Behaviorism vs cognitivism OR behaviorism in support of cognitivism and beyond…..

I am what Karl Kapp referred to as one of the retiring baby boomers and my college student son, GK, would classify as one of the incoming gamers -
Behaviorism has its place

I have been observing GK’s self-motivated, self-initiated learning behaviors this week and interviewed him. Here’s a summary of my detail observations and then I will try to draw some conclusions on how learning by today’s digital age students relates to radical behaviorism and cognitive learning theories:

GK Case Study
1) Created a video today after self-teaching Sony Vegas Movie Studio software– why? Not assigned, not for credit, as a means to an end self-initiated goal
2) Practiced learning Solid Works software – why? Not assigned, not for credit, as a means to an end goal of near future applications in engineering program and possible applications to robot build starting in 2 weeks
3) Gaming – for fun, part of a “clan” or club, sometimes plays for competition (won 3rd place as sniper out of 30 players)
4) Constant trial and error whenever problem-solving compared to classroom mentality of teacher-directed with right or wrong answers; and does not encourage risk-taking, experimentation, or thinking like a scientist.
5) What works and what he likes about his recent computer programming class with a teacher-directed agenda – teacher modeled, students practiced on computer as teacher was modeling process, any errors in class were shared so group could benefit, peer tutoring when needed to help keep everyone together, each week project assigned with end goal – but students could choose many different paths to attain goal and it usually involved lots of problem-solving because there was not one prescribed “right” answer.
6) “I am motivated to accomplish a goal and the learning part is just a means to get to my goal”, for example, “ my goal is to build a robot, so I learn CAD” or “my goal is to make a video, so I learn the Sony software”

Although some may think behaviorism is dead - Stephen Downes – “…it remains puzzling that so much of the instructional design community remains rooted in behaviorism - this more than 30 years after the theory was abandoned everywhere else;” I concur with Bill Kerr – Bill Kerr_isms and Karl Kapp - Behaviorism has its place that behaviorism is alive and well.

Unfortunately, “external” behaviorism is the primary learning theory that is functioning today in many classrooms for the teacher’s end goal of classroom management, student engagement, student motivation, content rote learning (to pass mandated state tests), summative assessment of mastering content standard objectives.

The “inner” environment of behaviorism - Behaviorism-and-inner-environment - is a stepping stone and will always be a contributing factor in the learning process as the student integrates cognitivism and connectivism. Bill Kerr summarizes his collection of blogs “It seems to me that each _ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right.” - Bill Kerr_isms

If the environment is teacher-directed, then a complex series of behaviorism strategies must be established to encourage learning in a prescribed, non-engaging scenario. Rob Costello, in his pedagogy of poverty and learning blog - Rob Costello – describes one outcome of forcing students to deal with abstractions before they are ready as lacking curiosity. I would add that many of the teacher-directed classroom strategies in place and the student outcomes are also common to schools not in urban poverty areas.

However, if the environment is student-directed, many of these external behaviorism learning strategies may not be needed. The student has the freedom of choice, is intrinsically motivated to question, problem-solve, to take risks and go with trial and error without fear of failure, is free to think like a scientist, creatively composes and works relentlessly at learning whatever is needed to accomplish the end goal. Student is practicing problem-solving, analyzing, evaluating, finding connections, researching history, collaborating, and critical thinking. Inner behaviorism is evident as student generates their own steps and tests in the process of accomplishing their goal. Student derives motivation and inspiration as they strive to accomplish the goal they have set for themselves.

Karl Kapp in his ABCD Objectives blog sums it up: “The ideal learning opportunity is probably something in the middle. Create a broad learning goal and then set the learners free to achieve the goal. We did this with Lego Robotics, we got a bunch of middle school kids together and told them to build and program a fast Lego car and then we let them fill in the specifics. You could literally walk around the room and ‘see’ the kids learning.”

Tags: educational technology, learning, elearning, learning theories, behaviorism, cognitivism, inner environment, critical thinking, problem-solving, motivation, creativity