Behavioral Learning Theory: Operant Conditioning

Chapter 7: Summary

Operant Conditioning

1. Operant Conditioning (Skinner's theory): many of the voluntary responses of animals and humans are strengthened when they are reinforced (followed by a desirable consequence) and weakened when they are either ignored or punished. They learn to operate on their environment in order to obtain or avoid a particular consequence.
2. Basic principles of operant conditioning: Positive reinforcement (strengthening a target behavior by presenting a positive stimulus); Negative reinforcement (same as positive except a desirable stimulus is removed); punishment (weaken a target behavior by presenting an averise stimulus after the behavior occurs); time-out (weaken a target behavior by temporarily removing a positive reinforcer); extinction (weaken a target behavior by ignoring it); Spontaneous recovery (extinguished behaviors may reappear spontaneously); Generalization ( responding in similar wasy to similar stimuli); discrimination (responding in different ways to similar stimuli); shaping (complex behaviors are shaped by reinforcing closer approximations to terminal behavior)
3. Continuous reinforcement-learning proceeds best when every desired response is positively reiforced and every undesired response is ignored
4. Fixed interval schedule- reinforce after regular time intervals
5. Variable interval schedule- reinforce after random time intervals
6. Fixed ratio schedule- reinforce after a set number of responses
7. Variable ration schedule- reinforce after a different number of responses each time

Educational Applications of Operant Conditioning Principles:

1. 4 prescriptions about operant conditioning and education: (1) Be clear about what is to be taught (2) Teach first things first (3) Allow students to learn at their own rate (4) Program the subject matter
2. These ideas became the basis for 2 educational applications: (1) computer-based instruction (2) behavior modification (a set of procedures for helping students learn appropriate classroom behaviors)
3. Computer-Based Instruction (CBI) or computer-assisted instruction (CAI)
4. 3 CBI programs: Drill-and-practice programs (sets of relatively simple exercises and problems that they practice knowledge and skills learned earlier); Simulation programs (microworlds or problem-solving programs; artificial environments that mimic the real world); Tutorial programs (programs that mimic what a teacher does in class by teaching students new information and skills in a methodical, step-by-step approach)
5. Tutorial and simulation programs produce higher achievement thatn conventional instruction
6. Integrated Learning systems (ILS): software packages that combine tutorial programs based on operant conditioning principles with programs that keep track over time of student performance and provide feedback to both the student and the teacher (comprehensive, self-paced learning system)
7. Behavior modification- the use of operant conditioning techniquest to modify behavior
8. Contingency management- using these techniques to manage behavior by making rewards contingent on certain actions
9. Techniques applied to strengthen behaviors: shaping, token economies, and contingency contracts
10. Shaping: (1) select the target behavior (2) obtain reliable baseline data (3) select potential reinforcers (4) reinforce successive approximations of the target behavior each time they occur (5) reinforce the newly established target behavior each time it occurs (6) reinforce the target behavior on a variable reinforcement schedule
11. Reinforcers for elementary: stickers, verbal praise, smiles, classroom priviledges; reinforcers for middle school and high school: letter or numerical grades, material incentives, and privately given praise
12. Premack Principle: they are told that they will able to indulge in one of these activities for a stated period of time after they have completed a set of instructional objectives
13. Token economies: where something that has little to no value but can be used to "purchase" things that do have inherent value (a flexible reinforcement system)
14. Contingency contracting: reinforcement supplied after student completes mutually agreed-on assignment
15. Techniques that weaken behaviors: extinction and punishment
16. Extinction, time-out, and response cost: time-out works best with disruptive, aggressive children; response cost (it involves the removal of a stimulus and is often used with a token economy; a certain percentage of what has been earned will be taken away)
17. Punishment: research is unclear about strength of negative effects of coporal punishment

