Behaviorism and Classroom Practice

The two teaching practices that were discussed in this week’s reading were homework and practice and reinforcing effort.  Both of these teaching strategies line up with behaviorist theory, and both offer a great opportunity for technology integration.   

First of all, let’s take a look at homework and practice.  According to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007), the idea behind homework and practice is to have the students take another look at the material they have already learned.  Hartley stated that one of the key principles of behaviorist theory as it pertains to education is that repetition necessary (as cited in Smith, 2009).  Homework provides students with varied repetition that is necessary to develop the desired response, which is mastery of the material.  In addition, Smith (2009) states that the behavior is more important in the behaviorist model than the underlying thought behind the behavior.  Homework and practice also lines up with this principle.  When looking at homework, what to teachers usually look at?  They check to see if the students have developed the behavior which is the correct answer.  The process whereby the student derived the answer is pushed to the background. 

When considering homework and practice, one of the ideas that makes learning prevalent is that the practice is done in a variety of ways.  This is an obvious place to utilize technology.  As an example, I will use a Spanish 1 assignment.  When learning to conjugate –ar­  verbs, I could assign my students a series of verb charts that they must fill in.  Or, to be more effective, I could have them complete an online activity, practice verb conjugations with various apps on their iPod, or have them collaborate through a wiki to develop a guide to conjugating –ar verbs.  Technology gives the teacher options that will allow the practice to be varied and effective. 

Reinforcing effort also demonstrates a parallel to behaviorist thought.   According to Standridge (2002), consequences and reinforcement are two essential elements to behaviorism in the classroom.  Some students do not realize that effort is essential to learning (Pitler et al., 2007).  Because this is true, the behaviorist ideals of using reinforcement can be utilized to develop a student’s understanding of effort.  For example, when a student asks the inevitable question “Why should I do my homework?”, I could offer negative reinforcement and tell them that if they do complete all of their homework assignments then they will be given an advantage on the exam. 

Technology can be greatly utilized when attempting to help students recognize and record effort.  A simple spreadsheet could be used to have students record the effort that they give over a period of time.  I could even see the benefits of using a site like polleverywhere.com to ask the students to respond about their efforts through a survey. 

In review, both homework and practice and reinforcing effort demonstrate that behaviorist ideas can still be used effectively in the classroom.  They also provide tremendous opportunities for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom.  Some of the best approaches in education are the same ones that have been around forever.  The only difference is that now they can be done in a modern way that appeals to learners, but still accomplishes learning. 

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with

classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The behaviourist orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of

informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm, Last update: September 3, 2009.

Standridge, M.. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on

learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <insert date>, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/