Have you ever wondered how you will control a class of students? There are various techniques in how teachers can “manipulate” students to act in a manner that is appropriate and conducive for learning. Behaviorism tells us that learning is observed through changes in behavior. When students respond to situations in their environment, this is when we can see the occurrence of learning unlike cognitivists that suggests learning is also an unobservable change that occurs within the brain. The use of behaviorism is prominent in a teacher’s classroom management plan as this is where the teacher wants to see an observable change in behavior.

Read Chapter 5 of our text to gain an understanding of Pavlov’s classical and Skinner’s operant conditioning.

• • In the first paragraph of your response, describe the difference between classical and operant conditioning. Reflect on your own educational experience. Describe examples of classical and operant conditioning that you have experienced. Also, describe outcomes of each.

• In the next paragraph of your response, compare positive and negative reinforcement strategies. How is negative reinforcement different than punishment? Refer to the examples you shared in your first paragraph: explain whether they were instances of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or punishment. Provide your reasoning and explain how they impacted your learning.