Behaviourism

Behaviourism is based on the theory that learning is achieved through interaction with our environment. This learning is called ‘conditioning’. Behavioural theories are based on the idea that all our engagement with our environments shapes our personality, learning and sense of self.

This means that the only measurable elements should be behaviour which can be observed. So, cognitions, thoughts and feelings are not part of this measurement as they are subjective, not objective.

The underlying assumption of behaviourism (initiated by John B Watson in 1913) is that anyone can be taught anything, regardless of genetic context, as long as the conditioning is correct. In this sense, learning is teacher-led and teacher-controlled.

Conditioning

Initiated by Pavlov, conditioning explains what happens when an environmental stimulus is used to provoke a reaction. Repetition of the artificial stimulus will lead to the subject producing this reaction. Pavlov’s experiment with dogs is usually quoted to clarify this. Pavlov was investigating how and why dogs salivate when presented with food. He noticed that after several days, the dogs started to salivate when they heard the footsteps of the person bringing the food. After several more days, the neutral signal (the persons footsteps) would produce salivation whether or not the food appeared.

Thus, the dogs learned through their experience and their interaction with their environment. Let’s put this into a tutoring setting. If a child receives a reward for getting 10 correct spellings, then they are more likely to work hard to learn all their next set of spellings correctly.

Understanding both the family and learning context of our students (i.e. their stimuli) will help us to present information effectively and to understand their learning potential. The information we give to our students is the stimulus and our repeated statement of our expectations of behaviour is what the stimulus should provoke.

Motivation and positive reinforcement are important tools in behaviourist approaches.

Practitioners

Pavlov

Watson

Skinner

How would this approach look as a pure tutoring model?

One of the main tenets of this approach to tutoring is to use questions as a stimulus for learning. You may well have to model this at first, but questions could become increasingly more sophisticated and ideally the students will learn to question their own work and even you.

So, when approaching a new topic, ask students what questions they should be asking of the task, the content and themselves. Rather than explaining the choice of setting and action in the opening scene of ‘Macbeth’, encourage students to think what they should be asking about why Shakespeare used the witches as the first piece of action.

Very commonly, we need to tutor maths students to stop and ask themselves questions when they read a GCSE maths question.

‘What topic is this question linked to’…  ’What rules are linked to this topic’ …. ‘How many marks are there, how much workings out do I need to do in order to get method marks’.

As the name of this pedagogical approach suggests, clear expectations about learning and behaviour are important, both for the learning process to take place, but also so that behaviour can be modified. Behaviourist practitioners would give frequent reinforcement of expectations about behaviour and use drills and learnt patterns (such as the questions to ask themselves when they read GCSE exam questions, rather than skip to the next question) to create a clear understanding of expectations.

Repeated routines in lessons are practised by behaviourists so that the learners know what is expected of them and are encouraged to feel secure. This is certainly something that you could consider if you are teaching students who have high levels of anxiety.

Guided learning is another central concept of Behaviourism. You might teach a concept, then get the student to work independently on that concept. You could then give feedback and ask the student to re-do the task so that there is evidence that the learning outcome has improved. This approach of review, feedback and modification can be an excellent way of encouraging learning and is particularly useful in 1:1 sessions, where the feedback can be detailed and tailored to the student.

Review and retrieval work is part of most sensible pedagogical approaches and behaviourist teachers would include this in any planning of teaching sessions or schemes of work. This can also be part of the clear routine. A topic or an element is consistently followed by a retrieval exercise. But, remember that retrieval tasks don’t have to be tests. Questions at the start of each session to gauge understanding of work so far can be as effective as formal assessment tasks.

Like most of the theories that you will be considering, Behaviourism contains elements which you might feel would work for individual students, but think about the following:

• Does this approach really encourage independent learning?
• Does this approach produce students who are over-reliant on teaching?
• Does this approach encourage good work ethics and habits?
• Does a tutor led, rather than a child-centred education policy make sense to you?

 

Thematic application

Intelligence/mindset?

One of the core tenets of Behaviourism is that intelligence is not fixed and that learners can be taught anything

Discovery/instruction

Behaviourism is based on teacher-led activities. The approach centres on the assumption that the teacher is in control of the learning process, both in content and in method of learning and in behavioural changes that are required in order to learn

Passive/active learning

Behaviourism is a passive learning experience, the student is not having to think about the process in order to learn, they are passively adjusting their behaviour though conditioning brought about by their tutor.

Atomisation/application

Because Behaviourism is a transmission led teaching approach, most practitioners would not be seen as atomising learning.