BEHAVIOURIST APPROACHES
TO LEARNING AND
TEACHING
Education Foundations, Sec., Week 5, Semester 1,
2012
Overview
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 Stimulus and response
mechanism
 External and observable
behaviour
 Contiguity
 Classical conditioning
 Operant conditioning
What is learning?
Behaviourist view of learning
Key premises and concepts
Knowledge, learning, and
motivation
Applications in classroom
 Learning objectives
 Task breakdown
instructions – Explicit and
 Modelling and thinking aloud
direct instructions
 Practice and drilling
 Kinaesthetic activities
Behaviourist approach to
 Constant formative feedback
classroom management
 Group consequences
Advantages and limitations
 Token economy
 Contracts
 Reinforcement
and punishment
 Learning as ab-c
What is learning?
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The parrot’s learning to count/ greet
Learning to smoke
Learning the lyrics of the Sesame Street song
Learning to ride a bike
Learning English, maths, history, …
Learning the times tables / a formula / an
algorithm
Learning about thinking, learning, and self
Learnt helplessness
…
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Permanent change rather than
temporary
Assimilation or adaptation
Due to experience rather than
natural maturation
Definitions of learning and
underlying epistemologies
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Behavioural, psychological, or
psychical?
Conscious and rational, subconscious,
or holistic?
Behaviourist view of learning
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Change in behaviour
Subject to active control and
shaping by external factors
Outcome-orientation
Key premises and concepts
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Psychology as the science of stimulus
and response
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and
my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll
guarantee to take any one at random and train him
to become any type of specialist I might select—
doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even
beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents,
penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race
of his ancestors” (Watson,1930, p.82).
John B. Watson
(1878-1958)
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Focuses on objectively
observable and measurable
actions and behaviour
“The mentalistic problem can be avoided by
going directly to the prior physical causes while
bypassing intermediate feelings or states of mind.
The quickest way to do this is to confine oneself
to … only those facts which can be objectively
observed in the behavior of one person in its
relation to his prior environmental history. If all
linkages are lawful, nothing is lost by neglecting
a supposed nonphysical link” (Skinner, 1976,
p.23).
Burrhus F. Skinner
(1904-1990)
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Contiguity principle
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Learning by association
Formation of S-R relation
Classical conditioning
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Pavlov’s dog experiment
Involuntary (emotional or physiological)
association / responses
Unconditioned association:
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Neutral stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned response
Conditioned association:
 Conditioned stimulus
 Conditioned response
Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936)
What are the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR in this ad?
Operant conditioning
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Behaviour as operants rather
than respondents
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Thorndike’s cats
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Skinner’s pigeons
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Reinforcement
Positive
 Negative
Schedule
 Continuous
 Intermittent – fixed or unpredictable
a)
Interval
b)
ratio
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Punishment
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Learning as a-b-c (antecedent-behaviour-consequence)
Knowledge, Learning, and Motivation
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Knowledge: a repertoire of
behaviours or behavioural
capacities
Learning: formation of
appropriate S-R association
Motivation: schedules of
positive and negative
reinforcement
Behaviourist principles of classroom instruction
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Explicit and direct instructions
Clear communication of learning objectives (Kizlik, 2012;
Linder-Crow, 2000)
1)objective
Focus on student
rather Good
than theobjective
teacher
Bad
statements
statements
To acquaint students with
Students will be able to
behaviourist learning
identify 3 behaviourist
theories
learning principles
To familiarise students with Students will be able to
neo-behavourist learning
describe neo-behaviourist
theories
learning theories
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Learning objectives as behavioural antecedents
2) Contain action words (verbs) of behavioural goal
Students will understand the
rhythm of the poem by Edgar
Allen Poe.
Students will appreciate the
composition of English words.
Students will be able to
describe and demonstrate with
a percussion instrument the
rhythm of the poem.
Students will be able to apply
the rules of word composition.
When asked, ‘Is cttn an English
word?’, students will reply, ‘No,
because it has no vowels. All
English words must have at least
one vowel.’
Task breakdown
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Task analysis
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Task analysis
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Behaviour modelling
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Skinner’s pigeons video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erhmslcHvaw&feature=re
lated
Thinking aloud and justify thinking rationale
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Explicit teaching video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h4q-bok644
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Practice and drilling (first 1.5 minutes)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwODCQ9BnU&feature
=related
Using kinaesthetic movements to help retention
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yStzJjLXdxM
Using paper folding to do multiplication by fractions
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Monitoring and constant formative feedback
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Formative feedback video (2 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY0U7axgdHY&feature
=related
Behaviourist approach to classroom management
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Group consequences
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Token economy programs
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Rewards or punishments given to a class
/group as a whole for adhering to or violating
rules of conduct
Good behaviour game
Tokens earned for academic work and positive
classroom behaviour can be exchanged for
desired reward.
Contracts
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Agreement between teacher and student
specifying behaviour and its reward or
punishment
Advantages of behaviourist instructions
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Effective strategies for teaching action sequences
that need to be automated
Widely applied in teaching young students and
students with LD
Effects in eliminating SES-related differences of
school achievement
Limitations
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Dependence on extrinsic forms of reinforcement
Neglect of complex thinking processes leading to
behavioural performance
References
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Kizlik, B. (2012) How to write learning objectives that meet
demanding behavioural criteria,
www.adprima.com/objectives.htm
Linder-Crow, J. (2000) Writing behavioural leaning objectives
and assessment,
http://www.apa.org/ed/sponsor/about/faq/objectives.pdf
Skinner, B. F. (1976) About Behaviorism, Vintage Books, New
York.
Watson, J. B. (1930) Behaviorism, University of Chicago Press,
Chicago.