{"id":7757,"date":"2019-10-23T11:18:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T00:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.learningandteachinghub.com\/v1\/?p=7757"},"modified":"2019-10-30T14:31:37","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T03:31:37","slug":"learning-theories-in-focus-behaviourism-and-programmed-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandteachinghub.com\/v1\/blog\/2019\/10\/23\/learning-theories-in-focus-behaviourism-and-programmed-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Theories in Focus: Behaviourism and programmed learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Glasses<\/span>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

A<\/span> s <\/span>career academics, you probably know what works best in your classrooms. When it comes to promotion and awards; however, do you struggle to articulate the theory behind your practice? Or are you looking for new ways to enliven your teaching? This series of blogs will introduce you to some of the prominent theorists in the field of teaching and learning and provide some background to the pedagogical\/andragogical approaches they subscribed to. While these posts will not be comprehensive biographies or deep analyses of theories, they will provide a taster that will hopefully whet your appetite for further exploration. The posts also contain resources that can guide the implementation of theory into practice.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"BF

Image: BF Skinner<\/p><\/div>\n

Burrhus Frederick (BF) Skinner was a professor of psychology, working mainly at Harvard University, until his retiral in 1976. He was a proponent of behaviourism \u2013 a branch of psychology which focusses on learning as affected by changes in behaviour through external, or environmental, influences (Weegar & Pacis 2012). This was in opposition to the introspective method (thought, or learning, influenced by internal mental states) proposed by eminent psychologists such as Freud or Jung.<\/p>\n

Behaviourism assumes the learner begins their experience as a blank slate (tabula rasa<\/em>) and forms their learning through positive or negative reinforcement (Learning Theories n.d.). Skinner went further with the concept of radical behaviourism<\/em>, which tempers the idea of tabula rasa<\/em> by recognising that other factors, such as biological makeup and emotions, play a part in psychological states, and learning. He also was a researcher and proponent of a theory called operant conditioning<\/em>, which asserts that someone (a student) will modify their behaviour (learn something) in order to be rewarded or to avoid punishment (Nebel 2017).<\/p>\n

In 1958, Skinner introduced Harvard students, and the world, to programmed instruction<\/em> which set the following (now) familiar principles:<\/p>\n