Courtney OConnor

#66776063
ETEC 512 64A
September 14, 2014

Thought Paper #1
It has been argued that although behaviourist principles can be used in an educational
setting, it is more about modifying/controlling the behaviours associated with learning,
not necessarily the mechanics of learning. In other words, behaviourist classroom
management techniques likely help create an appropriate learning environment or
behaviours that are conducive for learning to occur, but are not as useful for describing
how or why the learning has or hasn't occurred. Based on this week's readings, as well as
the video you watched, indicate whether you agree or disagree with this.

After the readings and the video this week, I agree with this statement. As stated
by Stanridge, it is actions and other observable and measureable aspects of human
behavior, rather than thoughts or emotions that are the object of study in behaviorism.
While learning can be displayed through actions, sometimes this is not always the case.
As a result, it is difficult to determine how or why learning occurs when you cannot
observe specific actions and thoughts. Alternatively if a teacher does not measure
learning properly after consequences or reinforcements it becomes difficult to assess the
reliability and the validity of learning that did or did not occur.
Another instance that makes it difficult to determine whether behaviorism
contributes to the mechanics of learning is that each student learns differently. It would
require a substantive amount of time and research to determine how and why
behaviorism did or did not contribute to learning, especially in the case of individual
learning.

Both the video and article by Fudge et al. provided instances of behaviorisms
success in improving behavior within a classroom. However, each case also raised
multiple questions and concerns. For example, in Fudge et al., the study was not designed
to determine which component of the color wheel caused the change in behavior. In Ms.
Whites classroom it was unclear if the students were warned as to why they were being
filmed. As a result, the camera in the room could have affected their behavior.
While the article by Fudge et al. and the video provided some insight into what a
classroom is like when behaviorism techniques are established, I believe that further
longitudinal studies and experiments are needed in order to establish whether how or why
learning has or hasnt occurred.

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