Chapter 9

How would you define successful mastery of your lesson objectives from a behavioral view of learning?

Consider your CSEL intervention case study.  Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case?  What are they?

Even if I do not plan to focus my classroom material on a behavioral approach there will still be a behavioral agenda underlying all aspects of my classroom environment. When I use authentic activities in my classroom I am still conditioning the students on methods that they can use later on in life. I also hope that by all of my classroom interactions from lab experiments, reports, tests or science bowls can be used to help mold the students into individual's with a strong desire to learn. If my methods work then since learning is a behavior change from providing a long-term mental change from access to experience the students should be able to retain some of the course material. (Ormrod 286)

One behavioral view toward a classroom activity could be from a science bowl. Since I plan to quiz students in a science bowl setting instead of the usual quiz format I think the students should be able to develop their skills to a higher level. This will be a small team effort and each team would not only receive points for all correct answers given but if their team wins they would get to pick an item from the Schrödinger box. They may never know what the reward would be from the box but it could range from 5 minutes of down time, a pass which would allow them to skip one question on the upcoming test without loosing points or a snack price. This activity teaches them how to work together as a team and they will learn that even if work can be hard it can also be rewarding.

I really think that rewarding productive behaviors such as allowing a chance to pick from Schrödinger's box would help reinforce all their good work. Discouraging behaviors may be a little bit more difficult as I would like to have a very positive classroom. Let's say I have a student being destructive during a lab experiment. This student is slamming the cars used for the friction ramps down the ramps excessively hard and recklessly. I would first point out to the student that method is too rough on the lab equipment and they need to handle it with less force. If this does not correct the behavior then the student will be asked to sit out of this lab experiment and just observe unless they would like to alter their current method. If the student decides to sit out and observe then I would contact the students parents to explain what occurred and why the lab grade is reflected a lack of participation in this lab grade. (Side note the student would still be responsible to collect the data from the other students method, do the calculations and report their findings.) If this occurs again I would then plan a meeting with the students parents to discuss the behavior farther.