My cooperating teacher uses behaviorist techniques in her classroom to help students learn everyday. In fact, the idea I got for operant conditioning came from watching my cooperating teacher do it as well. I didn't realize, at the time, that what she was doing was a behaviorist technique.
She used shaping and token economy to help students examine, remember, and create their own MyPlate. They started with listing the food groups that are on MyPlate and used a token economy (raffle tickets) as positive reinforcement for their correct choices. They went on to discuss portion sizes of those food groups and continued giving them raffle tickets as reinforcement. Then they began placing foods in the food groups, resulting in more tickets. Finally, they created their own MyPlate using foods they consumed that day, placing them in the food groups they belonged in, and what portions they ate of those foods.
The students were able to redeem their earned tickets for either extra credit on the test, or a late homework pass. This was a perfect example of shaping because my cooperating teacher reinforced the students progress toward her final learning objective. It was also a great example of token economy because the students' were given tickets (tokens) which they were able to redeem for their choice of reinforcement.
The article on http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/operantcond.html discusses how rewards should not be overused because the students' will develop a dependency of the reward. If they become dependent on getting rewarded for every correct step they take, they eventually may struggle with behaving the way you want them to on their own, without being rewarded.
I believe my cooperating teacher has an effective system worked out when students' receive tickets, and when they do not. The students' respond to this instructional method really well. It helps them pay attention to the lesson knowing that there is a reward, and it helps them listen to their peers, especially when their peers are rewarded. I believe it creates a sense of unity in the classroom as the students feed off of each other's knowledge
She used shaping and token economy to help students examine, remember, and create their own MyPlate. They started with listing the food groups that are on MyPlate and used a token economy (raffle tickets) as positive reinforcement for their correct choices. They went on to discuss portion sizes of those food groups and continued giving them raffle tickets as reinforcement. Then they began placing foods in the food groups, resulting in more tickets. Finally, they created their own MyPlate using foods they consumed that day, placing them in the food groups they belonged in, and what portions they ate of those foods.
The students were able to redeem their earned tickets for either extra credit on the test, or a late homework pass. This was a perfect example of shaping because my cooperating teacher reinforced the students progress toward her final learning objective. It was also a great example of token economy because the students' were given tickets (tokens) which they were able to redeem for their choice of reinforcement.
The article on http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/operantcond.html discusses how rewards should not be overused because the students' will develop a dependency of the reward. If they become dependent on getting rewarded for every correct step they take, they eventually may struggle with behaving the way you want them to on their own, without being rewarded.
I believe my cooperating teacher has an effective system worked out when students' receive tickets, and when they do not. The students' respond to this instructional method really well. It helps them pay attention to the lesson knowing that there is a reward, and it helps them listen to their peers, especially when their peers are rewarded. I believe it creates a sense of unity in the classroom as the students feed off of each other's knowledge
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