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Some people believe that knowledge is an entity that is fixed and cannot be expanded, whereas others believe that it is incremental, it can be increased with effort (Pink, 2009). According to Skinner, acquiring new knowledge is something that takes a process, in which can lead to an increase in students’ cognitive development. Skinner believed that students learn by strategic instructions from their teachers. Thus, many teachers should be taught the proper methods of effectively teaching their students. Skinner said, “Teachers must learn how to teach, and they must be taught by schools of education” (p. 950).
Skinner believed that teachers should act as the main functioning tool for presenting new information to their students. As a behaviorist, he viewed that once the teacher is effective with how he or she teaches, the students will respond accordingly. He explained, “A student is “taught” in a sense that he is induced to engage in new forms of behavior and in specific forms upon specific occasions” (Skinner, 1958, p. 970). For instance, when there are grammatical and contextual errors on the response papers we do for class, adequate feedback and guidance from the teacher helps to improve those errors in the future. Therefore, teaching is about shaping the behavior of students to improve their process of learning.
Furthermore, Skinner acknowledged that even the most skillful teacher who has received the proper training for teaching his or her class is not able to teach all students in the class to be able to fully grasp on the material. Thus, there are many students that are taught simultaneously, and they all have different levels of processing information. Even William James mentioned in one of his chapters in Talks to Teachers that it is impossible for teachers to gain the interest of every student (James, 1899/2001). Also, it is implausible for all students to learn effectively through a teacher’s skillful instruction.
After reading Skinner’s article, William James’ belief on habit and free will constantly popped in my mind. William James did not think of free will as being something people have much of, and B.F. Skinner did not believe that it existed. William James thought that teachers should teach their students good habits in order for them to gain knowledge. While Skinner believed that students and teachers should be taught the proper behaviors to effectively functioning tools in their positions. Thus, a teacher’s behavior is shaped by being taught how to teach and a student’s behavior is being shaped by being taught how to learn. The question is, how does molding the behavior of students and teachers not interfere with their creativity?
References
James, W. (1899/2001). Talks to teachers on psychology and to students on some of life's ideals.
Mineola, NY: Dover. ISBN: 0486-41964-9
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY:
Riverhead.
Skinner, B.F. (1958). Teaching machine. Science, 128, 969-977
You raise an interesting point that Skinner suggested that not all teachers can effectively teach all students. How would a behaviorist explain this fact?
ReplyDeleteIts very interesting that you should mention where Skinner and James' views are so parallel to each other. I agree with you that they both acknowledge that students are different in how they process information and learn and that not even the best teacher can teach a class of diverse learners. Skinner went on to say however, that instruction should be individualized for each student. Your final question on creativity though makes me wonder as well how this plays into the equation of what behaviorists believe. According to behaviorists learning occurs when a new behavior or a change in behavior is acquired as the result of an individual’s response to stimuli. Creativity as I know it is a persons ability to think of alternative solutions or come up with new products or ideas. I think of engineers as good examples of creative individuals. These individuals are not being taught how to learn through the shaping of their behaviors. They are learning as a result of being acted upon by an external stimuli. So maybe in this instance they are being creative because they are using the thing that is outside of them to manipulate it and come up with the creative ideas. So, do you believe that behaviorism takes away the creativity? and In a sense do you believe that creativity is a result of a person's free will?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting you raised the question of creativity in your response. I am curious, is creativity something that is taught? If creativity is taught, can a teaching machine teach creativity to students? If creativity cannot be taught, then how it is learned? I do not think creativity, as a sole entity or concept, can be taught like grammar rules or math equations. I think creativity deals more with associations and experiences. This belief is in parallel to James, who believed that the more associations a person had, the more connections a person could make, the better learner the person would be. It is our ability to connect and associate that helps us be creative. Along these lines then, I would argue that creativity must be taught as a concept and then connections/associations must be explored with regard to creativity. I definitely agree that creativity is a necessary skill and one that makes someone a better learner.
ReplyDeleteI believe that behaviorism hinders creativity because it takes away people's autonomy to explore at their greatest potential. I do not think that people learn how to be creative, it is something that is innatley in them, yet it can be enhanced through autonomy. In order for some engineers to use the external objects in various ways, I believe comes from their own creative minds and not because of the object itself. At the same time, nothing is fully original anymore, many of our ideas come from others' from our past, we just create things within it to enhance it or upgrade it. When you look at past artisits like Pablo Picass who have created great art work, there were no regulations that he had to go through, nor was there any molding of his behavior.
ReplyDeleteDr. Usher,
ReplyDeleteA behaviorist may explain that all students cannot be taught effectively at once because every student has a different way learning. It is impossible to accomodate everyone's learning all at once when you have several students in a classroom.