Observational Learning In Middle School

Nowadays, some parents and teachers practice operant conditioning with children and students. As a mother of four, I used to give my children something in exchange if they do their homework or help me with the house’s chores. Now I know that those actions could have good or bad consequences in my children’s behavior as students. According to the book, stickers and smiley faces work for early childhood and elementary students, but they will not be as effective with middle school and high school students. We as teacher have to know the likes and dislikes of the students in order to define what they consider to be positive or negative (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, page 163). The first tip that I believe it will be useful for increasing my students

In order to observational learning occurs, someone must perform a behavior while being observed by another individual (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, page 174). The model is person performing the behavior that is being observed. There are two kinds of models, live model and symbolic model. Live models are individuals that are directly observed. Symbolic models are individuals that can be observed through movies, television programs and books. Symbolic models do not live in the same environment as the observer. There are four characteristics of live or symbolic models that are important in order for learning occur and they are: Relevance, competence, high status, and gender appropriateness (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, page 174). In my opinion, relevance and high status are the most important characteristics in order for learning to occur. I think that relevance is very important because the observed must be interested in the behavior being performed. For example, a child may not be interested in a person cooking in a television program, but he or she may be interested in a group of children playing in a playground. According to the book, children are more likely to imitate the behavior of models that look like them. In other words children observe a model of their same gender, age, socioeconomic status and race and so forth (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, page 175). The second characteristic that I think is very important in order for learning to occur is high status. High status sometimes includes power and it is mostly a live model. All the time children want to be strong and powerful, it is why they like to imitate their parents and older brothers’ behavior. Children also like to imitate the television or movies heroes’ behaviors. I remember when I was a child, Karate Kid the movie was on billboards and every single child wanted to be as strong as the Karate Kid