A behaviorist believes that an object in the world (say, a yellow marker) is THE SAME for anyone (once they learn that the object is called a yellow marker). This conflicts with constructionism, which says that the yellow marker is the meaning we each constructed for ourselves. Which of these theories is more useful to teaching practice and why?
I would say that the constructionism theory would be more useful for teaching because there isn't always one way we can view things. We have to teach that just because you may see things in one way, that does not mean others view it the same way. If we teach our students that everyone is different, then they will be more likely to accept each other and their backgrounds. Also, they can learn a lot from each other that way.
Ok...I re-read the section on reinforcing incompatible behaviors, and was a bit confused as well...which I didn't even realize the first time around! (maybe I was smarter a few days ago!) from what i gathered, which could be totally inaccurate, it's that the teacher spends more time having the students show the appropriate behavior than the inappropriate...it's kind of obvious, i think. (example: teacher spend more time teaching than they do supervising recess) If i'm wrong, somebody, please feel free to correct!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said about constructionalism. Teaching students that there is only one way to view things can never end well. I believe we need to teach our students to be creative. That is the only way they will succeed is to learn how to be innovative and create. As a music educator, creativity and teaching students how to be expressive is at the core of my teaching philosophy.
ReplyDeleteWell, the example they give is the best thing to think about. You have a lot of options when trying to increase or decrease a behavior. This concept suggests that you pick a (desired) behavior that makes the (undesired) behavior impossible (they cannot both be done) and reinforce it. It's not punishing the inappropriate behavior but it's replacing it by a behavior that's makes the first impossible. So, another example might be in dance education. If someone flails their arms during a particular move, rather than punishing the arm flailing, you could reinforce the behavior of holding onto the bar during the move (because it's IMPOSSIBLE to flail your arms while holding onto the bar with both hands). Does that help?
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point, but isn't it true that when we have a list of standards to teach, those 'standards' are pretty objective should be taught to all students as 'truth'? This doesn't mean they must be taught in the same way, but is it true that the concept of 'photosynthesis' is something that is the same for all people, enough so that you can teach ONE concept of photosynthesis, and not 25 versions? (I'm kind of playing devils advocate here) These are the tensions you need to be thinking about.