Behaviorism in the 21st Century

Though the behaviorist learning theory is supposedly out of style, there are important concepts that will always be part of education. The benefits of behaviorist instructional methods to teach the lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxomony seem obvious since repetition is necessary for some skills. Parents and teachers both instinctively and intentionally use behaviorist methods to reward and encourage certain behaviors. Additionally homework and practice fall within behaviorist learning theories and those methods are not only accepted but expected in education.

Technology can bring the drill and practice methods into the 21st century. Games and software can make repetitive practices more engaging for students and easier for teachers to implement. Software can gave the user immediate feedback and calculate the results of the practice for the teacher.

McREL’s research supports the need for teachers to not only reward effort, but to teach students about the benefits of effort (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). Dweck’s research correlates the belief in a set ability or intelligence that discounts the value of effort is detrimental to a student’s growth and learning (Krakovsky, 2007). Behaviorist theories are important to understand as negative behaviors can be invertently taught as well as positive ones. We are now learning about the dangers of overpraise when that praise is not aligned with a desired behavior. In other words, using a behaviorism method without giving the child the ability to repeat the behavior is detrimental to the child’s growth. Dweck demonstrated the harm done by focusing praise on the child’s ability rather than the effort during a research study in New York public schools (Bronson, 2007). In summary, students who were praised for their efforts at a task continued to improve their results on subsequent tasks. Conversely students praised for their intelligence in solving the first task choose the easy way out in subsequent tasks.

Some time-tested techniques will never be replaced, but educators can use research on the brain and learning to best understand how to use the techniques effectively and can marry those best practices with technology to engage the learners in their own learning experience.

Bronson, P. (2007, Feb. 11). How Not To Talk To Your Kids. New York Magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/.

Krakovsky, M. (2007). The Effort Effect. Stanford Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.htm.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.