Educating Educators

Good behavior in a classroom facilitates learning. In behavioral psychology, classical and operant conditioning are two main types of learning that present different solutions to direct behaviors and allow favorable outcomes within a classroom setting.

The behaviorist perspective in psychology is primarily based on observation, making it a difficult concept to thoroughly grasp solely from a textbook. Beyond knowing what to look for, educators must know how to apply this concept in order to effectively manage their own classrooms. Despite behaviorism’s complex nature, the importance of understanding this approach is something all educators agree on.

The Interactive Cases for Learning Educational Psychology Creative Inquiry team recognizes the need for a more comprehensive way to educate future teachers. Led by Drs. Matthew Boyer and Meihua Qian from the School of Education and Dr. Penelope Vargas from the Department of Psychology, five students created an online interactive case study that teachers around the United States can access. “We found people in education who want to be teachers who, as time goes on, forget important things that come up in the classroom,” Leigh Mercer, a senior psychology major, said. This is an especially important concept for new teachers to grasp as they are new to the field.

This simulation presents multiple scenarios on how a student’s behavior could possibly be problematic in a classroom. To remedy a problem, there needs to be an effective feedback response. Teachers need to create the right balance between positive and negative reinforcement, thus determining when to give reward or punishment. “If you want to change a behavior, you need the feedback to occur as soon as possible. Right after you make a choice, we want to let you know if it is an effective response,” Boyer said.

The team creates an extensive decision tree to prepare for all potential outcomes of the simulation. For each step in the simulation, the team provides thorough explanations for why one decision might be more beneficial than another in any given situation. While designing this interactive case study, students have to be mindful of key psychological concepts and core educational theories to better educate educators.