Suggestions for Teaching in Your Classroom p. 237-241

1. Remain aware that behavior is the result of particular conditions (make sure you are not rewarding them for misbehavior)
2. Use reinforcement and use it approximately to strengthen behaviors you want to encourage (use the weakes reward available to strengthen a behavior, when possible avoid using rewards as incentives, reward at a high rate in the early stages of learning and reduce frequency of rewards as learning processes, reward only the behavio you want repeated, remember what works for one may not work for another, set standards so that success is a realistic possibility for each student, and an often-mentioned goal of teachers is to have students become motivated or to take personal pride and satisfaction in simply doing something well
3. Take advantage of knowledge about the impact of different reinforcement schedules to encourage persistent and permanent learning (when students first attempt a new kind of learning, supply frequent reinforcement and then supply rewards less often; if you want to encourage periodic spurts of activity, use a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement)
4. Give students opportunities to make overt responses, and provide prompt feedback (require students to make frequent, overt, and relevant responses; provide feedback so that correct responses will be reinforced and students will become aware of and correct errors)
5. When students must struggle to concentrate on material that is not intrinsically interesting, use special forms of reinforcement to motivate them to persevere. (select with student assistance a variety of reinforcers; establish in consultation with individual students an initial contract of work to be performed to earn a particular reward; once the initial reward is earned, establish a series of short contracts leading to frequent immediate rewards)

Using Computer-Based Instruction in Your Classroom

1. Recognize that out of the thousands of instructional programs that are on the market, most have such significant shortcomings in their design that they are not worth using
2. Websites to help you get started: www.epie.org/epie_tess.htm (The educational software selector); www.clrn.org/home (California learning resource network); www.lrt.ednet.ns.ca (learning resources and technology resources); www.kathyschrock.net/lcomputer (software evaluation tool and resources); www.worldvillage.com/softwarereviews/educational.html (World Village educational reviews)
3. Recognize that it cannot substitute for high-quality classroom teaching

Weekly Question: Looking at both positive (PR) and negative reinforcement (NR), think about how you remember these being used when you were going to school. Write those examples down. How will you use positive and negative reinforcement in your "classroom" when you become a teacher? Give examples of PR and NR as related to your "classroom" in the future - relate these examples to concepts that you can remember.

Weekly Question answer and Life Experiences:

I use operant conditioning and many of the principles that go with it everyday such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, shaping, time-out, extinction, and others. I just have never thought of it that way until I read this chapter. We all do it if we work with kids or if we have kids of our own. We just think of it sometimes as bribery instead of positive reinforcement. When I was in school the teachers use it too. If we worked hard and were good then we received special priviledges or small rewards. Our schools now rewards our students who work hard all year and get good grades with awards and certificates. They used to reward with food but that has now changed due to nutritional guidelines. I reward my students with frequent praise and small treats. But they also do not receive those if they do not do as they are supposed to.

Blog:

In every chapter I find new ideas or new techniques to use with my students. This blog helps me to keep track of them. It also makes me be more dedicated to learning new information. I think that too many times after teachers have taught a few years they just get in a certain groove and never straw from it. I see teachers everyday that just will not go out of their way to help certain students because it just takes too much effort. I CAN'T STAND THAT!!! They are still using the same techniques that they learned when they went to college it seems like. So hopefully by working on this blog it will help me to never be like those teachers.

Educational Blog:

I just never cease to be amazed at all the wonderful information that I find in my educational blog that I am following. It is so great that I recommended it to the Speech Language Pathologist that I work with everyday. She has over 27 years experience and she still reads up on new things. She loved it too. I found a link on it to a great website by another SLP. This website contained some neat new strategies that I have never heard of to help students pick up certain sounds much quicker by fluctuating back and forth with sounds that are familiar (ex. hat/cat; bat/cat {working on /k/ sound}). Her blog for today deals with "supporting change" and what to do about it. Everyone needs to read it. She also had one yesterday about "embracing change". They were both really good articles to make you think. On October 6, she discussed a SLP's role in a child's education. If a student is having trouble with speech or language, their whole educational experience will also be affected if not dealt with correctly. Every SLP needs to read it because it really makes you think about how important an SLP's job is for a student to succeed in life.

Discussions:

Not everyone has responded or replied to the discussion boards so I will come back and add this part later.

Software Programs that range in drills, tutorials, simulations, and games: p.243

1. Operation: Frog (Scholastic)
2. My Reading Coach (Mindplay educational software)
3. Oregon Trail (the learning company)
4. Great Solar System rescue (Scholastic)
5. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (the learning company)