PLE 8

Consider your CSEL intervention case study.  Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case?  What are they?

Now, compare the interventions that you have identified above with what you think might work from a cognitive or constructivist viewpoint (you may need to Google for ideas but it's okay to just speculate based on your prior knowledge).  How do they compare to behaviorist tools?  What are the benefits of each theory, and what are the deficits? Which theory might play a larger role in how you determine classroom management?

I believe that there are a lot of great ideas in behaviorist theory with positive and negative rewards. I believe it is a good technique for teachers who are aware of when children can be moved to random reinforcement.  I also think that as a teacher you have to make sure that the children are not relying too much on the reinforcer because ideally you want them to instill internal motivation. 

I believe that constructivism is more of a way to think about teaching but not necessarily a classroom management tool. I believe that behaviorism is encouraging behavior that you want and discouraging behavior that you do not want. Although as continually said in class behaviorism and constructivism cannot go together I believe that they can be and that teachers often mix the two. A teacher can use behaviorism rewards such as stickers and the treasure box.  This same teacher can allow students to construct their own knowledge when they are learning about various math and science techniques.

This article looks at the behaviorist techniques that can be applied to a classroom such as reinforcements and the teacher as a researcher. I chose this article specifically because of how they view the teacher as a researcher, which is also a very constructivist view. I personally used this technique during my practicum as I took very detailed anecdotes of the children and their interests and based of that created a unit that I thought they would enjoy from my ‘research’.