1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Ch. 7? Why or why not?
Mr. Kessinger's class most definately does not represent a community of leaners. In a community of learners, teachers and students work together to simultaneously help the students learn and the teacher work to best help the students. This means students and teachers support one another in the classroom. When students put forth effort to learn, teachers should encourage them. Mr. Kessinger blatantly emabarrassed Robin who was only trying to be a more successful student. He was also extremely disrespectful to his other students who were also trying to do well. His actions thwarted his students's learning rather than helping them to succeed.
2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response.
Mr. Kessinger utilizes presentation punishment with Robin. Presentation punishment means that a person adds a stimulus in order to decrease a certain behavior. Mr. Kessinger yells at Robin for making the concept map and embarasses her in front of the class. By yelling at her, he is presenting his anger and disappointment in Robin. This is a stimulus, as it mentions at the end of the case study, that causes Robin never to take notes in Mr. Kessinger's class again. The presentation fo Mr. Kessinger's actions decreases her behavior of taking notes.
3. Explain Robin's reaction in Ms. Yamashita's class from the perspective of classical conditioning.
In Mr. Kessinger's class, Robin was yelled at for making a concept map. Mr. Kessinger was extremely rude to her. When Robin goes in Ms. Yamashita's class, she is in a similar situation as Mr. Kessinger's class. She is being asked to answer certain questions and she is looking at her concept map. When Robin is asked a question by Ms. Yamashita, she looks down at her concept map to answer the questions. When Ms. Yamashita looks at her concept map, Robin immediately feels the same emotions as when Mr. Kessinger tears up her concept map. She does not pay attention to Ms. Yamashita's praise and runs down the hall because she expects Ms. Yamashita's comments to be negative. Mr. Kessinger has caused her to respond to a neutral stimulus (a teacher approaching her about her concept maps) in a similar way (she gets flustered and feels embarrassed).
4. How might Ms. Yamashita encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future? Include behavioral concepts such as shaping, reinforcement, etc., in your response.
Ms. Yamashita could encourage Robin to create more concept maps by simply giving Robin more private types of positive reinforcement. Instead of presenting Robin's concept maps to the whole class, something she is now extremely nervous about, Ms. Yamashita could approach Robin personally and tell her how proud she is of Robin for making the concept maps. She can explain to Robin how impressed she is by her organizational abilities and for her dedication to studying the material. By personally explaining to Robin how she believes her concept maps are wonderful, and how she thinks they are a great study tool, Ms. Yamashita can encourage Robin to create more concept maps.
No comments:
Post a Comment