and making frequent trips to the nurse knowing they will receive a break and the chance to lie down. It really makes you stop and think about how to avoid "conditioning" the negative behavior
This is a good of example of work avoidance and getting rewarded for negative behavior. This is a difficult one to manage as an administer, are kids really sick or just work avoiding?
In my school, which is a hybrid school with elements of online core curriculum combined with a vocational-technical program, we have a relationship with the local district high school in which students from the high school can take credit recovery classes from us if they are behind. This is good for the students and good for us. However, this relationship is sometimes used by the high school to “place” students who need extra behavior support to receive core credit in our program. Usually, this turns out to have a good result, although many of these students struggle with online components of the program. The relevant aspect of this is that each of these students brings a “Behavior Card” which we, the teachers, are to mark with Yes/No ratings for “Assignments Turned In,” “Behavior,” “Overdue Work,” and “Good Behavior.” They are rewarded with increased privileges for good reports and punished with decreased privileges for bad reports. These privileges seem to be somewhat motivating to these students. Today, I marked a student's card with “Yes” for Overdue Assignments and he said, “Oh, that's a level right there.” (Well? I'm following the policy! I can relate, though...)
I see behavior cards used a lot as well. Sadly, I feel that the conditioned response ends up being somewhat of a negative. For a few students I worked with, any negative remark on the card had conditioned an incredibly negative response, where the positive remarks were just expected. I didn't necessarily see any genuine change in the student behavior.
I was in Portland for a conference this week and was very entertained by one of the presenters ability to condition the group in a matter of minutes. When she would put her hands out in front of her the group was to provide a response, either yes or no. At first she responded with the group and gradually stopped responding with the group. Each time those arms were outstretched towards us, there was an immediate choral response.
I decided to do my observation this week with the UO Track Team. For their lifting practices they have the same strength and conditioning Coach as the football program, a very well respected/professional man. When the team arrives at weights and starts warming up when he isn't around there is a lot of chatter, messing around, nothing quite as serious. However, the second he appears the entire dynamic/tone completely changes. Talking stops, everyone is a lot more serious and critical. It is incredible that how is mere presence (no verbal cues to change behavior) elicits such a different response. Reading other posts I feel like this is similar to police officers or school principals and how these highly respected authority members completely change behavior instantaneously.
Steve Thomas - I think I have an example that relates to sports and teams. What I think of is how the basketball team reacts to certain times being displayed on the clock in practice or seeing certain practice "tools". They associate them both with good and bad excercises. For example, as practice begins to wind down they will get a feeling as to whether coach is pleased or unhappy with what he saw today. If coach begins to walk over to one of the managers and says "60 Seconds on the clock" or even if they look up without hearing the exchange and see :60; they players all beging to react knowing that the next thing coming up will be a series of full court sprints up in back and making it within the 60 second mark (which they do not enjoy one bit). The counter to this is when the players maybe be breaking for water and come back onto the court and see cones laid out in a certain pattern which signals to them our "Morning-side" drill, which they enjoy. The sight of just those cones placed on the floor engages excitement as now they will begin doing something they like. There is no communication or direct signal to the team, they just know to associate one with the other.
I observed an elementary school cafeteria. The students know to turn voices off when lights goes off. The supervisor person starts to walk towards the lights and this cue tells the kids to start to lower voices and when the adult turns the lights off, the students stop talking. The kids are conditioned to stop talking and get ready to be dismissed when the adult walks to the lights. It is very affective. Anytime the adult walks towards those lights, kid's volume diminishes.
Hello Juan, Your example is a good one in using the Empiricist/Behavior learning theory with a group of people. This, in my opinion, is one of the most effective and simple ways of controlling a large number of people. It is similar to traffic signals. No matter how many cars are there, everyone stops for a red. Everyone has to, and the only reminder drivers need is the color. It is classical conditioning.
I am wondering what would happen if the same supervisor is absent. Would the students lower their voices without the light going off? Or would they remind the extra supervisor to turn the light off? Also, it would be interesting to know what would happen if one of the children turns off the lights. Will this affect other students' behavior?
You bring up a great point, what happens if a different supervisor were to turn off the lights? Would it be as affective? As a matter of fact, the voices get lower quicker and faster when I (Principal) turn of the lights. This is not to say that the supervisor is not effective, but when the person with more authority exercises the stimuli, it has a large impact on student behavior.
During this activity, I found that there is a strong connection between the three learning theories and the four stages of competence: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence. I will explain this relationship during my observation of the theory.
After observing for the “Empiricist/Behaviorist” theory, I noticed a strategy that my friend uses when teaching his daughter who is 5 years old. He was teaching her how to count numbers and he found most difficult part for her to be the switch from 9 to 10, 19 to 20 and so on. So, what he did was count with his daughter the regular numbers then when it came to 9 or 19, he would change the intonation of his voice. When he did that, the daughter eventually knew that she had to switch to a new set of numbers. After some repetition, it became easier and easier for her to make the switch. This is like when Pavlov experimented with ringing the bell before feeding the dog. The bell ringing is the stimulus for the dog's salivation while the change in tone of voice is the stimulus for my friend's daughter's time to switch to the next set of numbers.
In this situation , my friend's daughter is in the first stage of competence, which is “unconscious incompetence” because she has no idea how to switch to the next ten numbers. Therefore, her father, whether he is aware of it or not, uses the “Empiricist/Behaviorist” theory to help his daughter move to the next stage of competence, which is “conscious incompetence.”
In response to Don's question re: conditioning to lights, in my experience it had to do with the age of the student and their previous experience with this form of conditioning. The older the student, the quicker the response. However I also noticed that form of conditioning typically required frequent reconditioning to obtain the desired response so it may well be for the older student that they eventually ignore the stimulus altogether.
In my elementary school visits on Wednesday, I observed through the Empiricist lens. There were multiple examples of "stimulus response" observed from teachers gaining attention of students by ringing a bell, calling,"class" and the students responding,"we are the class" in unison while looking at the teacher. In another classroom the teacher used the phrase "get it got it good" to reinforce a skill or concept she wanted the students to get. Students would respond in unison,"get it got it good". When I asked students what they had "got" 9/10 said they had paid attention to the teacher but were unable to state what skill they were to learn through practice. This reinforced the notion for me that "stimulus response " is not always an effective method for supporting deep learning,
Did the teacher have a learning target or objective posted? If they did, the students may have been better able to state what skill they were to learn.
