Approaches to learning

1. Approaches to learning By: Daesha Brown & Kira Cooper

2. Project Description • Instructor: Different instructors for each group • Instruction: Keeping children busy and disciplined • Students: 103 campers • Instructor-camper interaction: instructor interacts with all children fairly • Camper-Campers interaction: Campers always interact because the instructors are currently working on children getting along • Class Management: Instructor has two other instructors in classroom.

3. What we observed • Councilors who were very eager to be there. Every councilor seemed to always have a smile on their face and displayed positive attitudes, fairness to all campers, and also participated in activities with the campers. • The camp contains a gym, game room, movie room, playroom, art room, cafeteria, offices, small library and a playground. All the campers are divided up by their age and rotate with different councilors throughout the day. Each week they go on a different field trips like skating rink, petting zoo, swimming pools, movies, etc.Overall the kids seem to enjoy themselves and the councilors at 3 0’clock Rock.

4. Skinner’s Theory of operant conditioning • Humans are strengthened when they are reinforced and weakened when they are ignored or punished. • There are two forms of reinforcement and two forms of punishment • Many children who were at “3 O’ Clock Rock illustrated this theory very well.

5. Positive reinforcement • Positive reinforcement involves strengthening a target behavior. • Adding Stimulus • Example: At 3 o’clock Rock, when a student does something good without being asked, they are rewarded with a blue ticket that they keep in chances to win a prize at the end of the day.

6. Negative reinforcement • Negative Reinforcement increases the strength of a behavior • Remove Stimulus • Example: Some campers at 3 o’clock rock refused to clean up their art supplies after art, so the councilors nagged the campers until they cleaned up their area. This went on for two days. On the third day the councilors didn’t say a word and the campers cleaned up their art area on their own, without being asked.

7. Time-out • Time-out is a form of punishment that TEMPORARILY removes the opportunity to receive positive reinforcement. • Example: During an activity when the councilor was trying to explain the rules, a few campers continued to talk over the councilor. After being warned they continued to do it which resulted sitting out during the activity.

8. Argument • Campers are having a hard time listening when a councilor is speaking. • Evidence shows that campers who are talking while instructions are being said, are not listening. If they are not listening then they wont know how to do the activity. So as a form of negative reinforcement, the councilors have those specific campers sit out during the activity. • One of the biggest problems with the campers is listening. By using this as an example of reinforcement we are working on their listening skills.

9. Extinction • Extinction occurs when a formerly addressed behavior decreases and eventually comes to an end. • When extinction is used alone, the behavior usually reappears without being reinforced. • Example: When the campers were playing the game “dead man” a councilor had to choose a child to be “it”. The councilors choose the quietest camper while the campers who are begging to be “it”, are ignored. They did this for every game and eventually the begging stopped all together.

10. References • (226-228, Chapter 7, Psychology Applied to Teaching, 2012). • Biro, C. (n.d.). Positive or negative reinforcement. Retrieved from http://www.libertywings.com/2010/behavior/positive-or-negative-reinforcement/ • http://www.equineclickertraining.com/training/negative_reinforcement.html • http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html