Principles of Instruction and Learning
Knowledge Base
A portfolio created by Autumn Elniski.
Learning Scenario: Behaviorist Perspective
What is a Learning Scenario?
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A learning scenario is a brief (200-250 word) description of a scene in which an instructor is interacting with their students and a lesson or learning opportunities are occuring. The following is a learning scenario written for an instructor who is teaching their undergraduate students how to make a handsheet of paper for the first time with the TAPPI standard sheet former. This lesson would be typically observed in an undergraduate Paper Engineering program.
From the Behaviorist Perspective
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This learning scneario can be observed and analyzed from a Behaviorist perspective. Different items a behaviorist might look for include:
Stimulus - prompt to evoke a response
Response - reaction to a stimulus; a behavior the organism performs after a stimulus occurs
Reinforcement and/or feedback - used to increase a desired behavior (reinforcement) as well as communicate with learner the quality of their work (feedback)
Shaping - reinforcing and providing feedback to responses that are near what we want and gradually reinforcing responses that are closer to the desired behavior
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The Behaviorist looks for stimulus and response relationships in learning scenarios that can ultimately lead to a terminal behavior, or an overall desired outcome behavior for the learners. In this case, the terminal behavior for the learners is to make a handsheet using the TAPPI handsheet former. The students don't quite get far enough in the procedure to finish the handsheet (the sheet must be couched and dried to complete the procedure), so the desired terminal behavior is noted here instead.
Below is the same learning scenario that is analyzed from a Behaviorist perspective to include these items.
Chaining is also loosely present in this scenario as the students are learning the steps to a more complex behavior. It is not highlighted here since student responses are not being repeated and reinforced repeatedly until the complex behavior is performed. Further practice of this procedure would allow for a more substantiated claim to chaining phenomena.
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