Behaviorism Activity: Written -- Behaviorism Essay Context:

Behaviorism

activity: Written -- Behaviorism Essay Context: Behaviorism a great impact Core Knowledge Planning Objectives philosophies. In assignment, expand discussion earlier activity fully articulate behaviorism impacted philosophies.

Behaviorism and its influences

According to E.D. Hirsch, the content of education does matter when educating children. Contrary to the notion that students merely need to 'learn how to learn' and subject matter is irrelevant, Hirsch's concept of Core Knowledge is that certain aspects of cultural literacy are essential for students to function in an academic context. Hirsch based his theory upon what he had noticed as an educator, namely that "knowledgeable students, it turned out, could far more easily comprehend and analyze difficult college-level texts (both fiction and nonfiction) than their poorly informed brethren could" despite similar levels of intelligence (Stern 2009). Familiarity, in other words, does not simply breed contempt, but also is a critical component of knowledge.

Core Knowledge is not a new concept but harkens back to ideas such as behaviorism, which stresses that amassing certain kinds of rote knowledge is an integral component of the learning experience. On a very basic level, a rat that repeatedly runs the same maze over and over again in an exercise in operant condition will eventually become better at the task, particularly if successes are rewarded with positive stimuli and failures with negative stimuli. Behaviorism is teacher-centered and reward-based and focuses on having students meet specific, measurable goals. Also, "behaviorists generally believe that students can be taught best when the focus is directly on the content to be taught. Behavioral instruction often takes the material out of the context in which it will be used" (Chen n.d.).

Core Knowledge supports the notion that there is a unique value in particular types of knowledge that can facilitate the acquisition of other types of knowledge. Someone who has studied Shakespeare in high school will find reading Shakespeare in college much easier than someone who has never had exposure to that type of dense language. A child who is familiar with Darwin will have an advantage in creating an experience in a biology class. Teachers have valuable knowledge that students must learn, so students can build upon such knowledge. "The idea that schools could starve children of factual knowledge, yet somehow encourage them to be 'critical thinkers' and teach them to 'learn how to learn,' defied common sense" said Hirsch (Stern 2009). The ability to learn does not, for all practical purposes, exist independently of the content of learning since a lack of factual knowledge makes it difficult to understand an argument, the subtleties of prose, or the research knowledge upon which scientific experiments are based. Having knowledge encourages rather than discourages creativity.

Another popular pedagogical strategy highly influenced by behaviorism is that of Planning by Objectives, as first articulated by Ralph Tyler. Tyler stressed a goal-directed approach to education in a similar manner to Hirsch, although he did not specify what type of content had to be included. The four-step curriculum review process involved: "stating objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing learning experiences, and evaluating the curriculum" (Classical model: Ralph Tyler 1949, n.d). Once again, this is a teacher-directed approach to learning. Student interests are shaped by educators, and the learning experience is carefully designed to encourage students to have particular types of experiences and to gain specific types of knowledge.