Learning And Conditioning

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From the moment we are born to the day we die, we are constantly learning new things. Some people associate learning only with school or other educational institutes, but we learn in different places and situations our life. In the 1930s, American psychologist B.F.Skinner proposed that learning is the result of the application of consequences. It means that any behavior that has good consequences will tend to be repeated, and any behavior that has bad consequences will tend to be avoided. B. F. Skinner defined this method of learning as a “Operant conditioning”: the type of learning in which voluntary reply is strengthened if it is positively reinforced and weakened if it is punished. For example, teachers can alter student behavior by systematically rewarding students who follow classroom rules with praise, stars, or tokens exchangeable for various items. Another example is parent respond to crying child who wants candy in grocery store. Operant Conditioning learning is a way of learning by interpreting the consequences of our actions. In a school situation a teacher can change students’ behavior by adjusting the learning style to the learners level. One of the most known teaching technique is associating students good behavior with the rewards.This can be as simple as giving them a smile, saying "well done,” or awarding a prize. Reinforcing appropriate behaviors can make positive results since children tend to continue or repeat an action that is rewarded. Rewarding technique helps children learn to listen, to complete work, and to behave appropriately, but the most important factor in the learning process is the teacher.The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire writes in his book “Teachers as Cultural Workers - Letters to Those Who Dare Teach” that, “Educators need to know what happens in the world of the children with whom they work. They need to know the

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