We, as educators, face the challenge of achieving desired behaviors from our students daily. But, can we use principles pioneered by B.F. Skinner in the middle of the twentieth century? Scroll down to find out more.
Operant conditioning & Behavior Modification in the classroom
- Positive Reinforcement over Negative Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement strengthens a desired behavior by presenting something positive (reward, praise, etc.) directly after the behavior is achieved. Watch as this kindergarten teacher positively reinforces her students verbally.
Positive reinforcement strengthens a desired behavior by presenting something positive (reward, praise, etc.) directly after the behavior is achieved. Watch as this kindergarten teacher positively reinforces her students verbally.
- Shaping
Shaping behaviors is a technique used to teach complex behaviors by reinforcing successively harder behaviors leading up to the desired complex behavior. Teachers do this all the time, building on simple skills to help their students solve more and more difficult problems. Look at the activities on this webpage to try your hand at developing some simple shaping plans: Shaping Practice
OR shake your understanding of shaping, thinking of education, and shaping behavior by changing the design to connect experience and community to education, by looking through the lens of cinema and architecture:
Shaping behaviors is a technique used to teach complex behaviors by reinforcing successively harder behaviors leading up to the desired complex behavior. Teachers do this all the time, building on simple skills to help their students solve more and more difficult problems. Look at the activities on this webpage to try your hand at developing some simple shaping plans: Shaping Practice
OR shake your understanding of shaping, thinking of education, and shaping behavior by changing the design to connect experience and community to education, by looking through the lens of cinema and architecture:
Token Economy - Through the use of a token economy, students earn a "token" for performing desired behaviors which they can exchange for something that they want after reaching a certain number of "tokens". A key for teachers - students need to be able to earn something that they actually want! *Note the strong connection between behavioral psychology and motivation!*
An interesting example of something students are interested in - money! *Cha-ching*
An interesting example of something students are interested in - money! *Cha-ching*
Extinction - Extinction is one of many basic
behavioral principals that may be used to reduce
or eliminate an unwanted behavior. Extinction reduces behavior by abruptly
withdrawing or terminating the positive reinforcer that is supporting an
inappropriate target behavior. The thought is that by removing whatever helps maintain the negative behavior, it will stop. Some questions to consider before using the principle of extinction:
Additionally, the Motivational Assessment Scale (Durand, V.M.), which helps determine if the behavior is occurring because of sensory issues, difficulty with communication, avoidance behavior, or attention seeking behavior, in which case extinction may be helpful when dealing with the problem behavior - Motivational Assessment Scale
