1. Consider the following situation:
When my son Kellan was 9 years old, he came home one day asking me please to include two desserts in his lunch because he was finding that he was often giving his treat away to a particular boy in his class who, everyday, would beg and beg him for the treat. He said that one reason he was giving the boy the treat is that the boy would tell him he wouldn't be his friend anymore. I asked him if he did this everyday and he said that the boy begged everyday but that he (Kellan) didn't always give in. Still, he was finding lunch uncomfortable because he hated this whole scenario and he thought that perhaps bringing two treats would take care of the problem.
Describe the learning that you see in the situation from a behavior theory perspective. Give an explanation of classical conditioning in the situation and an explanation of operant conditioning.
Obviously, by giving in Kellan is teaching the other boy to beg for treats, just like house pets at the dinner table.
The boy doing the begging is being rewarded for his behavior. From a classical conditioning standpoint, lunchtime comes and the boy expects a treat (or at least the strong possibility of a treat). The begging is thus a pavlovian response to seeing his friend at lunchtime, spurred by memory of previous rewards.
Operant conditioning actually sees the intermittent nature of Kellan's rewards for the begging as an even stronger reinforcement, leading the other boy to beg even when he doesn't necessarily want a treat so much right now, because he might not get one next time. You can never have enough treats if you can't get them whenever you want them. (It's the old slot machine technique, keep pulling the lever even after a big payout.)
As a last part of your analysis, describe what YOU would recommend should be done in this situation given what you've learned about behavior theory. (4 points)
First, I'd clarify the objective. I personally would be more interested in influencing Kellan's behavior than the other boy's. This is unlikely to be the last time he encounters this situation, so it's best to teach him to resolve it himself rather than resolve it for him by fiat. The way to make the begging stop is to stop rewarding the other boy for begging, the question is how to motivate Kellan to resist it.
I'd start by using the analogy of pouring sugar on an anthill. Giving treats to the other boy, rewarding him for begging, isn't going to make the begging diminish. If anything, the other boy might want both treats once he starts taking the first treat for granted, and then Kellan would have to bring three. Or the other boy will start asking for other things from Kellan, generalizing the begging behavior to other situations.
Since Kellan is the one I'm trying to motivate, I'd appeal to Kellan's emotions and ego. Does Kellan want to have to buy friends? The other boy is insulting Kellan by implying that he has to pay him to continue to be his friend. I'd point that out. And then bring in the larger social group: ask Kellan how many other kids in his class will see that he's a "soft touch", and start begging for things from him as well? (Perhaps pretending to be his friend just enough to beg from him, which brings us back to can he trust a friend he has to buy?)
2. Here is a different example, different child:
Consider the following dialogue between an 8-year-old boy and his father that I overheard one time as I sat in the stands at a Little League baseball game. As we looked out at the teams on the field, we could see a half moon in the broad daylight of an afternoon sky.
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How might the emotional/motivational responses of Josh and his dad have influenced and/or been influenced by what goes on in this interaction? What about their attentional resources?
a. How are emotions influencing what is going on? (3 points)
Could be a large number of things. Josh's primary motivation is probably intellectual curiosity, but Josh is also being rewarded with his father's attention and approval. There could even be a touch of sibling rivalry; choosing to ask that question at that time distracts his father's attention from his brother's achievements out on the field. Josh's mind obviously isn't fully occupied watching the game, so a certain amount of boredom with the task at hand is probably involved to get him thinking about the moon.
b. From a goal-theory theory approach to motivation, what is going on? (3 points)
Josh is probably taking a mastery oriented approach, admitting uncertainty, asking questions where he doesn't know, and making progress when he isn't actually forced to by an impending test. That said, he couched his question in terms of "It isn't like this, is it"? He didn't volunteer a hypothesis to be shot down, he shot down one himself (a much safer bet) and then waited for his father's response. So in terms of achievement orientation, he did set himself up to get his father's approval fairly reliably, rather than disagreement and correction.
c. From an intrinsic/self-determination theory approach, what is going on? (3 pts)
Josh has just shown intrinsic motivation to tackle a science problem, which is always cool and something to be followed up on. (Strike while the iron is hot.)
His father's response to drop what he was doing and nurture this was good. Josh was in control of the situation, seemed to believe he was on the right track going into it (ability), and was expressing interest. In general, things were humming along here for Josh's learning process. He came out of it not just with more knowledge, but feeling competent and the agent of his own change. His father supported him in this.
d. How would you use the constructs of limited attentional resources to explain what is going on with Josh and his dad? (3 points)
Josh was competing with the ballgame for his father's attention, as mentioned in part a. Josh's own attention was about as far away from the ballgame as it could comfortably manage.3. Take any of the articles assigned for our class so far and identify one assertion, finding, or idea that you find particularly interesting. Describe what you understand the idea to be about and why you find it interesting. Note that interest might derive from you objecting to the idea as well as from agreeing with it. (4 points)
My favorite article so far has been Don Hamachek's "Effective Teachers: What They Do, How They Do It, And The Importance Of Self-Knowledge". It has actually provided useful advice that makes sense in the context of my previous teaching experience.
His assertion that there is no one route to being an effective teacher is the mirror of there being more than one route to being an effective student. I already knew that warmth and enthusiasm are imporant. His concept of "proactive" just means treating the students as individuals rather than preconceived stereotypes, and by "humanness" he means the teacher reciprocally behaves like a responsive individual rather than a lecturing automaton.
Subject matter mastery is of course the foundation for all of this, and contributes to the enthusiasm (and even warmth). As a teacher, you can't help broadcast subtle messages. It helps if they are "I know this, you can know this too." If you're unsure of your knowledge of the material, your subtle nervousness and hesitation can make the students unsure of themselves, and it all goes downhill from there. "If the TEACHER has to stop and think about this all the time to get it right, it must be hard, and maybe they're even making mistakes or leaving stuff out, so how much do I really know...?" (Notice that a teacher can get away with occasionally not remembering, or simply making human mistakes, both of which send a different message than never having known the answer before the question was asked just now.)
The other important theme in the paper is the bit about "relationships between self perceptions and the perceptions of others". When teaching, you have to build on a foundation, attaching what you're trying to teach to what the students already know. If you don't make the effort to find the edges of the student's knowledge and landscape it into a firm foundation before proceeding, you'll either bore them to tears telling them what they already know or get blank looks by spouting meaningless abstraction.
The overall theme is that students are individuals who can't just have teaching imposed upon them. (If it was that simple, videotaped telecourses would be more popular.) Luckily students are also flexible, and are capable of adjusting to a teacher who gives them a decent opportunity, which is what makes it possible to teach them in large groups.