Question

Ms. Brown is a teacher in a first-grade classroom. The students are not wanting to listen and are taking a very long time to clean the room between tasks. She wants to use praise and feedback as her behavior change tool. Taking what you know about reinforcement from this week's readings, how should she go about doing this? Explain your rationale. It is not always the case that people use reinforcement on purpose. Sometimes, the natural contingencies that follow a behavior result in an increase in a potentially unwanted behavior. Describe a time you accidently reinforced a behavior (caused it to increase) and if it turned out to be a good thing or one that needed remedied.

Answer 1

She could record a video of another class of first grade students who are well disciplined and listen to their teacher without making lots of noise and disturbance. She could show it to the kids, saying how other kids are performing thus creating a competitive spirit. This method will be aligned to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. She could say that if they follow the expected behaviors, they could get one hour extra play time in a week thus introducing a positive reinforcement that will increase the disciplined behavior.

My parents asked me to complete my school works before I go out with my friends and I didn’t listen. They told me that they would increase my pocket money if I complete my homework on time which I felt was a good idea. From that day onwards, I started completing my homework before going out and over a period of time it came naturally. Now, I don’t look for any incentives to complete my homework on time because I feel good when I complete it and when my teachers appreciate me for that.