The Rewards of Effort and Practice

Dr. Orey defines behaviorism as operant conditioning, and especially notes the importance of reinforcement of desired behaviors, (Laureate Productions, Inc., 2011).  This can be linked to the importance of effort on student success; the problem with effort is that students do not recognize the reward that effort has on their success.  According to the behaviorist learning theory, for students to increase their success they need to be rewarded for their efforts. Once the rewards begin to increase the amount of effort, students will see that effort itself earns a reward of success.

This is where instructional technology can play its’ part. I love the idea of having students self-rate their level of effort and then comparing that data to the test scores (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenski, 2007, p. 158-161). Students are oblivious to the impact that putting forth effort can have on their grades and I believe spending time showing students the correlation between effort and success would improve the success rate. For example, in my 10th grade math class we assign homework weekly. Students often have more than one day to complete 8-10 math practice problems that are only graded on effort…. Wrong answers do not hurt their grade. Despite the lenient policies, only about half of the students in our classes do their homework. While it is easy for me to see the rewards of completing homework (extra practice, easy A’s, help students understand the content) students are obviously not realizing the benefits.  I am excited to try this  idea of having students correlate their effort with test scores to see if that makes them realize the importance of effort.

If teachers can condition their students to complete it, homework is a valuable resource for extra practice. Spending time working on problems individually will allow students to see what areas they have questions in, and allow for repetition that we do not always have time for during the regular class period. “Multiple exposures to material help students deepen their understanding of content and become proficient with skills,” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenski, 2007, p 188). Many students do not have access to technology at home, so I do not recommend assigning online programs for homework, but teachers can spend some class time utilizing websites that offer tutorials and games for practicing specific skills. These games often tell students immediately if their answer is correct, and many even give hints to help students reach the correct answer.  In a class of thirty students a teacher cannot provide this immediacy of feedback or provide helps as quickly as an online program can. In educational games students are also receiving the benefit of being rewarded for correct answers by being able to play the game when they answer the questions correctly, which supports the behaviorist theory. I do not believe that these online games and programs can replace a student’s instructional experience, but I they are a great resource for providing extra practice to add to the classroom instruction.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program four: Behaviorist learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

 

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.