Should We "Train" People The Same Way We Train Animals?

A few years ago, a friend of mine got a new puppy. In order to train said puppy, my friend bought a training book called “Don’t Shoot the Dog!” I thought to myself that it was such a strange name. For the next few weeks, he was absolutely raving about how wonderful the book was and I became very curious about it. He took out the book and showed me a review on the front cover by Carol Tarvis, Ph.D., author of the book “Anger”, “This delightful, clear, and utterly helpful book is for anyone who wants to understand or change the behavior of an animal – whether the animal in question is a barking dog, a nosy neighbor, a hostile cat, or you and your own bad habits” (Pryor, 1999). What hit me was that this book was not necessarily about how to train a dog, but how to use positive reinforcement for teaching new behaviors. It was at this point, as a teacher, I knew I had to read it. I am always looking for new ways to improve my classroom management and this was perfect! After reading it, I had learned so much! If you are a teacher, own a pet, or have a habit you want to break, you should definitely check it out. "Don't Shoot the Dog"

So, now you are probably asking yourself, why is this girl telling me all about a book on training dogs? An assignment for class this week required us to think about behaviorist learning theory. Over the course of many years, there have been many different learning theories that are related to education. Behaviorism basically began with Ivan Pavlov and his study with dogs and salivation. Pavlov was able to train a dog to salivate once a bell was rung (Standridge, 2002). It was after this research was completed that John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner developed their theory of operant conditioning.

The operant conditioning model describes that a person will respond positively if there was some sort of reward in the end (Standridge, 2002). In this case, a person will most likely be willing to repeat the task or behavior, in order to receive the reward. The positive reinforcement is what Karen Pryor (1999) was talking about in her book. On the other hand, if a person receives a consequence or punishment, the targeted behavior may decrease over time (Standridge, 2002). This would also be considered negative reinforcement (Pryor, 1999). It may not be something a person wants, but the behavior may cease.

There are two instructional strategies that I was asked to read about that actually correlate well with the behaviorist theory, reinforcing effort and homework/ practice. Reinforcing effort is an incredibly important component in education today. This follows Skinner’s idea of operant conditioning perfectly. When we are reinforcing the effort a student puts into an assignment, we are most likely going to see a positive result. Students have a very difficult time understanding how the effort they put in to a task reflects their achievement (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). To watch them achieve, we should be asking our students to graph the amount of effort they put in to an assignment and then have them compare it to the grade they receive. If they did not study enough, they will most likely receive a lower grade on the test, but if they did study often, they should receive a higher grade. One goal I am setting for myself this year is to have my students track the effort they are putting in to their reading. I hope to see more effort from my students and I will be able to see if they achieve with their DRA levels and CMT data.

Homework and practice is another strategy that follows the behaviorist learning theory. The more a student practices something outside of the school day, the more a child will understand and be able to replicate what was learned. Robert Marzano et al (2001), found that students should practice something at least 24 times before they can achieve even 80% proficiency. If we, as teachers, reinforce this practice in our students, we will most likely see our students work harder and achieve higher.

With all of this said, I leave you with the following quote to ponder: “Some people have seen reinforcement theory as a method of control, of manipulation, of restriction of individuals and society. But society changes must begin with personal changes” (Pryor, 1999, p 163).

References:

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. New York: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Pryor, K. (1999). Don't shoot the dog!: the new art of teaching and training (Rev. ed.). New York: Bantam Books.

Standridge, M. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page