Behaviorism in the Classroom

Prepared by April Deyo

Three Productive ways to implement Behaviorism into the classroom

• Use behaviorism to teach students what behaviors are or are not appropriate. Ex - Quiet time during a test. Give praise for following the rule.
• Use operant conditioning to reward or punish students. Ex - Student did well on a test offer a token reward.
• Use classical conditioning to have students behave certain ways in a classroom. Ex - Do a pop quiz from time to time to have students studying material.

Three non- productive ways Behaviorism is used in the classroom

• If the students views negative attention from the teacher as a reward instead of the punishment the undesired behavior may continue. Ex - student throws a piece of paper and is told to stop. They like the attention and continue to do that behavior.
• If the student expects a reward for doing a task and one is not offered this may cause a negative behavior to begin. EX - token system stops being used and student withdraws from doing their assingments because they only wanted the reward.
• If the student is use to being the class helper and that changes because someone else got a better grade they may completely withdraw from participation. EX - classhelper should not be assigned by good grades

Ways I would apply behaviorism in my classroom

• I would use this theory for classroom management purposes
• I would use positive reinforcement to reward appropriate behavior, and punishment to demean inappropriate behavior
• I would use negative reinforcement to help my students behave accordingly to my expectations

• Directive, teacher-centered instruction
• Demonstrations, drills, lectures
• Students can be taught best when focus is directly on the content
• Breaking down skills and information to be learned is best when put into small units
• Teachers would check student’s work regularly
• Providing feedback as well as encouragement

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Ways I would apply behaviorism in my classroom