Behaviorism Activity: Written -- Behaviorism Essay Context: Essay

Behaviorism

activity: Written -- Behaviorism Essay Context: Behaviorism a great impact Core Knowledge Planning Objectives philosophies. In assignment, expand discussion earlier activity fully articulate behaviorism impacted philosophies.

Behaviorism and its influences

According to E.D. Hirsch, the content of education does matter when educating children. Contrary to the notion that students merely need to 'learn how to learn' and subject matter is irrelevant, Hirsch's concept of Core Knowledge is that certain aspects of cultural literacy are essential for students to function in an academic context. Hirsch based his theory upon what he had noticed as an educator, namely that "knowledgeable students, it turned out, could far more easily comprehend and analyze difficult college-level texts (both fiction and nonfiction) than their poorly informed brethren could" despite similar levels of intelligence (Stern 2009). Familiarity, in other words, does not simply breed contempt, but also is a critical component of knowledge.

Core Knowledge is not a new concept but harkens back to ideas such as behaviorism, which stresses that amassing certain kinds of rote knowledge is an integral component of the learning experience. On a very basic level, a rat that repeatedly runs the same maze over and over again in an exercise in operant condition will eventually become better at the task, particularly if successes are rewarded with positive stimuli and failures with negative stimuli.Behaviorism is teacher-centered and reward-based and focuses on having students meet specific, measurable goals. Also, "behaviorists generally believe that students can be taught best when the focus is directly on the content to be taught. Behavioral instruction often takes the material out of the context in which it will be used" (Chen n.d.).

Core Knowledge supports the notion that there is a unique value in particular types of knowledge that can facilitate the acquisition of other types of knowledge. Someone who has studied Shakespeare in high school will find reading Shakespeare in college much easier than someone who has never had exposure to that type of dense language. A child who is familiar with Darwin will have an advantage in creating an experience in a biology class. Teachers have valuable knowledge that students must learn, so students can build upon such knowledge.….....