Download Running Head: LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR Study of Mathematics

Running Head: LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR
Study of Mathematics by Operant Conditioning
Youngah Yu
Salt Lake Community College
Psychology 1010
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Study of Mathematics by Operant Conditioning
Every weekend, I tutor kids in mathematics at a small institution. I examined any effects
on students’ education by changing the ways that I teach. To teach more fun and effective ways to
help students enjoy learning math, I approached operant conditioning when I taught in class.
Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which the consequences of an organism’s behavior
determine whether it will be repeated in the future. (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, and Nock, 2014,
p.277) Before discussing what I experienced, I am going to explain about the major theorists,
Edward L. Thorndike and B. F. Skinner, for the development of operant conditioning.
Edward L Thorndike studied operant conditioning at first comprehensively and broadly.
He examined the behavior of a cat trying to open the door and escape from the puzzle box. At first,
cat took a long time to escape the box. After repeated trials, the cat escaped more quickly. He
thought this was the law of effect that behavior which produce satisfying consequences tend to be
repeated and those produce not comfortable consequences are less likely to be repeated. In
conclusion, there are consequences enhance behavior and weaken behavior. (Operant conditioning.
(c2016). from Wikipedia.)
B.F. Skinner is known for study of operant that conditioning and its application to human
and animal behavior. He made the Skinner box and observed it. This approach allowed the subject
to make one or two responses and the rate of responses became Skinner’s primary behavioral
measure. People have learned through the process of the studies, which is behaviors continued lead
to a successful response. This is called the operant conditioning. This is taught throughout every
school. (Operant conditioning. (c2016). from Wikipedia.)
Humans action by the prior condition and that behaviors are predictable like animals. It
means learning is considered combined with the reaction seems to learners on a particular stimulus
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and the stimulus given to students looking to mechanical activity. I tried operant conditioning that
it can make math easy and simple by educating students how to solve math problems. In this paper,
I am going to explain how my experience was applied in the three principle laws: the law of effect,
the law of exercise, and the law of readiness. (Educational Psychology. 2010.)
First, Edward Thorndike put forward a “the law of effect” stated that responses that
produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that
situation, and responses that produce an unpleasant effect become less likely to occur again in that
situation. (Law of effect, (c2016). From Wikipedia) The terms of satisfying and dissatisfying
appearing in the definition of the law of effect were eventually replaced by the terms “reinforcing”
and “punishing,” when operant conditioning became known. (Law of effect, (c2016). From
Wikipedia) The role of teacher should ensure that students get rewards, such as satisfaction, praise,
and courage through learning, not punishment. As I give a lot of questions to my students, they
would be bored and give up easily.
Second, the law of exercise, also referred to as law of learning, which seem generally
applicable to the learning process. (Principles of learning. (c2016). from Wikipedia.) This principle
is linked directly with students’ practice and repetition. These principles have been discovered,
tested, and used in practical situations. For instance, there is a formula ‘a^n*a^m=a^(n+m)’, and
when I taught this correct formula, and gave similar questions many times, it reinforced learning
because it encourages repetition and extends understanding. It provides additional insight into what
makes people learn most effectively.
Last, the law of readiness which states that a person can learn when physically and
mentally adjusted(ready) to receive stimulus. Individuals learn best when they are ready to learn,
and they will not learn much if they see no reason for learning. (Principles of learning. (c2016).
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from Wikipedia.) I also taught about derivative function. When students are not ready to learn the
meaning of the derivative, they feel bored. If students learn derivative function when they are not
ready for, the learning effect, such as the concepts of derivative functions and applications of it,
will decline. Thus, diagnosis of prior learning emphasizes learning before and after proceeding to
the next section.
In conclusion, through this experience, I could learn a lot of things for teaching
mathematics more effectively to my students. Student will think similar questions to the related
information what they had already learned, and avoid incorrect answers to trial and error. Also,
they will obtain the answers and skills after taking advantage of the future through repetition and
practice. Compensation for the desired target is needed, of course. I realized that it is preferably a
stepwise analysis of most of the operant conditioning and students should be familiar with the
concrete operational activities. Therefore, the compensation for success enables the incentive of
enhanced learning.
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References
Operation Conditioning. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 17, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning
Laws of effect. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 16, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_effect
Principles of learning. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 22, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_learning
Kendra Cherry. (2015, January 25). What Is the Law of Effect? And Edward Thorndike Biology
(1874-1949). [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/edward-thorndikebiography-1874-1949-2795525
AnimalWonders Montana. (2015, February 5). Training #2: Operant Conditioning. [video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YY4Mhp3ZFA
Dipali B. Gandhi. (2010, October 19.) Educational Psychology [Web log post] Retrieved
from http://dgwaymade.blogspot.com/2010/10/thorndikes-laws-of-learning-and-its.html