Teaching
Methods &
Models
Paolo Fabre-Merchán, PhD
Week 2
Behaviorism
What will we learn?
1. Stimulus - Response
2. Reinforcement
3. Generalization & Drives
Learning Objective
Identify the main
components of the
behaviorism theory and
to demonstrate
understanding of its
influence on learning
Warm up:
Story Telling
Let’s tell a story
Watch the pictures your
teacher provides and
organize them to tell a
story of a classroom. Write
at least one sentence that
help you to create the
history.
4
Warm up:
Story Telling
5
Development:
Let’s share
Choose one person in
your group to share
the story. The chosen
learner need to move
to the different
groups to share the
story
6
Development:
What is behaviorism?
Look for information
about behaviorism:
Definition, Classifying,
Key concepts. Be ready
to share
7
Development:
What is behaviorism?
8
Development:
Behaviorism
9
Behaviorism defines learning as a change in behavior,
resulting from a direct interaction with environmental
conditions such as stimuli, reinforcement, or punishment.
Development:
Classical Conditioning
Stimulus Response
Learning is demonstrated
when an automatic
response or action is
performed as consequence
of a stimulus. Training
people to desired answer
or behavior
10
Ivan Pavlov and his experiment with dogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asmXyJaXBC8
Development:
Stimulus-Response
11
Development:
Stimulus-Response
Think about one example of how teachers can 12
condition a student behavior or use a stimulus as
a scaffolding structure for learning. Be ready to
share
Development:
Generalization Theory
Learning can be generalized
and use to memorize
similar concepts,
understand or acquire
similar skills, or react to
similar situations. Ex:
phobias, raining, language
13
John Watson & the Little Albert Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmtRjUtAa84
Development:
Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement & Punishment
A response followed by a
reinforcing (reward) stimulus
is strengthened and is
therefore more likely to
occur again, while a
response or behavior
punished can be eradicated
14
Frederic Skinner & his Skinner Box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvaSEJtOV8&t=216s
Development:
Operant Conditioning
Continuous rewards
and practice help
learning and a
repeated positive
answer or behavior
15
Edward Thorndike and the Puzzle Box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvaSEJtOV8&t=216s
Development:
Reinforcement
16
Think about one example for positive and one for
negative reinforcement you can use in your future
classes. Be ready to share
Development:
Examples
You may notice that a particularly
scary teacher – say, the principal In this classroom, the teacher
– will cause the whole class to go uses some rewards to teach the
dead silent when they walk into tables. Through rote learning – 5 x
the classroom. There’s no reward 5 = 25 leads to a reward!
or punishment involved in this However, the weakness is that the
process, but rather, an association student may not actually mean
is developed between the that 5 x 5 means “five groups of
principal and the need to be silent, five objects”, meaning learning
because we learn over time that has been rather shallow and the
whenever we see the school child hasn’t obtained true
principal, it’s usually time to be comprehension.
quiet and listen for an important
17
announcement.
Development:
18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLpsVp7d34c&t=1s
Warm up:
Story Telling
Associated the following
words to each of the
images in your story:
Stimulus-Response,
Punishment, Rewards,
Memorization, Assessment,
Conditioning, Pavlov,
Piaget, Classical
Conditioning, Operant
19
Conditioning
Closing:
Write your ideas
Using the ideas shared,
write three sentences
that describe the
definition of
behaviorism, classical
conditioning, and
operant conditioning
Bibliography
Jordan, A., Carline, O., & Stack, A. (2008). Approaches to learning: A guide for
teachers. England: McGrawHill
Malamed, C. (2016). 10 definition of learning. The e-learning Coach. Retrieved
on October 2019 from http://theelearningcoach.com/learning/10-definitions-
learning/
McLeod, S. (2008). Classical conditioning. Simply Psychology. Retrieved on
October 2019 from https://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-
conditioning.html
McLeod, S. (2008). Skinner – Operant conditioning. Simply Psychology.
Retrieved on October 2019 from https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-
conditioning.html
WH Magazine (n.d.) The five key educational philosophies. Retrieved on
October 2019 from http://wh-magazine.com/educational-philosophy/the-five-
key-educational-philosophies