I have been posting targets much more regularly in my room the last two years. I even post the targets on homework and classroom assignments.
Some kids don't pay attention to them, but every once in a while a parent or student is able to answer their own questions just by looking at the target.
My example is very simple and a common one I believe. My son is in the first grade and while visiting his classroom I realized quickly that there are many "stimulus response" queues. First graders have a lot of energy and quickly get off task. The students were wrapping up in activity and were in a transition. The teacher very quietly grabbed her selected reading for the day and sat down in her chair for reading time. With out saying a word the majority of the student quickly found a seat on the floor around the teacher. There were a few stragglers but, it was apparent that the student really loved this time and had been conditioned to finish whatever activity they may have been doing and grab a seat
What a good example. I found that students respond positively and with high frequency when they desire certain items of high value. K-2 kids will respond quickly with certain cues but it depends if they like it or not. The other stimuli that you observed, were they as highly affective as the one you described?
I observed a language arts class. I arrived before the class started because I often like to see how teachers start their classes. I want to see how long it takes if there is a seamless transition and if all time is used to its fullest. On this day I observed Mrs. Dodds Film is Lit Class. I waited as the students trickled in before the bell rang. Once the bell rang most students were in their seats. Mrs. Dodds welcomed all the students took role and then proceeded to turn on some music and although it was fairly low it created a calm and warm environment in her classroom. Students immediately got up went to the cabinet and took out their journals and began to write. At one point a student came in late and went right to the cabinet to retrieve is journal and began writing as well. Without a word, Mrs. Dodds turned off the music and the students stopped writing, got up and returned the journals to the cabinet.
I have been using a bell in my 4th/5th grade classroom to signal transitions this year. It has been effective in two areas this year, but has been failing in others.
It is effective in signaling the end of break time. The bell rings and students put away their snacks, move to their desks, and look to the whiteboard for instructions. It has also been effective as a signal for students to stop their reading and start their reading responses.
In both situations, students have been active and are moving to another active behavior.
The bell fails when students are active and I am asking them to stop being active and listen. This makes sense to me now. They have been conditioned that the bell is a signal from one activity to the next.
To try and use it as a signal from one activity to silence will not work with every student.
I will need to use a more active call and response signal that engages them directly.
After reading most of the examples provided by the class, my observation seems to take a slightly different approach to the assignment. I looked at our PBIS program as an example of behaviorist theory in practice. Our staff members are choosing behaviors that they want students to repeat and are providing positive reinforcements to encourage these behaviors to continue. I’ve been seeing students non-stop in my office all week, so I haven’t had much time to go out and observe, so I interviewed several teachers at lunch today to see what situations they are reinforcing with PBIS tickets. All of the teachers I interviewed said they reinforce students when they have been helpful to others. One teacher is also reinforcing students when they turn their work in early. Another teacher gives PBIS tickets to students who are pro-active in requesting their work when they come back from an absence. Another teacher gave a PBIS ticket to every student in her first period class today. They are usually “a very squirrely class, but today they were totally on-task”. Although they get something tangible with their PBIS tickets, I believe the “real” prize is the attention, praise and approval they are getting from their teachers. Our PBIS conditioning is yet complete, but we’re working on it.
For my watch I viewed a series of 3 videos by Tim Bedley showing a lesson in critical thinking in a classroom of mixed 4th/5th graders.
In addition to the usual raised hands for asking/answering questions, Bedley employed a suite of conditioned responses to structure class time and refocus students on the next task. For example, he clapped three times and said, "teach" and the students responded with three claps and, "OK." The students immediately moved on to the next part of the activity. Other commands inlcuded clap-clap-clap, "class" which was followed by clap-clap-clap, "yes" by the students.
An interesting feature of the conditioning used in this class is that students would also mimic changes to the sound of the command. In one case Bedely streched out the command "class" to a three syllable "cla-ah-as." The students responded with a "ye-e-es" mirroring his tempo.
What struck me most about the many different stimulus-responses used in the class was that they were only used to direct attention not in the actual learning activities the children were engaged in. These behaviorist strategies were very effective in keeping the lesson on track and on time and helping students rapidly transition, but were of no use in the critical thinking and idea generation that the children were engaged in.
I couldn't think of any good ways to bring these techniques into higher order learning. It seems to me that they are highly effective in focusing attention and eliciting quick behavior changes, but not in more complex learning.
After reading most of the examples provided by the class, my observation seems to take a slightly different approach to the assignment. I looked at our PBIS program as an example of behaviorist theory in practice. Our staff members are choosing behaviors that they want students to repeat and are providing positive reinforcements to encourage these behaviors to continue. I’ve been seeing students non-stop in my office all week, so I haven’t had much time to go out and observe, so I interviewed several teachers at lunch today to see what situations they are reinforcing with PBIS tickets. All of the teachers I interviewed said they reinforce students when they have been helpful to others. One teacher is also reinforcing students when they turn their work in early. Another teacher gives PBIS tickets to students who are pro-active in requesting their work when they come back from an absence. Another teacher gave a PBIS ticket to every student in her first period class today. They are usually “a very squirrely class, but today they were totally on-task”. Although they get something tangible with their PBIS tickets, I believe the “real” prize is the attention, praise and approval they are getting from their teachers. Our PBIS conditioning is yet complete, but we’re working on it.
I observed a behavior support classroom in my building. The students in the class require extensive support to learn new behaviors or unlearn undesirable behaviors. What is different about these classrooms is the intensity and frequency required for a child to learn a new behavior. The motivation level fo each student is studied and dissected by the teacher. If he discovers that they have a specific interest, he uses it to his advantage. For example, if a student wants to play a specific video game he will have that student work on an aversive task like writing in order to receive video game time. Sometimes, earning points throughout the day on a piece of paper called a behavior card is enough. These students get a payoff by using the points. Sometimes it is as small as a rubber frog or a pencil, but it is a big payoff for them. These external motivators are not much different than Pavlov's dog food in that the motivation comes from the external reward. What is different for these students is that the conditioning takes much longer. Usually, the frequency of reward has to be increased to get the desired response. In addition, they need more than dog food to get motivated. High intensity visual stimuli in a video game is usually the ticket!
