APPLYING BEHAVIORISM AND COGNITIVISM INTO THE THREE DOMAINS OF TEACHING

Author: I Putu Wirya Suta

 


Behaviorism and cognitive theory have a wide range of influences on the teaching-learning process throughout lesson plan construction, classroom management, and instructional delivery style. Both theorists can be implemented in the teaching-learning process according to which theory the teacher is most engaged.

 

Lesson Plan Construction

My lesson plan is constructed based on the diagnostic assessments result and the learning objectives. The students are given a diagnostic assessment before they are attending the classroom learning activity. This assessment is conducted to gain students’ prior knowledge, needs, interests, and inspiration. This result is then used as the base to design a lesson plan for the learning activities to match with the student's prior knowledge, needs, interests, and inspiration. Moreover, the learning objectives that are hoped to be achieved at the end of the learning process, are also used as another base in constructing the lesson plan. 

The constructed lesson plan mainly consists of three parts namely the learning objectives, the learning activities, and the assessment. These three aspects have to be interconnected to each other. What the students are experiencing during the learning activities reflects on the learning objectives. The learning media and sources are also included in the lesson plan. In the end, each learning objective will be assessed during and after the learning.

The theory of cognitive is mostly applied in the lesson plan construction, in where it is designed according to students’ prior knowledge, needs, interests, and inspiration. When the learning activity is created based on the student’s innate knowledge and needs, it refers to cognitive learning theory. Bransford, et.al. (2000, pp. 153-154) stated that to build a useful learning environment, the four perspectives --learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, community-- of cognitive learning environment are required to be conducted cohesively.

 

Classroom Management

To bring the lesson plan into learning activities, the teacher needs to manage their classroom in a certain way to meet the learning objectives. My classroom management runs with three aspects of how the classroom environment is set, what students’ routine is involved, and how interaction takes place in the classroom. The classroom setting includes the students’ seats arrangement whether it is individuals, in pairs, or groups. The arrangement is set according to how the learning activities are going to be run. There is also a students’ routine that fulfills the learning process, such as checking the students' attendance at the beginning of the lesson, and a short prayer to begin and end the learning. Next, classroom management also includes the interaction among the students and between students and the teacher. However, the students are given more chances in building interaction among them.

Setting the classroom in pairs as well as groups and letting interaction among students lead to democratic learning as proposed by cognitive learning theory. Besides, cognitive-based learning is shown in my classroom environment for there is a routine used as the transition facet of the classroom structure. To have a transition moving from one to another activity, the teacher needs to set the students’ routine in the learning process (Educator Pages, 2009).

 

Instructional Delivery Style

In delivering my instructions to the learning activities, I mix both behaviorism and cognitive learning theory following some of the nine events of instruction of Gagne. It begins with getting the students’ attention by conveying brainstorming activities, ice-breaking, etc. It is then followed by informing the learning objectives to the students. Either getting students’ attention or informing the learning objectives are brought to attract the students’ motivation in joining the learning activities. The motivation of learning is an essential aspect of behavioral learning theory (WGU, 2020).

Furthermore, the learning activity is conducted based on student-centered, knowledge-centered, and assessment-centered learning perspectives. The students are brought into the learning activity based on the result of the diagnostic assessment which presents students’ prior knowledge, needs, interests, and inspiration. In this case, the cognitive learning theory is applied through the three perspectives of the learning environment proposed by Bransford, et.al. (2000, pp. 133-140).

The teacher plays a role as a facilitator during the learning activity to always be available once the students need help in solving their problems. The progress of the students in the learning is observed and the teacher is to give feedback to them when several aspects are found to get improvement. Any types of assessment are also given during the learning to know the progress and to give feedback afterward. At the end of the learning, a summative assessment is given to check whether or not the learning objectives are reached through the learning process.

 

References

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school.  National Academy Press. https://www.nap.edu/download/9853

Educator Pages. (2009, November 1). Cognitive. https://classroommanagement.educatorpages.com/pages/28095

Western Governors University. (2020, May 29). What is the behavioral learning theory? https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-behavioral-learning-theory2005.html

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