.50 cents and 110 Volts!

The basic concepts of behaviorist learning can be nicely summarized with a piece of technology we've all been exposed to for most of our lives...

The soda machine is an excellent model for the principles of behavioral psychology. Let's consider what a soda machine does for us.

A) You put your .50 cents in, click a button and get the proper can of soda.
This is positive reinforcement. You are essentially being rewarded for properly performing a task.

B) You put your .50 cents in, click a button but no can of soda comes out.
This is negative reinforcement. You have properly performed a task, but you were not given a reward.

Scenario B inevitably leads to a behaviorist activity called "extinction".

C) You press the button on the soda machine over and over again trying to get it to drop your can of soda.
Extinction is the heightened recurrence of a behavior in order to try to receive a positive reinforcement when you haven't been given one.

D) You may also put your .50 cents into a soda machine, press the button and due to an electrical short, receive a 110 volt shock.
This is punishment. While negative reinforcement is very likely to produce an extinction behavior, punishment is more likely to actually prohibit the repetition of the behavior. (Who wants to risk getting another 110 volt shock for a lousy can of soda?)

Some research into the inner workings of kids hopelessly hooked on sugared, caffeinated beverages suggests that sporadic positive and negative reinforcement does the most to produce recurrent behavior. For some reason, the possibility of occasional failure eventually rewarded with success leads to more common practice of the behavior.

so, with that in mind... how can this be applied to a classroom? Teachers have a number of ways of providing positive and negative feedback, and of course we can also deal out some punishment as necessary. A key element in the success of behavioral modification is in finding unique and enticing forms of positive reinforcement. Kids LOVE technology and for some unclear reason they will put a much greater deal of effort into a repetitive, uninteresting task if it can somehow be linked to technology. (Some would say positive reinforcement may be a factor here, wink wink...) The fact is, the simple task of having students create excel spreadsheets at home and track their own grades on that spreadsheet can lead to greater effort in the classroom. Students not only have the joy of entering values into their spreadsheet and seeing immediate feedback in terms of how that effects their grade, they gain a sense of control over their performance. No longer are grades arbitrary values assigned and managed by the teachers.

As for using technology for other actual learning tasks, teachers can easily motivate their students to take more time on their homework and put more effort into it by simply utilizing resources available on the web. Many activities and quizzes and forums exist on the internet that can be carefully culled and matched to your curriculum needs. These resources can provide students a pleasant break from more traditional learning activities and get them excited and involved. As an English teacher, projects and presentations are a major part of my assessment strategy. While my students are willing to present material up in front of the class, they are much more exited and involved when they create a multi-media presentation that can be viewed either with the good old DVD player, or better yet from the internet. Using technology tools to interest and motivate students provides them with immediate feedback, generally positive that helps them stay involved and excited in the class.

So... feel free to take your .50 cents and plug it into some interesting and incentivizing reinforcement strategies. Odds are you'll end up with more interested and better-performing students.