Surveying all of the comments and responses above reminds me too of the many things that I observe routinely as I visit classrooms. The stern look which refocuses students, the various tokens teachers give out in recognition of approved behavior, the intermittent rewards given to students "just for being good" are parts of many classrooms. I saw several examples of each just in the past two days: a piece of candy to the on-time students, a pencil given randomly to an on-task student, and "the look" a math teacher gave one table as they broke from their silent work. All these are part of the culture of purposeful classrooms.
I saw xx in xx class with
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSteve and Meg will be moderating
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve! :)
DeleteMeg Guerreiro -
ReplyDeleteI observed classical conditioning occurring during a third grade math classroom. The teacher often uses clapping to get students' attention (teacher claps a pattern and the students repeat the pattern back). The students were engaged in small group activities and I witnessed the teacher use the pattern clap twice during the lesson to get students' attention. Both times, the students obediently clapped back. Once the groups continued their individual activities, the teacher was working with a small group of students when she excitedly clapped 3 times when the students understood the concept. At this response, the other students in the class automatically repeated the clap (even though it was not meant to gain students' attention).
I think this is a classic example of "conditioning" in an elementary classroom. I was able to witness the students conditioned to repeat the clapping and freeze from activity (looking for teacher guidance/redirection). During this particular lesson, I was also able to observe the conditioned (accidental) clapping repeated by student clapping without redirection.
Brian Sica
DeleteHi Meg,
I wonder if the students were so conditioned that any "noisemaking" by the teacher would get the same response. Or probably the better question, is could the teacher introduce other sounds so that they are conditioned in the same way.
I am not sure why it would be necessary to have a variety of sounds, but it would be interesting to put the theory to practice...
Thanks for the example
Brian Sica
Jackie Brody
DeleteI see this example all the time in schools. I like this type of behaviorist technique or when students are required to repeat a chant. I think it's more effective than the blowing of a whistle, ringing a bell, or flickering the lights to get student attention. The type of conditioning you witnessed at least requires students to engage in an active behavior rather than just stop what they are doing in order to listen.
Meg,
DeleteEveryone of our 700 students at my middle school when I was a principal was taught at the beginning of the year that when a whistle blew 3 times you stopped what you were doing as it was time for additional directions or time to go. This was started 8 years ago, and is still used today in our gyms, out on the field and at lunchtime when kids are outside. Teachers came up with this due to a need to communicate with large groups of kids in open spaces that were often times loud. New students who came to the school learned what this meant immediately, most often not from the teachers, but from other kids. So simple, and so effective.
Jackie,
DeleteThe active response is indeed superior to the bell or whistle. I saw two excellent examples of the active response this week.
One teachers sings the first part of melody "shave and a haircut" and the students respond with the melody of "six bits."
Another teacher says "1-2-3 voices" and the students respond with "shhhh."
In both cases students must change their conversation into an active response. This provides a much crisper transition that relying on a bell or other passive signal.
Hand clapping, while being an active response, still allows students to continue their conversation during the transition.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMeg Guerreiro
ReplyDeleteHi Don,
I observed something similar to your hypothetical flashing lights scenario (see below). Although I did not observe the students "lose" the conditioning response - I also wonder how long it would take the students to stop processing the conditioning response.
I never used "turning off the lights" to gain students' attention - but I cannot help but remember many times when I turned off the lights as the students were lining up (just to prep the room as we were about to leave it empty) and automatically the room became noticeably quieter (as if conditioned from a previous teacher).
Don, your question might make a good research question. There is continuum of scenarios that are possible. One, the students see the light and perform the correct response. Two, the students see the light and ignore it. Three, the students see the light and have an incorrect response (e.g. yelling at each other). If set up in a number of classroom, say 10, there would be a wide variety of responses to the stimulus after a week or month of exposure.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to determine what conditions were present in the classroom that might affect the continuation or extinction of the correct stimulus response.
Tonight - I was watching the Curiosity on the Discovery Channel (if you're not familiar with the show, I included a link below). Tonight's episode was to determine if people could be brainwashed to assassinate through hypnosis. The study surveyed dozens of people through multiple phases to determine their ability to become hypnotized. Through the phases, they weeded out almost all of the candidates but 1 person who they strategically hypnotized (without the person knowing) to assassinate a foreign dignitary. The person, under hypnosis, successfully assassinated the person (staged on the other end, of course) which proved that a human CAN become brainwashed to commit murder.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of me sharing this is that the person was able to become hypnotized by the same hypnotist IMMEDIATELY with just a handshake and the word "sleep" (in under a second) even when the person did not expect to become hypnotized. This was a conditioning response based on the training and previous connection established during prior sessions of hypnosis. Fascinating!
More information about the show:
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/brainwashed-to-assassinate.htm
Meg,
DeleteThis is a very scary example! Zoikes. This is not typically one of the dangers we anticipate in the classroom, but can be applied on a lesser scale, for sure. It points out that behaviors can be conditioned, even by stimuli that have little to do with the natural response, and manipulated because of that fact.
I'm also noticing that hardly any of our conditioning examples involve anything but behaviors. There has been no discussion of problem solving, critical thinking, etc., as those learning behaviors are somewhat antithetical to conditioned responses.
Dan
Dan,
DeleteI noticed the same thing in my watch. Behaviorist approaches were all used to focus attention and structure class. They were not used in the actual learning activities themselves (in this case and exercise in critical thinking). It seems that behaviorist techniques are very useful in creating structure and reflexive response, but not good for work that requires careful consideration.
I did notice that the children (4th/5th graders) seemed to like the conditioned responses. They never seemed annoyed by them and moved into the new activity (be it listening or working with small groups) with the appropriate focus and energy.
I work in a building where there is a behavior classroom. Many of these students do not respond well to your traditional classroom wide conditioning, but they do respond to a behaviorist approach. What is interesting to watch in a behavior classroom is the INTENSITY and FREQUENCY to which a conditioned response needs to occur to learn a new behavior. It takes a while but it does work for some of our neediest students.
DeleteDriving in a 55mph speed zone, I observed several drivers conditioned response to a police car. Even though the police officer was not running radar and gave no indication that traffic was of interest, every car on the road slowed down significantly, usually below the posted speed. Just the presence of a police car has conditioned most drivers to respond by slowing, often below the required speed.
