Behaviorism in Practice
Behaviorism still has a place in today's classrooms. We may be working with digital learners or millenium students towards the skills needed for the 21st century, but without a solid base of knowledge, students cannot move to the higher levels of thinking. The principles of behaviorist learning theory utilize reinforcement of skills through practice. Addition and multiplication facts need to be memorized before a student can apply knowledge to word problems. Students need to practice decoding skills before they can read for comprehension.
This week I read about "Reinforcing Effort" in the book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.(Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007). Getting my students to equate effort with achievement has always been hard because I have not had a concrete example to show them. I teach third grade and feel that my students would benefit from gathering data about their effort and achievement. We use rubrics for writing so it would be easy to create a rubric for effort. Creating graphs is a standard for third grade math so I could combine them together into one lesson.
The second chapter I read this week was about "Homework and Practice." "Having students practice a skill or concept enhances their ability to reach the expected level of profiency" (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007). Students need to practice the skills learned at school. They should be able to complete the assignment with minimal help from their parents and the assignment should center on a specific skill. The resources discussed in the chapter fit within the behaviorist theory for several reasons. First, the word processing application gives feedback for spelling, grammar, and word level so the student can change the document before it is printed. Second, spreadsheets also give feedback because the data is turned into a chart or graph for analyzation. Third, multimedia and web resources provide reinforcement/practice/tutorials to assist students in learning.Overall, I believe the behaviorism still plays a role with homework assignments in the classroom.
Below are a list of sites researched by the third grade team at my school.
The game TimezAttack is terrific. It is one students love because it is basically a video game where you type math facts to get through the levels and destroy the ogre.
AAA Math: Hundreds of pages of basic math skills, interactive practice on every page, an explanation of the math topic on each page, and several challenge games on every page.
Kids Bank: Guided by Penny, Dollar Bill, Interest Ray, and Checks, students will learn about money, savings, interest, checking, and electronic banking in this very interactive site. There are quizzes and games that help students review what they learn during the tours.
Math Baseball: This game provides students with a fun way to practice basic facts.
Multiplication: On-line flash card games.
Cool Math: Great math games, puzzles, and homework help. This site makes
math fun!)
Resources
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. om
First off, I want to say that I completely agree with your thoughts on having students graph or track their personal progress. My students have a "data binder" and we get these binders out each Monday. My students graph their scores for their spelling test, reading test, reading level, and math comupterized test. Even though my students are young, they can visually see their progress and if it went up or down.
ReplyDeleteI also keep a data sheet for homework. I think homework is very important because students must practice concepts learned in order to retain the information. I really liked the quote, "Having students practice a skill or concept enhances their ability to reach the expected level of profiency" (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007). I thought this quite was appropriate and I believe practicing at home is just as important as participating in classroom activities.
Lastly, I spent some time checking out the websites that were listed and I love them. Your 3rd grade team have some very wonderful and engaging websites that will aid in making some of the "drill and practice" skills not so boring.
I teach second grade and I have started to use rubrics in my classroom as well. Before I started to use them, I thought that they would be hard for my students to understand and use. Many times my students would rush and try to finish quickly. I decided to try rubrics and they have worked well for me. I have noticed that my students put in more effort when they know what scores they will get for certain work. You said you use rubrics as well. Have you ever used RubiStar? Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://rubistar.4teachers.org/
I've used it a few times and it works pretty well. Just thought I would share it with you incase you have not seen it before.
I was also thinking about trying to incorporate graphing into my classroom to share data from scores and effort. I think it would be beneficial for my students to see how effort can increase scores. I am thinking it would be interesting to use it for maybe addition and subraction facts practice. Many of them do not see how more practice time can help them to pass certain levels.
Also, thanks for the great technology resources. They look great!
Mrs. Rosa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I agree that these activities should be done primarily by the students to reinforce a skill. I also agree that certain skills need to be learned before students can advance to more critical thinking.
I want to encourage my sixth graders to chart their grades so they can see the relationship between their effort and achievement. It is an activity that will not take very long, but it may be very beneficial to some to track their progress. I plan on using this idea next year.