Question

what are the theory or concepts associated with education and behavior changes?

Answer 1

Behaviourism is an aspect which describes the changes in behaviour of an individual.

Operant conditioning is the theory that states the relation between education and behaviour changes.

The research about this theory of learning was done with animals. B. F. Skinner, a pioneer observed the behavior of laboratory rats . He would put them in a cage that contained little except a lever and a small tray just big enough to hold a small amount of food. At first the rat would sniff and “putter around” the cage at random, but sooner or later it would happen upon the lever and eventually happen to press it. Presto! The lever released a small pellet of food, which the rat would promptly eat. Gradually the rat would spend more time near the lever and press the lever more frequently, getting food more frequently. Eventually it would spend most of its time at the lever and eating its fill of food. The rat had “discovered” that the result of pressing the lever was to receive food. Skinner called the changes in the rat’s behavior an example of operant conditioning, and gave special names to the different parts of the process. He called the food pellets the reinforcement and the lever-pressing the operant (because it “operated” on the rat’s environment).

eg:A kindergarten child raises her hand in response to the teacher’s question about a story (the operant). The teacher calls on her and she makes her comment (the reinforcement).