As an educator, it is exciting to see the amount of time and effort people put forth in attempting to develop effective instructional strategies. I am sometimes overwhelmed by the number of strategies that are out there and wonder which works best, how it works, and why it works.
This week, I have had the opportunity to read over several instructional strategies and examine how they correlate with the principles of the behaviorist learning theory. These strategies are designed to enhance student learning while having the students involved in the lesson. Each of these strategies makes great use of technology and guides students in achieving higher levels of performance both socially and academically.
The first strategy that correlates with the principles of the behaviorist learning theory is called reinforcing effort. This strategy requires students to keep track of the amount of effort they put towards their learning in a spreadsheet that then compares it to the frequency of how well they performed in relation to their effort. The students can then convert their spreadsheets to charts where they can view these connections. According to Dr. Orey, “Behaviorist techniques have long been employed in education to promote behavior that is desirable and discourage that which is not (Orey, M., 2001).” This correlates with the behaviorist theory because it shows the students that their performance and grades are a direct reflection of their effort and therefore reinforces positive behavior.
Multimedia and web resources are two ways students can enhance their learning of a particular concept or skill. These are both meant to help students practice key concepts and skills while using multimedia to enhance learning. One of the most effective tools is provided through the use of teacher or student made PowerPoint games (Marzano, R, 2007, p194). The games are created as a way for students to learn while having fun at the same time. Generally the games are an extension of the concepts being taught and are again used to reinforce concepts and skills. One such web resources can be interactive web sites such as BrainPOP. Students are able to use the site to practice skill building and development. These strategies also provide scaffolding that then helps the student understand the concept better. Additionally, students are able to work at their own pace while continuing to develop skills that best fit their needs.
There are many strategies out there that focus on enhancing learning, however, these strategies are meant to help students understand concepts through reinforcement. Although these resources designed to be used in the classroom, they have the flexibility of being used at home as well. What is good for the classroom can also be good for the home.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
I agree that multimedia and web resources can be used to enhance learning through student involvement. The suggestions given in the reference readings were very practical. I like the use of scaffolding software that allows students more of a challenge as they learn the concepts. How much of these web resources are you allowed to use?
ReplyDeleteI bet letting my high school students design a PowerPoint game would be interesting and they would do a better job than I. Each class could make a game for another class and then they could play them and critique them for creativity, learning vale and fun. I'm not sure how to start, but it would be a neat project. Cathy
ReplyDeleteMy students love to play Powerpoint games. I found a very affordable buzzer system that allows me to create a gameshow format for the games. It is called eggspert. It has six buzzers that offer several different game modes. When we review material for a test we use them. Behaviorist style technologies are great for reviewing content.
ReplyDeleteDonna,
ReplyDeleteI am able to access anything from the internet and project it to my SmartBoard, however, my students are not allowed to access the internet on their own at all. This makes it really hard to utilize many of these resources to their potential and on an individual basis. My school has plans on adopting an intranet, but I cannot even begin to dream when this is going to happen. Thanks for the post.
Cathy,
ReplyDeleteHaving your students create games in competition with another class sounds really fun. Honestly, if I were to do that, I would come up with a topic and set some guidelines and let the students be the creative ones. I taught an economics class one summer and instead of giving a final exam, I assigned a final project. The project consisted of the students creating a board game that could be used to teach middle school students basic concepts in economics. To my surprise, the students came up with games that I would consider mass producing for the world to play. They were original, creative, fun, and most of all, educational. I feel that your students would produce the same results if you gave them the opportunity to create a game - you might be surprised...try it, what is the worst that could happen, they are not what you anticipated?!
Darryl,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the buzzer information - I have always wanted to get my hands on buzzers for when my students play jeopardy. You might be interested in visiting Jeopardylabs.com - it is a site where you can create jeopardy games, however, it is the easiest system I have ever worked with.
Hi, J.Salomon
ReplyDeleteNice Blog and interesting post, we are all in the same page about the relationship between behaviorism theory and learning strategies, at the beginning we though that were not connected but after our research we all are agree that are definitely connected.
I would like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts with you and with the world regarding this topic. The instructional strategies described in the resources that we explore correlate with the principles of behaviorist learning theories. The following statements showed the similarities between instructional strategies and behaviorism theory.
Correlating Reinforcing Effort Strategies (RES) and Behaviorism Learning Theory. (BLT)
I find out that: RES Enhance student's understanding of relationship between effort and achievement by addressing attitude and beliefs about learning, based on taking notes, paying attention, participating, studying etc. BLT: Enhance student's understanding of relationship between active learner versus passive learner based on repetition, generalization, discrimination, frequent practice etc. RES: reinforcement is a powerful tool. BLT: reinforcement is a powerful tool. RES: key is believe in effort and keep track of it to acquire skill learning. BLT: Key is Believe in effort with frequent practice to acquire learning skills. RES: Important tool is integrating technology on activities. BLT: Important tool is also integrating technology on activities.
Correlating Homework and Practice (HAP) and Behaviorism Learning Theory. (BLT).
The following statements shown that learning strategies and behaviorism theory are connect; get your own thought. HAP: Reinforce students understanding of the content to gain proficiency with their skills by repetition. BLT: Reinforce student's understanding of the content with frequent practices to gain strengthened or skills. HAP: Amount of homework should be differentiating according to grade level. BLT: Amount of homework should be fair among grade levels. HAP: Involves observable behavior as who did homework and who did not. BLT: Uses observable behaviors rather than though. HAP: Establish a homework policy. BLT: States that activity should be programmed and focused on objective. HAP: Homework should be clear and follow up with feed back. BLT: Help when activities are clear and when the active learner has feed back. HAP: Focused on learning styles uses technology to differentiate instructions and have an engage learning environment. BLT: Focused in having active learners uses technology in the classroom to have students engage.
Juan Delgado