Although I’ve studied the stimulus and response theories before, I am often still confused when it comes to the idea of positive and negative punishment. If I think about it very slowly and very carefully, I can remember the meanings of positive and negative reinforcement/punishment, however, I still get confused with it sometimes. Does anyone have a simpler way of understanding these concepts?
While I believe that behaviorism is an important theory to follow in the classroom, it seems to me that it would only really reinforce the behaviors that the teacher approves of (and would also stop any behaviors which the teacher does not approve of). Yes, this theory may be important when it comes to the behaviors of a younger student, I don't see how this theory would truly educate a child (it would just teach them the proper classroom behavior and how to conduct oneself). By rewarding the correct performance, a child is learning how to behave. While this is true, I don't think that it's as useful as constructivism. Granted, I don't know every aspect of every argument for these theories, I'm just going off of what I know and have read up on. While we could reward a child for knowing that the object is a yellow marker, what happens if they don't correctly identify the object. We would not necessarily punish them, but let them know that this is the wrong answer. I think that the way a human creates a meaningful understanding of the object (yellow marker) is more helpful than remarking on their behavior. What I mean by this is that the constructivist approach looks to actively engage learners with thought strategies by involving the student in the learning process (talking with them, having them write, interacting with the student). The student needs to be able to construct a idea of what a marker is and what colors are, and from there they can learn how to correctly identify an object. I can see how behaviorism in this case would be helpful (to correct or congratulate a student based on his/her response). While the drill/practice approach of behaviorism may be beneficial to some students, I believe that the students need to be able to see and interact with their learning (they need to understand why the object is a yellow marker). I'm not sure if this is making any sense! While one approach is not the best, I do believe that constructivism offers a bit more to learning than behaviorism does. However, I believe a teacher should be able to find some middle ground between the two theories, and from there, the teacher would be able to appropriately teach a child and provide a great learning environment.
Well, Megan I had the same problem at first when trying to understand both topics of positive and negative reinforcement along with positive and negative punishment. Both are very different but in the positive aspect you are adding a stimuli and in the negative aspect you are taking away a stimuli. Reinforcement is a consequence of behavior that increases the future occurence of that behavior. Punishment is a consequence of a behavior that decreases the future occurence of that behavior. Positive reinforcement is adding something that is desired by the individual. An example is giving a student candy when they do well on a test. Negative reinforcement is taking away something undesired by the individual. So, for example if a student does well on a test their parent may take away their chores they have to complete that day. Positive punishment is adding or presenting something undesired by the individual. For example if a student does bad on a test a teacher may give the student more homework, which the student doesn't want to do. Negative punishment is taking away something desired. For example if a student does bad on a test then a parent may take away their privileages of being able to watch tv at night. I hope that this helps you.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely true that some theories are more useful than others, depending on what you want to teach. Eventually, when you have your own classroom, it's very important that you think about what goal you have for your students. Is it a certain behavior you want them to exhibit? Is it a value or attitude? Is it a performance? Your teaching can be MOST effective if you use the instructional strategy that is most targeted for what you want from students. You have obviously discovered that by reading about the different theories, and it's a very important realization to make.
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