ReplyDeleteI finally made it to school just in time to watch elementary students playing on the playground. If required to observe student behavior, I head directly to my behavior laboratory, the elementary playground. Immediately after I started my observation the bell rang, every student on the playground stopped what they were doing and quickly found their place in the line of their respective classrooms. The sound of the playground bell was all that students needed to respond by quickly lining up.
I believe these two observations are examples of conditioned response to learned behavior.
Hi Brock. I love your example of cars slowing down when they approach/see a police car. I wonder if people would have the same reaction to a car that resembled a police car (ie: mall security or another car with a light on the roof). It would be interesting to see what was the cause of the conditioning (the light in the front driver window, the light on the roof, or the markings on the car).
DeleteHey Meg. I know it works on me... if I see anything that approximates an official vehicle (associated patterns of; car type, color combinations, rack of lights, official plates…) I pump my breaks and check myself. This response is especially true the more discrepant my behavior is from legal. The cause of the conditioning seems to be the associated financial implications of illegal behavior. The negative reinforcement of making bail and increased insurance cost has heightened my awareness of these stimuli.
DeleteBrock, that's a pretty darn good example. I wonder if speed limit signs, in combination with the police officers, also work as a form of conditioning. As in, I know I can probably go 60 mph if the speed limit is 55 mph because I've been conditioned to believe that driving only 5 mph over won't get me a ticket.
DeleteDaniel,
DeleteOn one of my drives out to the coast... I think towards Bandon? One of the little towns has a black and white "police car" along side the main road. The first few times through town I slowed down appropriately, now I tend to ignore the decoy. If they ever replaced the fake car with a real police car? I wonder if this revers conditioning would net many ticket? I wonder if you could plead entrapment by means of Classical Conditioning?
I wonder the rational everyone uses to justify the amount over the posted speed limit they travel? I say your doing fine at 5mph over. I risk 7mph over without much worry but, I have no justification for my excess speed.
Brock,
DeleteI too, am very familiar with the black and white car on the way to the coast. I can remember the very first time that I saw the car and panicked, looking down at my speed while "instantly" slowing down. That week I made three trips back and forth due to work and vacation with family. By day three of driving by the car I was not "phased" at all because I knew it was not really a "real" police car. Fast forward to teaching my son to drive and teaching him to "scan" his surroundings as he is driving, including keeping your speed down and scanning for the police. Guess what happened as he drove to the coast for the first time and passed the black and white "police car?"
Dawn,
DeleteHe pumped his breaks and checked his speed?
Brock,
DeleteObserving students lining up after the recess bell is a fascinating event. You can tell a lot about students in 30 seconds or less.
There are students that line up immediately in the right place ready to go.
There are students that help the duty teachers collect equipment.
There are students that continue playing after the signal, trying to squeeze out every last second of recess they can before they cross the threshold of getting in trouble.
There are also students who don't fit into any of those categories. They might be wandering the other direction of the lines, they could be walking as slowly as possible, or they could be infiltrating the lines of other classrooms to cause chaos.
The process of lining up after recess should be taught in every elementary education program. That minute or two can directly affect the next 60 minutes of instruction.
Steve,
DeleteI have been to schools where bell behavior was never explicitly taught and students still complied with amazing regularity. Only through observation of their peers behavior did students figuring out adult expectations.
Brian Sica
ReplyDeleteI happen to be in Phoenix AZ observing high school classes which makes this assignment not only interesting but also timely. I have little background with any of the teachers and absolutely none with any of the students. As a result, I am able to truly observe, however, I do feel with such limited knowledge I may be making assumptions as I classify teacher/student interactions to a learning theory..
Today I was able to visit three different class periods. Each a different "core" subject and of roughly the same grade level. What I noticed was each class began with the teacher describing (the stimulus) a warm-up activity. However, the stimulus took a significantly different form in each class. One teacher said do you bell ringer, another pointed to the task, and the third had a few slides describing the process. What I noticed from the students was much more consistent. The all had taken out their notebooks, written the prompt, and responded. So I realized that it really did not matter what the teacher said, the students had been conditioned to have a certain response. Further, it really didn't matter if the prompt was closely related to the learning targets of the class, the response was still very predictable.
I left actually wondering if the stimulus that created the response was actually simply entering the room. It seemed that as soon as a student entered, they were going through their "warm=up" process...
Hi Brian - interesting example. I also wrote about "ready behaviors", talking about the behaviors I see around our research shop when a meeting, small or large group, is about to begin. We close laptops, stop talking, generally letting whoever is leading the meeting know that we're present for the task ahead. Thinking about this more deeply, it doesn't even have to be either of our directors, as the entire office has been conditioned to demonstrate readiness when collaboration is about to begin.
DeleteSounds like the students you observed are doing something similar. Regardless of the actual routine, the teacher walking through the door means that it's go time.
Jackie Brody
ReplyDeleteI observe a behaviorist or empiricist approach to teaching several times every day. Most of the time it’s related to behavior management: the ringing of a bell, blow of a whistle, flicker of lights to signal it’s time for students to stop and listen. In an elementary small reading group on Friday, I observed a teacher tap her book to elicit a choral response. The teacher would give a direction, allow think time, and then tap her book. The students would wait to respond until the cue was given. If the teacher wanted only 1 student to respond rather than the whole group chorally, she would give a direction, allow think time, and immediately before the stimulus tap would say the student’s name who she wanted to respond. This technique illustrates empiricist/behaviorist behaviors because there is an external auditory stimulus that causes the students to elicit the response they have been trained to do.
Alexa Pearson
DeleteI often see these techniques used by teachers in elementary or middle school settings. I see them less at high school even though I think they would be just as effective.
Our middle school just started a replacement core program called Language! and it uses a ton of direct instruction techniques. Students are corral responding and using hand signals and the teacher is signaling and calling out and moving around, verbally testing and delay testing... The program is a ton of energy for staff and students.
