I have only come across behaviorism in passing, but the picture of the mouse summed it up well. I learned that behaviorism is all about responding to external factors. I never knew that. It's theory must attribute much to environment and how if affects people. Also, as I mentioned in a different prompt, it makes me think that I could use behaviorism to help control my students' behavavior and learning by creating an environment that reinforces those things.
I find the idea that behaviorism is at such odds with cognitive scientists -- well, no, that's not true, I find it odd that anyone would really disregard cognitive science and brain based learning to get behind behaviorism. Even if conditioning can produce the results that a teacher or administrator may want - say, a certain score on a state exam - that doesn't mean that the students are getting the most out of their education or that they would be able to recall any of that information after the exam. We need to teach our students how to learn, not just how to regurgitate information.
"Behaviorism is opposed and dismissed by cognitive scientists developing intricate internal information processing models of cognition" This is new learning for me-- I was not aware of this controversy at all. From what I can gather is that cognitive theory is based in behaviorism.
I just think it's really interesting to approach learning as a product of environment as opposed to internal factors. Learning that behaviorism has everything to do with external influences rather than internal is a different way of thinking about getting students involved. Instead of saying someone isn't getting it because they are just incapable of learning, it's saying that there must be a better way to teach this.
I have only come across behaviorism in passing, but the picture of the mouse summed it up well. I learned that behaviorism is all about responding to external factors. I never knew that. It's theory must attribute much to environment and how if affects people. Also, as I mentioned in a different prompt, it makes me think that I could use behaviorism to help control my students' behavavior and learning by creating an environment that reinforces those things.
ReplyDeleteI find the idea that behaviorism is at such odds with cognitive scientists -- well, no, that's not true, I find it odd that anyone would really disregard cognitive science and brain based learning to get behind behaviorism. Even if conditioning can produce the results that a teacher or administrator may want - say, a certain score on a state exam - that doesn't mean that the students are getting the most out of their education or that they would be able to recall any of that information after the exam. We need to teach our students how to learn, not just how to regurgitate information.
ReplyDelete"Behaviorism is opposed and dismissed by cognitive scientists developing intricate internal information processing models of cognition" This is new learning for me-- I was not aware of this controversy at all. From what I can gather is that cognitive theory is based in behaviorism.
ReplyDeleteI just think it's really interesting to approach learning as a product of environment as opposed to internal factors. Learning that behaviorism has everything to do with external influences rather than internal is a different way of thinking about getting students involved. Instead of saying someone isn't getting it because they are just incapable of learning, it's saying that there must be a better way to teach this.
ReplyDelete