Behavioural Learning Theory
According to behaviorist theory, learning is an observable change in behavior. Behaviorists believe that the only way to evaluate when learning takes place is by observing and measuring changes in student behavior.
Basic assumptions of behavioral learning theory;
1. Learning is the acquisition of new behavior through conditioning.
2. Learning is exhibited by a change in behavior.
3. Learning is largely the result of environmental events.
4. The principles of contiguity and reinforcement are central to explaining the learning process.
Advocates and Theorists
The famous theorists are B.F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov.
Ivan Pavlov and Classical Conditioning:
He was born on September 14, 1849. Died on February 27, 1936,
It is an association of automatic responses with new stimuli. It was discovered in the 1920s by Ivan Pavlov. Through the process of classical conditioning, humans and animals can be trained to respond involuntarily to a stimulus that previously had no effect on them.
For example: When the sound of a bell alone stimulates saliva flow in dogs.
B.F Skinner and Operant Conditioning:
He was born on March, 20, 1904. Died on August 18, 1990.
All human learning is not so unintentional and all behaviors are not automatic as well. Human learn to behave in certain ways as they actively operate (work) on the environment. Operant conditioning is“learning in which voluntary behavior is strengthened or weakened by consequences or antecedents” (Wolford, p.205).
Antecedents: Events that precedes an action.
Consequences: Events that follows an action
Operant Conditioning Concepts:
1. Reinforcement
Reinforcement is any stimulus that strengthens the operant response it follows. There are two types of reinforcement. They are:
(a) Positive reinforcement
It is defined as a stimulus that strengthens an operant response when it is presented after the response
(b) Negative reinforcement
It is defined as a stimulus that strengthens an operant response when it is taken away after the response.
2. Punishment: Aversive stimulusthat follows an undesirable behavior, and is intended to decrease or eliminate the occurrence of that behavior. There are two types of punishment. They are:
(a) Positive punishment: It is defined as a stimulus that weakens an operant response when it is presented after the response.
(b) Negative punishment: It is defined as a stimulus that weakens an operant response when it is taken away after the response.
Application in Learning and Teaching
1. Breaking down the skills and information to be learned into small units.
2. Checking student's work regularly and providing feedback as well as encouragement (reinforcement).
3. Teaching "out of context." Behaviorists generally believe that students can be taught best when the focus is directly on the content to be taught. Behavioral instruction often takes the material out of the context in which it will be used.
4. Direct or "teacher centered" instruction. Lectures, tutorials, drills, demonstrations, and other forms of teacher controlled teaching tend to dominate behavioral classrooms.
References:
Behavioural theories. Retrieved from http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/behavior.htm
Woolfolk,A. (2001), Behavioral Views of Learning. In Woolfolk, A. (Ed.) Educational Psychology, Allyn and Bacon.