DeleteBased on the video, I would view the empiricist/behaviorist definition as being someone displaying a response - physical, emotional, or otherwise - to some given stimulus. It's interesting to me because in the realm of research that I work in, we're generally always looking for empirical evidence that something is a certain way. So, in that regard, I see empiricist/behaviorist actions constantly, but perhaps not through direct observation. For example, just today I was talking with some colleagues about a study they are in the middle of conducting, where they are trying to gauge the standards alignment of test items. In this case, the teacher was responding to a stimulus (test item) by judging it as aligned or not. Yet, one rater was extremely harsh, rating nearly all items as "not aligned", and my colleagues postulated that it was because he had not gone through the online training properly. So, if their hypothesis was true, then the teachers responses to the items (i.e., their ratings) were conditioned on their training.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in perhaps a less complex example, I also noticed that I seem to want to go to the water cooler every time I hear the "bubbles" from somebody else filling up their cup. I drink a lot of water. Maybe this has something to do with it : )
Hi Daniel,
DeleteWhat an interesting flip perspective: having a negative assumption because of a lack of training. I wonder if the person completed the online training properly if he/she would view the items as aligned. Or, if the raters discussed their reasonings, if the person would be persuaded to change perspectives (due to a lack of knowledge or understanding). This would prove if the person was conditioned to rate every item as unaligned or if they were just a really tough rater.
It would also be interesting to see the data of the other raters...are they selecting most items as 'aligned'? Maybe they missed out on some key training or points to not pick up the discrepancies.
Meg & Daniel,
Delete(I hope this one makes it to the website - third try is the charm, I say!)
As one of the colleagues involved in this discussion, I want to weigh in on a related note. There were several behaviors that this participant conveyed that had us concerned from the beginning, and then we kind of got what we expected. I think it points out some critical behaviors involved in learning, as well as some of the downside of conditioning.
I don't want to go into a myriad of sundry details, but we had challenges with this participant from the beginning. S/he missed the webinar training and had to watch a video of the webinar to "catch up". S/he waited until the day before the ratings were due before starting. S/he had difficulty completing straightforward tasks related to the assignment. S/he clearly missed the point, as his/her ratings were clearly discrepant compared to peers. In addition, some of the reviews that this participant levied denoted a certain lack of humility, shall we say.
It really seems like some folks develop conditioned learning strategies that simply don't work and I'm curious about that. I also have seen a common thread of concern, basically that conditioned behaviors might be very good at managing group behaviors. However, when applied to academic contexts the prognosis does not appear as positive. We run the risk of developing rote learners who do not know when to apply an existing schema to solve a problem; they just keep applying the schema that they know, unaware or inattentive to the nuances that make the challenge different.
Alexa Pearson
ReplyDeleteI'm an administrator in a large suburban high school, and usually I try to be in the commons during passing time. In order to get students to class on time, we have a bell that rings and then 6 minutes later music plays to let students know they only have a minute left to get to class.
This morning the music did not go off and students were still standing in the commons despite the fact that the tardy bell had just rang. One girl argued with me that I was wrong about the time until I showed her the clock. The rest of the day the music was back on and students fell into their usual routine of rushing to class once they heard the music (for some students it takes more prodding than the music). Sometimes I am amazed that this system works for the 2400 teenagers at our school, but it makes sense that this conditioning is strongly in place for them by the time they are in high school. Today I was much more aware of how ingrained this conditioning is for our students. I'm curious if anyone works in a school that does not use bells and/or music during passing time to get students to class. If so, what does this look like at your school?
I don't think you find another high school that does not use bells/music for passing time. High school students do not have a motivator that would not be a stimuli to respond and be on time to class. But at the same time, unlike many years ago everyone probably has a cell phone because there are not clocks in all the halls.
DeleteHi Alexa,
DeleteWhen I was in high school, our school used music for the students to get to class on time in the morning (to this day I can still remember the odd tune). When the music did not play - the students were LOST. I remember mass-hysteria in the hallway - half not knowing what time it was and rushing to class and the other half not really caring. Interesting concept and great example.
Hi Alexa,
DeleteThat is a very interesting observation of classical conditioning. When I was in High School our school was in a block schedule so we had long breaks between our 3 classes each day, but we had a 5 minute warning bell and then a tardy bell. There was no way that it could take more than 5 minutes to walk anywhere on campus but the second that first bell rang, there was this "mass-hysteria" running around, pushing to get to class. It almost seemed this panic set in by the unprepared alert. I'd be curious how much more effective classical conditioning is when the stimuli is not as predictable/subtle if it loses some of its effect.
I was looking for examples for my own class, Marching Band, through the lens of an Empiricist/Behaviorist. I realized that where so many examples it made me realize that my entire class is based on stimuli given and the students respond to customary patterns. The conductor of a group gives many signals to the group and the group responses. At one point I give a reminder of an “o”, not for the ducks but for the sound I want the group to sound like. Another example is how we reset which is a count-down and when we do something really good we have a call and response.
ReplyDeleteAnother example that I came across was this evening when my husband and I were having dinner with another parent and we were talking about ways to get our kids attention. We were discussing the “snapping” signal that we have all used to get our kids attention and other signals we use to get them to listen to directions or to stop doing something. For some reason, talking to little kids does not seem to grab their attention. Then I remember to do my blog.
Hoping to see examples of the empiricist/behaviorist response other than the ones I am aware happen in my fourth grade classroom, I visited the kindergarten teacher's classroom in my school. When the teacher went behind her desk and retrieved her guitar, a group of students moved immediately to the rug and sat down on their "number", anxiously looking toward their teacher as she approached her chair at the circle. Soon after, the remaining students who had been engaged in activities or socializing, also moved to the rug and found their spot. All of this happened with no verbal instruction or cues or reminders. The simple visual of seeing the guitar in the teacher's hands elicited the student's multi-step response (stop current activity, move to circle rug, sit down on "their" spot, and wait quietly). Quite an explicit example of conditioning I believe. And so cute.
ReplyDeleteCatherine,
DeleteI love your example. It's a simple, beautiful, and positive approach.
Bev
Catherine,
DeleteI to had an example similar to this and reading yours I thought to myself. I wonders how response times vary with different activities. Specially ones that are not as desirable as "guitar time". Possibly something that they children are not that interested it but also have non verbal cues?
