Assignment

Assignment

Assignment

Question 1:

In education system, there is a shift toward implementing ever-increasing amounts of educational technology into curricula. In order to do so meaningfully and to ensure successful learning, it is necessary to reflect upon learning theories. Behaviorist and Constructivist theories provide a base for much of what happens in the technological secondary classroom. These broad theories have many implications for the technological secondary classroom. It is necessary to question these implications so that those involved in the educational (and more specifically, educational technology) fields can work toward bettering education. Are there shifts happening in the secondary classroom today between these two theories? If so, what are they? Which is the more predominant in current educational practices? Is one better for use with educational technologies? It is necessary to outline Behaviorism as it pertains to the realm of education and then to do the same with Constructivism. Historically they have both been used in developing educational technologies. They are also both prominent in today's educational technology tools. It is then necessary to examine what implications these theories have on the future of educational technology. There is somewhat of a debate in existence, with some supporters of more Behaviorist approaches or more Constructivist approaches, with still others in support of a blending of the two theories when it comes to educational technologies. It is then necessary to look at case studies to see which provides data for improvement of learning so that all educators may begin to implement the most successful strategies in their classrooms.

Foundations of Behaviorism in Education

In B. F. Skinner's Behaviorism, the major theories as pertaining to education are reinforcement, verbal behavior theories, and social development theories. Though all aspects of Behaviorist theory have influenced the world of education, Behaviorist reinforcement theory still impacts education widely today especially when looking at educational technology. Skinner (1958) has found that “behavior is shown to be shaped and maintained by its 'reinforcing' consequences rather than elicited as conditioned or unconditioned response to stimuli” (972). This idea has been molded into many educational practices, and the idea of reinforcement has had many implications for educational technology specifically, which will be examined later.

Foundations of Constructivism in Education

Constructivism, on the other hand, is led by the ideas of Jean Piaget and his theories of the four childhood stages of development. The theories of Constructivism are founded on the belief that “the child, at first directly assimilating the external environment to his own activity, later, in order to extend this assimilation, forms an increasing number of schemata which are both more mobile and better able to intercoordinate” (Piaget, 1955). Led by Piaget's theory, Constructivists that currently practice education believe more in learning by doing. If a child is able to experiment for himself, the learning will be more profound. Constructivists then focus on a different aspect of education than Behaviorists, as Behaviorists focus more on how students respond to positive and negative reinforcement provided through an educator's planned system of data presentation rather ...