Behaviorism and Constructivism

The Perspectives of Behaviorism and Constructivism Theories

Introduction

Over the past years, researchers and educational psychologists have suggested various theories that explain how individuals deploy, organize and acquire knowledge and skills. The body of literature helps readers to apply and organize the extensive body by classifying the learning theories into three categories: behaviorism, cognitive constructivism, and cognitive information. This study will limit the discussion to constructivism and behaviorism being the main theories that form the foundation of education technology today. With the recent changes in educational technology, it becomes important to reflect on the implications of these theories of learning to improve education. The paper outlines the history of the theories, their application in the education realm and both their benefits and limitations.

The Behaviorism Theory

History of the Theory 

In the nineteenth century, psychology was an acceptable science of consciousness. However, behaviorism overruled consciousness as the subject matter of psychology and substituted it with behavior. The theory of behaviorism dates back to the 1880s and is still used in the twenty-first century (Weegar & Pacis, 2012). Through its evolvement, behaviorism theory researchers have studied it intensely but have never agreed on the single definition of the term. The behavioral theory formulated by Watson in 1913 explored the connection between living organisms and their surroundings in learning. Through the Pavlov experiment to prove that humans can be conditioned to respond to an external stimulus (Weegar & Pacis, 2012). Using the findings of the experiment, Watson concluded that a child’s fear of something is ingrained in their behavior.

Skinner, another behaviorist, used his work tried to expand Watson’s research by using extensively researching on animals such as pigeons, rats. In his experiment, Skinner invented a box that taught a rat that it had to press the lever to feed. This practice reinforced desired behavior. The study of behaviorism by Skinner and Watson supported the positivistic science approach that addressed the relationship between sensory stimuli and the exceptional, consistent response (Harasim, 2012). Nevertheless, Skinner realized that human beings do more than responding to their environment since they also react to it based on experience gained with time. The inception of behaviorism has provided the direction for the research in social science, which help improve learning in school.

Learning Factors in Behaviorism

Behaviorism links learning with the form and frequencies of change realized in observable performances. Learning is achieved if the student is demonstrated a proper response after they have been presented with a particular environmental stimulus. In an example, when a learner is given a math flashboard with the equation ‘2+1=?’ He or she responds with the answer ‘3’. Therefore, the equation represents the stimulus while the answer is the linked response (Bada & Olusegun, 2015). The stimulus, response and the link between the two are the key elements. However, the major concern is maintaining and strengthening the association. Behaviorism theory focuses on the important consequences of the performances and argues that responses associated with reinforcement can probably reappear in the future.

There has been no attempt that determines the structure of knowledge of a student or evaluates the mental processes necessary to use. Behaviorists believe that a student is reactive to environmental conditions rather than active in the role of discovering the surroundings. The behaviorists also consider the learner and the environmental factors important, and the latter receives more emphasis (Harasim, 2012). They evaluate learners to determine the best time to start instruction and the most effective reinforcers for a specific student. However, the key factor is arranging stimuli as well as the consequences in the environment. Behaviorists do not address the issue of memory and argue that non-use of response over time triggers forgetting. Consequently, learners maintain a willingness to respond through periodic practice.

The Constructivism Theory

History of the Theory

The evolvement of constructivism theory of learning originated from the extensive research on cognitive development by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, which refers to the way knowledge and thinking advances with age. The study of the two researchers on cognitive development formed the basis for constructivism philosophy. It emphasizes that active participation enabled children to nurture skills and knowledge (Weimer, Dowds, Fabricius, Schwanenflugel & Suh, 2017). The theory is closely related to the ideas of cognitive development through mind product. Piaget believed knowledge increased through experimentation and observation while Vygotsky supported that knowledge development is attained through interaction with knowledgeable members. Consequently, they argue that learners should pursue and construct knowledge through previous experiences that can create mental images.

Learning Factors in Constructivism

Constructivism theory associates learning from developing meaning through experience. Although constructivism is related to cognitivism because they consider learning is a mental activity, it apprehends input of mind filters obtained produces a unique reality. Constructivists believe that the mind is the source of all meaning and emphasize the importance of the interaction between direct experiences and the environment (Bada & Olusegun, 2015). They also argue that people’s knowledge about the real world emerges from their interpretation of experience. Therefore, humans create rather than acquire knowledge from the world. Similarly, learners do not obtain knowledge from the external world to their memories but create personal interpretations based on their interactions and experiences. As a result, the internal knowledge representation is always open to change and to examine the experience of a person is essential.

Positive and Negative Implications of the Theories for Education

Constructive and behavioral approaches provide different but important ways of educating students. Implementation of constructivism theory in an educational setting focuses on ensuring the teacher gives students the chance to utilize reasoning and critical thinking. On the other handing, implementing behaviorism theory involves the instructor emphasizing on the behavior and modifying it to improve the educational outcomes.

Behaviorism

Behaviorists believe that the instructor is the center to learning; thus, they emphasize imitation, lecture, and discussion. Therefore, the teacher should always take the role of presenting content in an organized and systematic manner and the end give serialized textbooks, specialized curriculum and standardized tests for each subject. As a result, the behavioral theory of learning is mainly based on a standardized curriculum that centers on academic disciplines (Weimer et al., 2017). The early 20th century ushered the school of behaviorism that was characterized by measurable and observable outward behavior of scientific inquiry. This new school linked the effect of learning reinforcement, which reflected the relationship between a stimulus, response, and conditioning.