Hey all,
DeleteI witnessed an interesting example related to the guitar situation above. In a conference I was attending last week, lunch was to be served in the back of the same room. As the servers began set up in the back, attention shifted to their preparations. But the presenter only raised her hand, a signal often used in elementary classrooms, and participants' attention shifted back to her. She kept speaking without interruption, and did not address the incident overtly, but her raised hand drew attention back to the rest of her presentation. Not so cute, maybe, but an effective cue nevertheless.
Funny,
DeleteI also saw this in a kinder class this last week. I was watching the students get ready for calendar and there were many students absent. The teacher had rearranged seating for the day on the rug. Still, there were two students who had to stay in their original spots way back on the rug sit upon because "that is where they usually sit."
I observed a conditioned response related to a whistle, which seems to be a theme going around these parts. Consistent with some of my comments above, it also points out the challenges of utilizing conditioned responses in our personal learning environments. My son was playing in a soccer game. There were three fields at this facility, Willamalane, and his team was playing on the middle field, with one game going on on either side of his game. Toward the end of the first half the opposing team was driving toward goal on the far side of the field. The referee on the next field over blew his whistle to stop play because of a foul. The forward on our field heard the whistle, threw his hands up in the air, and slowed to a stop, believing that it was our referee who had stopped play thinking that he was offsides. Play continued as our defense caught up, finally, and regained possession.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is an interesting situation because it highlights the danger of conditioned transfer of learning patterns to inappropriate contexts. Soccer players are conditioned to stop when they hear a whistle. This is a very important safety issue for all players involved. However, this player was not accustomed to playing in an environment where several whistles were blaring and he had to attend to the one on his field (which wasn't even the one closest to him on some occasions). The fact that he was unable to adapt his conditioned response to a new environment may have cost his team the game in this case.
As an aside, my son's team was down 2-0 at that time. They came back to tie in the second half, 2-2. The game went to PKs, which my son's team won after the second round. Great game, but it could have been a much different results if not for conditioned responses!
I observed in a meeting with colleagues at our research shop that when our director walked in to the conference room that all of us showed behaviors exhibiting that we were ready for business. Though the behaviors were different from person to person, when the director walked in we all immediately showed signs that we were attentive and ready for the meeting. Some people closed laptops, others stopped their conversation (research-related or not), others opened files/folders they thought would be needed during the meeting. Our director did not have to say that the meeting was about to start, he did not have to verbally prompt us to get ready to listen and discuss matters of importance – he simply had to walk into the room – we’re classically conditioned to exhibit behaviors associated with attentiveness in a collaborative professional setting.
ReplyDeleteAnother example from my teaching days..
As a former science teacher, an example might be that when I raised my hand, my students became quiet and waited for instructions. It go to the point that I no longer had to raise my hand to garner their attention, that when I went to the front of the room, many students would raise their hand, instigating others to do the same and the class would be ready for instruction. In this example, careful observation would reveal that I had classically conditioned my students to classically condition themselves to be ready for instruction and learning.
As a member of the Superintendent's Leadership team our meetings are organized and must be run efficiently. All Directors are required to have cell phones at all times, and we bring our laptops to the meeting as well. We take turns facilitating the meeting and the facilitator is to sit at the head of the table. As we enter the room we choose our seat for the meeting, knowing that the job of facilitator has conditioned us as to where we sit. As we arrive, we talk with others, check our phones for messages and maybe scan email on a computer. Each time the door opens, people look up to see who is entering and the first three times it was not the superintendent. Each of these three times everyone went back to talking, laughing, doing whatever they were doing prior to the door opening. The fourth time the door was opened it was the superintendent. The response was different this time. Phones went to the tabletop, computers were closed and those who were out of their seats went immediately to their seat. As computers closed each person grabbed their agenda and a pen. It was quiet, talking had stopped and all eyes were on the superintendent as we waited to make sure she was ready to go. Once the facilitator saw that she was ready ~ as evidenced by her putting her phone down, her computer on the table, and her agenda and pen ready to go, he began our meeting.
ReplyDeleteDawn-
DeleteIn my former district when we had an all admin meeting we were not allowed to have our cell phones on. Interesting about the cell phones automatically going onto the table. So did your leadership team create a set of group agreements? Did you ever think about these meetings in this way before?
I intended to conduct my Empiricist/Behaviorist observation in a local middle school classroom, however the best example occurred in the hallway prior to class starting. The assistant principal was giving me a brief tour of the school, but was distracted by a student in the hallway, standing outside a classroom window. The AP responded by going over and asking what the student was doing, then told the student to sit down. Thirty second later the student stood up, and the AP again went over to the student and had them sit down. The student stood a third time but sat down as the AP started to walk towards them. The question is who was being conditioned, both the student and the AP of course. The student’s behavior was certainly getting reinforced by the attention. I believe it would have gone on longer but the AP gave up and walked me down the hall. Final thought here is that at the end of the period as I was leaving I overheard that the student had wandered off and they were looking for the student.
ReplyDeleteGreat example!! What a fascinating concept (training on both ends). Now that you gave this example, I am thinking back to many times in the classroom where something similar was going on. Specifically, I think about students feeling "sick" and making frequent trips to the nurse knowing they will receive a break and the chance to lie down. It really makes you stop and think about how to avoid "conditioning" the negative behavior
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DeleteThis is a good of example of work avoidance and getting rewarded for negative behavior. This is a difficult one to manage as an administer, are kids really sick or just work avoiding?
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ReplyDeleteGreat example Brian! I think kids are constantly "training" the staff. They are just as in tune with the behaviorist approach as adults.
ReplyDeleteGeoff Barrett
ReplyDeleteIn my school, which is a hybrid school with elements of online core curriculum combined with a vocational-technical program, we have a relationship with the local district high school in which students from the high school can take credit recovery classes from us if they are behind. This is good for the students and good for us. However, this relationship is sometimes used by the high school to “place” students who need extra behavior support to receive core credit in our program. Usually, this turns out to have a good result, although many of these students struggle with online components of the program. The relevant aspect of this is that each of these students brings a “Behavior Card” which we, the teachers, are to mark with Yes/No ratings for “Assignments Turned In,” “Behavior,” “Overdue Work,” and “Good Behavior.” They are rewarded with increased privileges for good reports and punished with decreased privileges for bad reports. These privileges seem to be somewhat motivating to these students. Today, I marked a student's card with “Yes” for Overdue Assignments and he said, “Oh, that's a level right there.” (Well? I'm following the policy! I can relate, though...)
