1. How did Skinner apply operant conditioning to classrooms?

What is behavior
modification?

Skinner distinguished between two types of responses: elicited, which is a

response that is associated with a specific stimulus, and emitted, which is a response
that appears to be unrelated to a specific stimulus. The behavior is respondent when a
response is elicited. The behavior is operant when it is emitted —no observable or
measurable stimuli explain the response's appearance. The role of stimuli in operant
conditioning is less clear; frequently, the emitted behavior cannot be linked to a specific
stimulus.

Primary, secondary, and generalized reinforcers may also be categorized. Any

stimulus that helps fulfill a fundamental drive, such as for food, water, or sex, is referred
to as a primary re-inforcer. (In classical conditioning, this reinforcer is also crucial.)
People value secondary reinforcers such as receiving approval from friends or teachers,
earning money, or winning school awards. Secondary reinforcers may be converted into
primary reinforcers, despite the fact that they do not fulfill primary drives. Skinner refers
to secondary reinforcers as generalized reinforcers because of the variety and range of
options available.

New behavior is influenced through a combination of reinforcing and sequencing

desired responses; this is referred to as behavior modification by some people today.
Although behavior-modification techniques differ depending on the student and the
desired behavior, they are often used in conjunction with individualized instructional
techniques, programmed learning, and classroom management techniques. In terms of
desired learning outcomes or behaviors, student activities are defined, organized,
paced, reinforced, rewarded, and regularly evaluated

2. Describe Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development.

  Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2). The child progresses from reflex
operations and un-differentiated surroundings to complex sensorimotor actions in
relation to environmental patterns, comes to realize that objects have
permanence (they can be found again), and begins to establish simple relations
between similar objects.
 Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7). Objects and events begin to take on
symbolic meaning. For example, a chair is for sitting; clothing is for wearing. The
child shows an ability to learn more complex concepts from experience, as long
as familiar examples of the concepts are provided. (For example, oranges,
apples, and bananas are fruit; the child must have the chance to touch and eat
them.)
 Concrete operations stage (ages 7 to 11). The child begins to organize data
into logical relationships and gains facility in manipulating data in problem-solving
situations. However, this learning situation occurs only if concrete objects are
available or the child can draw on past experience. The child is able to make
judgments in terms of reversibility and reciprocal relations (for example, left and
right are relative to spatial relations) and conservation (a long, narrow glass may
hold the same amount of water as a short, wide one).
 Formal operations stage (ages 11 and up). The individual can grasp formal
and abstract operations, analyze ideas, comprehend spatial and temporal
relationships, think logically about abstract data, evaluate data according to
acceptable criteria, formulate hypotheses, deduce possible consequences, and
construct theories and reach conclusions without direct experience in the subject.
At this stage, there are few or no limitations on the content of learning. Learning
depends on the individual’s intellectual potential and environmental experiences

3. Why was Maria Montessori considered a psychological pioneer in cognition?

Maria Montessori (1870–1952), a great pedagogists of the early 20th century,

directed the Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome. She encountered children with
mental and physical disabilities who had been placed in insane asylums. She soon
concluded that the root of the problem in many cases was not medical, but educational
and psychological. Her school, Casa dei Bambini, became the model for the
kindergarten at the famous Henry Street Settlement House in New York City. Some
Montessori practices were adopted by William Kilpatrick at the Lincoln Lab School,
affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University. Montessori rejected the dominant
behaviorist theories based on stimulus-response. She emphasized looking and
listening, which she viewed as sensory input channels of learning. She believed that the
more things a child listens to and looks at, the better for mental development. It can be
argued that she was a cognitive develop mentalist first and a progressive educator
second. Montessori recognized that certain cognitive and social abilities develop be-fore
others.

4. What is the impact of technology on the brain and on learning? How do you
think social media changes the way children and adolescents develop?

Pew research: 95 percent of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 are online
now. Three in four teens use their cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices to
access the Internet. Rise of social media is also changing how children and adolescents
develop. For adolescents, it can amplify their burgeoning sense of narcissism, anxiety,
and inadequacy. It can contribute to digital-aged problems like "cyber-bullying" and
"sexting" for adults. For adults, the constant viewing of others' personal lives, including
achievements and family and vacation photos, can also trigger strong feelings of envy
and sadness, sometimes dubbed "Facebook Depression" for those with Facebook
Depression. Experts agree that parents and educators play a critical role in providing
close, significant interactions to counter the digital influence in children's lives.

5. Why does phenomenology appeal to educational reformers of various

psychological orientations? How can phenomenology be applied to the field of
curriculum?

Phenomenologists view individuals in relation to the fields in which they operate.

In this, phenomenologists have much in common with constructivists. But what
determines behavior and learning is mainly psychological. The individual's experiences
are accessible to others only through inferences; thus, such data are questionable
scientific evidence. But to the phenomenologist, the raw data of personal experiences
are vital to understanding learning. Perhaps the data cannot be measured accurately
and perhaps they are vague, but they are "out there." The definitions and the processes
are also subjective and evaluative rather than precise and substantive. Besides the
concept of humanistic psychology, the subject matter of phenomenology can be used
synonymously with many other concepts, including existentialist psychology, neopro-
gressivism, creativity, love, higher consciousness, valuing, transcendentalism,
psychological health, ego identity, psychoanalysis—almost anything that suggests
maximum self-fulfillment, self- actualization, and self-realization. Although this umbrella
aspect of phenomenology makes it difficult to provide a clear, agreed-on definition of the
term, the same broadness makes the concept acceptable to educational reformers of
various psychological orientations. The fact that phenomenology means different things
to different people is one reason for its easy acceptance, but it is also a basis for
criticism. Nonetheless, phenomenologists attempt to rescue learning theory from the
narrow and rigid behaviorists and from overstress on cognitive processes.