It is believed that learners can get similar information if they are placed in a suitable environment. Skinner believed that learning could be measured through observing behavior change. However, as tests on this behavior psychology continue, studies realized the link between stimuli and responses, rifts were explaining the change of behavior (Harasim, 2012). These rifts were based on the disadvantages of the behavioral learning theory for its emphasis on extrinsic inputs including punishments and rewards to influence the students’ behaviors as highlighted in Figure 1 below. It also focuses on impartially observable behavior and acquiring new behavior; thus, reduced mental activities.

In the educational setting, instructors blend negative with positive reinforcements to attain desired punishment or reward that will influence the student’s behavior. Behaviorism embraces extrinsic motivators including privileges, prizes, praises, grades and recognition as the way to replicate a learned behavior or activity. Instructors of behavioral learning present the objectives of lessons in a linear manner; therefore, they provide clues or hints to influence students to the desired and preferred behavior (Trestini, 2018). Moreover, behaviorists first introduce learners to low-level cognitive skills and later to high-level cognitive skills. This method allows learners to systematically gain knowledge from the simple concepts to the complex ones. However, behavioral learning fails to consider the influence of mind that surpasses behavior. Thus, students are involved in more indirect instructions and measure learning through written and oral tests rather than teach learner on problem-solving.

In the online environment, behavioral learning becomes challenging to implement because there is no tangible space found in a real face to face classroom. Therefore, teachers face difficulties as they facilitate and nurture learner in the cyberspace (Bada & Olusegun, 2015). Today, online learning is a widely used channel of education. Evaluated from a behavioral learning perspective, it makes educators feel like the external online environment fails to match the impact learners obtain in face to face classrooms. It compels the adoption of new technologies have been introduced to improve synchronous communication and where the instructor can offer feedback and rewards in real time

Constructivism

Constructivism theory studies perception, emotion, thinking, language, learning, consciousness, and creativity. Therefore, constructivists stress on applying knowledge and ideas acquired through interactions in the environments to solve problems. They prefer an interdisciplinary curriculum to provide the best education for students and believe that learning should be recursive, interpretive and a process of relating the social and physical world (Weimer et al., 2017). In the school setting, constructivism effectively assists instructors to meet the challenges of enhancing student achievement. The teacher should assume the role of a side guide by stepping off to allow students to relinquish their power and engage actively in reading textbooks to acquire knowledge. When activities are done asynchronously and collaboratively with other learners can provide an influential learning experience.

Moreover, constructivism allows the students to engage in experimentation, open-ended problems, and cooperative learning through active participation with principles and concepts. Also, this learning approach gives the instructor the chance to focus on showing learners the meaningfulness and relevance in the information they are learning as summarized in Figure 1 below. For instance, a teacher in the constructivist classroom can pose personally meaning and realistically complex problems for learners to solve (Boghossian, 2006). The students will then hold coordinated groups to examine possible solutions, which will lead to the development of products and findings to the audience. Constructive learning allows hands-on activities, cooperative learning, distributed practice, critical thinking, and discovery learning, which help in acquiring problem-solving skills applicable in multiple careers.

Figure 1 summarizing the constructivism and behaviorism theories

However, constructivism has its limitations which hinder some students to excel. This type of learning lacks a systematic structure that learners require to excel. Teachers do not have a standardized curriculum that favors a personalized course based on what learners know what they will learn (Moyson & Scholten, 2018). Therefore, some students are likely to lag. Moreover, constructivist learning removes the traditional way of grading but values evaluating the progress of the student. As a result, the student may be improving, but within low grades and without a standardized evaluation and grading, the learner falls behind without the teacher realizing the struggle. Also, lack of traditional evaluating, the student may fail to create knowledge as they may be copying from others.

 

Conclusion

Behaviorism and constructivism are important theories that are employed in today’s education to improve learning. With their different advantages and limitations, educators still debate whether the two learning theories are suitable in the education setting. While constructivism allows students to take control of their learning to construct their knowledge, behaviorism makes the teacher the dominant person in class while students remain passive learners. Therefore, with the changes in education setting due to the introduction of new technologies, educators should ensure the learning method used embraces the ongoing shifts.

References

Bada, S. O., & Olusegun, S. (2015). Constructivism learning theory: A paradigm for teaching and learning. Journal of Research & Method in Education, 5(6), 66-70.

Boghossian, P. (2006). Behaviorism, constructivism, and Socratic pedagogy. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 38(6), 713-722.

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York: Routledge.

Moyson, S., & Scholten, P. W. A. (2018). Theories on policy learning: Existing approaches and future challenges. Knowledge, Policymaking and Learning for European Cities and Regions. From Research to Practice. Cheltenham Edward Elgar.

Trestini, M. (2018). Modeling of Next Generation Digital Learning Environments: Complex Systems Theory. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Weegar, M. A., & Pacis, D. (2012). A Comparison of two theories of learning-behaviorism and constructivism as applied to face-to-face and online learning. In Proceedings e-leader conference, Manila.

Weimer, A. A., Dowds, S. J. P., Fabricius, W. V., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Suh, G. W. (2017). Development of constructivist theory of mind from middle childhood to early adulthood and its relation to social cognition and behavior. Journal of experimental child psychology, 154, 28-45.