I see behavior cards used a lot as well. Sadly, I feel that the conditioned response ends up being somewhat of a negative. For a few students I worked with, any negative remark on the card had conditioned an incredibly negative response, where the positive remarks were just expected. I didn't necessarily see any genuine change in the student behavior.
DeleteI was in Portland for a conference this week and was very entertained by one of the presenters ability to condition the group in a matter of minutes. When she would put her hands out in front of her the group was to provide a response, either yes or no. At first she responded with the group and gradually stopped responding with the group. Each time those arms were outstretched towards us, there was an immediate choral response.
ReplyDeleteDavid Klech
ReplyDeleteI decided to do my observation this week with the UO Track Team. For their lifting practices they have the same strength and conditioning Coach as the football program, a very well respected/professional man. When the team arrives at weights and starts warming up when he isn't around there is a lot of chatter, messing around, nothing quite as serious. However, the second he appears the entire dynamic/tone completely changes. Talking stops, everyone is a lot more serious and critical. It is incredible that how is mere presence (no verbal cues to change behavior) elicits such a different response. Reading other posts I feel like this is similar to police officers or school principals and how these highly respected authority members completely change behavior instantaneously.
Steve Thomas -
ReplyDeleteI think I have an example that relates to sports and teams. What I think of is how the basketball team reacts to certain times being displayed on the clock in practice or seeing certain practice "tools". They associate them both with good and bad excercises. For example, as practice begins to wind down they will get a feeling as to whether coach is pleased or unhappy with what he saw today. If coach begins to walk over to one of the managers and says "60 Seconds on the clock" or even if they look up without hearing the exchange and see :60; they players all beging to react knowing that the next thing coming up will be a series of full court sprints up in back and making it within the 60 second mark (which they do not enjoy one bit). The counter to this is when the players maybe be breaking for water and come back onto the court and see cones laid out in a certain pattern which signals to them our "Morning-side" drill, which they enjoy. The sight of just those cones placed on the floor engages excitement as now they will begin doing something they like. There is no communication or direct signal to the team, they just know to associate one with the other.
I observed an elementary school cafeteria. The students know to turn voices off when lights goes off. The supervisor person starts to walk towards the lights and this cue tells the kids to start to lower voices and when the adult turns the lights off, the students stop talking. The kids are conditioned to stop talking and get ready to be dismissed when the adult walks to the lights. It is very affective. Anytime the adult walks towards those lights, kid's volume diminishes.
ReplyDeleteHello Juan,
DeleteYour example is a good one in using the Empiricist/Behavior learning theory with a group of people. This, in my opinion, is one of the most effective and simple ways of controlling a large number of people. It is similar to traffic signals. No matter how many cars are there, everyone stops for a red. Everyone has to, and the only reminder drivers need is the color. It is classical conditioning.
I am wondering what would happen if the same supervisor is absent. Would the students lower their voices without the light going off? Or would they remind the extra supervisor to turn the light off? Also, it would be interesting to know what would happen if one of the children turns off the lights. Will this affect other students' behavior?
Fahad
Fahad,
DeleteYou bring up a great point, what happens if a different supervisor were to turn off the lights? Would it be as affective? As a matter of fact, the voices get lower quicker and faster when I (Principal) turn of the lights. This is not to say that the supervisor is not effective, but when the person with more authority exercises the stimuli, it has a large impact on student behavior.
During this activity, I found that there is a strong connection between the three learning theories and the four stages of competence: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence. I will explain this relationship during my observation of the theory.
ReplyDeleteAfter observing for the “Empiricist/Behaviorist” theory, I noticed a strategy that my friend uses when teaching his daughter who is 5 years old. He was teaching her how to count numbers and he found most difficult part for her to be the switch from 9 to 10, 19 to 20 and so on. So, what he did was count with his daughter the regular numbers then when it came to 9 or 19, he would change the intonation of his voice. When he did that, the daughter eventually knew that she had to switch to a new set of numbers. After some repetition, it became easier and easier for her to make the switch. This is like when Pavlov experimented with ringing the bell before feeding the dog. The bell ringing is the stimulus for the dog's salivation while the change in tone of voice is the stimulus for my friend's daughter's time to switch to the next set of numbers.
In this situation , my friend's daughter is in the first stage of competence, which is “unconscious incompetence” because she has no idea how to switch to the next ten numbers. Therefore, her father, whether he is aware of it or not, uses the “Empiricist/Behaviorist” theory to help his daughter move to the next stage of competence, which is “conscious incompetence.”
In response to Don's question re: conditioning to lights, in my experience it had to do with the age of the student and their previous experience with this form of conditioning. The older the student, the quicker the response. However I also noticed that form of conditioning typically required frequent reconditioning to obtain the desired response so it may well be for the older student that they eventually ignore the stimulus altogether.
ReplyDeleteIn my elementary school visits on Wednesday, I observed through the Empiricist lens. There were multiple examples of "stimulus response" observed from teachers gaining attention of students by ringing a bell, calling,"class" and the students responding,"we are the class" in unison while looking at the teacher.
ReplyDeleteIn another classroom the teacher used the phrase "get it got it good" to reinforce a skill or concept she wanted the students to get. Students would respond in unison,"get it got it good". When I asked students what they had "got" 9/10 said they had paid attention to the teacher but were unable to state what skill they were to learn through practice.
This reinforced the notion for me that "stimulus response " is not always an effective method for supporting deep learning,
Did the teacher have a learning target or objective posted? If they did, the students may have been better able to state what skill they were to learn.
DeleteI have been posting targets much more regularly in my room the last two years. I even post the targets on homework and classroom assignments.
Some kids don't pay attention to them, but every once in a while a parent or student is able to answer their own questions just by looking at the target.
My example is very simple and a common one I believe. My son is in the first grade and while visiting his classroom I realized quickly that there are many "stimulus response" queues. First graders have a lot of energy and quickly get off task. The students were wrapping up in activity and were in a transition. The teacher very quietly grabbed her selected reading for the day and sat down in her chair for reading time. With out saying a word the majority of the student quickly found a seat on the floor around the teacher. There were a few stragglers but, it was apparent that the student really loved this time and had been conditioned to finish whatever activity they may have been doing and grab a seat
ReplyDeleteHi Shawn,
DeleteWhat a good example. I found that students respond positively and with high frequency when they desire certain items of high value. K-2 kids will respond quickly with certain cues but it depends if they like it or not.
