Learning Theories

A classroom that is based on the behaviorist theory would use reward programs to help their students work towards their goals. The reward acts as a stimulus to get the student to work, hard and once the work is done the teacher will reinforce this behavior with a reward or a snack or activity. The behaviorist classroom would focus more on exactly what the student does and not so much have an emphasis on what the learner is thinking. The behaviorist teacher would have a very organized classroom with clear objectives and expectations of students. The students would probably be put on some kind of reward system for their work and behavior. The teacher would guide the instruction and have clear expectations for his or her students.

A constructivist theory based classroom would focus on things that the learner is interested in.  Experiences are very important in this classroom and building on those experiences is how a student learns. A teacher will scaffold the students just enough to give them what they need to learn.  The teacher in this environment will probably be more flexible to go with the flow and create lesson plans to fit the current students needs. A constructivist teacher will most likely use different material every year because he or she will have different students every year who have a desire to learn different things.

The classes could be similar with the reward programs. I believe that both constructivist and behaviorist classrooms can use rewards to encourage student involvement and participation. These rewards can also be used to encourage positive behavior in the classroom.

The challenge of behaviorism is that students may get too dependent on the rewards. It is important for students to have a desire to education themselves and not just work for a reward. Students must learn to educate themselves to a certain degree and work towards their goals on their own without a reward. If students are rewarded for every little thing in the classroom it may encourage them to work hard only while in your classroom. Students also need to work hard outside of the classroom as well.

The challenge for a constructivist classroom style is that students do need to have some scaffolding and previous knowledge of things in order to move up. If students are way behind on a certain subject, it may not be in their best interest to just work towards what ever it is they want to work at. Some students need to have structured math time in order to better their math skills whether they like it or not. It is important to cover all subjects and meet the standards for that child’s education. A teacher must work very hard in order to meet the needs of each individual student who have different interests.

I believe that a mixture of all styles is the best thing for students in the classroom. Teachers need to be flexible and willing to work with their students to find what works best for them. There cannot be a strict one way or the other, because that will not be what is best for each individual student. A teacher must keep an open mind and be flexible to meet the demands of each individual student.