The other stimuli that you observed, were they as highly affective as the one you described?
I observed a language arts class. I arrived before the class started because I often like to see how teachers start their classes. I want to see how long it takes if there is a seamless transition and if all time is used to its fullest. On this day I observed Mrs. Dodds Film is Lit Class. I waited as the students trickled in before the bell rang. Once the bell rang most students were in their seats. Mrs. Dodds welcomed all the students took role and then proceeded to turn on some music and although it was fairly low it created a calm and warm environment in her classroom. Students immediately got up went to the cabinet and took out their journals and began to write. At one point a student came in late and went right to the cabinet to retrieve is journal and began writing as well. Without a word, Mrs. Dodds turned off the music and the students stopped writing, got up and returned the journals to the cabinet.
ReplyDeleteCarmen,
DeleteDid you observe the teacher use a different attention getting stimuli other than the music? Does the teacher use other stimuli?
I have been using a bell in my 4th/5th grade classroom to signal transitions this year. It has been effective in two areas this year, but has been failing in others.
ReplyDeleteIt is effective in signaling the end of break time. The bell rings and students put away their snacks, move to their desks, and look to the whiteboard for instructions. It has also been effective as a signal for students to stop their reading and start their reading responses.
In both situations, students have been active and are moving to another active behavior.
The bell fails when students are active and I am asking them to stop being active and listen. This makes sense to me now. They have been conditioned that the bell is a signal from one activity to the next.
To try and use it as a signal from one activity to silence will not work with every student.
I will need to use a more active call and response signal that engages them directly.
After reading most of the examples provided by the class, my observation seems to take a slightly different approach to the assignment. I looked at our PBIS program as an example of behaviorist theory in practice. Our staff members are choosing behaviors that they want students to repeat and are providing positive reinforcements to encourage these behaviors to continue. I’ve been seeing students non-stop in my office all week, so I haven’t had much time to go out and observe, so I interviewed several teachers at lunch today to see what situations they are reinforcing with PBIS tickets. All of the teachers I interviewed said they reinforce students when they have been helpful to others. One teacher is also reinforcing students when they turn their work in early. Another teacher gives PBIS tickets to students who are pro-active in requesting their work when they come back from an absence. Another teacher gave a PBIS ticket to every student in her first period class today. They are usually “a very squirrely class, but today they were totally on-task”. Although they get something tangible with their PBIS tickets, I believe the “real” prize is the attention, praise and approval they are getting from their teachers. Our PBIS conditioning is yet complete, but we’re working on it.
ReplyDeleteFor my watch I viewed a series of 3 videos by Tim Bedley showing a lesson in critical thinking in a classroom of mixed 4th/5th graders.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the usual raised hands for asking/answering questions, Bedley employed a suite of conditioned responses to structure class time and refocus students on the next task. For example, he clapped three times and said, "teach" and the students responded with three claps and, "OK." The students immediately moved on to the next part of the activity. Other commands inlcuded clap-clap-clap, "class" which was followed by clap-clap-clap, "yes" by the students.
An interesting feature of the conditioning used in this class is that students would also mimic changes to the sound of the command. In one case Bedely streched out the command "class" to a three syllable "cla-ah-as." The students responded with a "ye-e-es" mirroring his tempo.
What struck me most about the many different stimulus-responses used in the class was that they were only used to direct attention not in the actual learning activities the children were engaged in. These behaviorist strategies were very effective in keeping the lesson on track and on time and helping students rapidly transition, but were of no use in the critical thinking and idea generation that the children were engaged in.
I couldn't think of any good ways to bring these techniques into higher order learning. It seems to me that they are highly effective in focusing attention and eliciting quick behavior changes, but not in more complex learning.
from Beverly Krystosek
ReplyDeleteAfter reading most of the examples provided by the class, my observation seems to take a slightly different approach to the assignment. I looked at our PBIS program as an example of behaviorist theory in practice. Our staff members are choosing behaviors that they want students to repeat and are providing positive reinforcements to encourage these behaviors to continue. I’ve been seeing students non-stop in my office all week, so I haven’t had much time to go out and observe, so I interviewed several teachers at lunch today to see what situations they are reinforcing with PBIS tickets. All of the teachers I interviewed said they reinforce students when they have been helpful to others. One teacher is also reinforcing students when they turn their work in early. Another teacher gives PBIS tickets to students who are pro-active in requesting their work when they come back from an absence. Another teacher gave a PBIS ticket to every student in her first period class today. They are usually “a very squirrely class, but today they were totally on-task”. Although they get something tangible with their PBIS tickets, I believe the “real” prize is the attention, praise and approval they are getting from their teachers. Our PBIS conditioning is yet complete, but we’re working on it.
I observed a behavior support classroom in my building. The students in the class require extensive support to learn new behaviors or unlearn undesirable behaviors. What is different about these classrooms is the intensity and frequency required for a child to learn a new behavior. The motivation level fo each student is studied and dissected by the teacher. If he discovers that they have a specific interest, he uses it to his advantage. For example, if a student wants to play a specific video game he will have that student work on an aversive task like writing in order to receive video game time. Sometimes, earning points throughout the day on a piece of paper called a behavior card is enough. These students get a payoff by using the points. Sometimes it is as small as a rubber frog or a pencil, but it is a big payoff for them. These external motivators are not much different than Pavlov's dog food in that the motivation comes from the external reward. What is different for these students is that the conditioning takes much longer. Usually, the frequency of reward has to be increased to get the desired response. In addition, they need more than dog food to get motivated. High intensity visual stimuli in a video game is usually the ticket!
ReplyDeleteSurveying all of the comments and responses above reminds me too of the many things that I observe routinely as I visit classrooms. The stern look which refocuses students, the various tokens teachers give out in recognition of approved behavior, the intermittent rewards given to students "just for being good" are parts of many classrooms. I saw several examples of each just in the past two days: a piece of candy to the on-time students, a pencil given randomly to an on-task student, and "the look" a math teacher gave one table as they broke from their silent work. All these are part of the culture of purposeful classrooms.
ReplyDelete