Multiple Intelligences vs. Behaviorist Theory

I believe that the traditional behaviorist theory has taken a lot of negative press lately especially with the increase research and knowledge we have regarding multiple intelligences. I do believe, however, that the traditional behaviorist theory still has a place in our classrooms. I think that if we abandon this traditional teaching method we will abandon those students who learn this way. I think that with a combination of this traditional behaviorist method of teaching combined with other teaching strategies that appeal to other learning styles will be the best way to reach the most possible students.

One particular are that I think the behaviorist theory is useful for is something like multiplication facts. This is best accomplished by root memorization and repetition. This is supported by the theories of Thorndike and Skinner who believed that through stimulus response and operant conditioning you can teach the mind to recall this information quickly, (Behaviorist Orientation, 2009). This method essentially is the classical conditioning discovered by Pavlov and his dog. This is also common in athletes who are training for a specific sport or event. They repeat these movements to get a desired result which is to swim faster, bike faster, and to run faster.

B. F. Skinner - Click on Photo to read a summary of his research.

I think that many students would be left behind if we abandoned this method of
teaching. These are your learn by doing and your learn by listening kids. I also
think this appeals to your kids who have good memorization skills too. There
are, however, many instances that this traditional behaviorist theory is not
effective. Teaching history dates with this method can leave many students in
the dark. Your visual learners will not take anything from a boring lecture tell
all the dates or even a tiny, postage-stamp sized photo in an out-of-date
textbook. Instead show a larger than life photo on your LCD projector, or a
short film which can bring to life a historical event.

Multiple Intelligences Model
Click on the Model for summaries of each of the intelligences.

We all have those students that will understand all the material no matter what. These are the kids who are finished with the assignment before you are even done reading the directions. They are the ones whose papers you use as an answer key when you leave yours at home. These kids will be successful students no matter what. The students these different earning styles will appeal to and the ones I like to refer to as the “tweeners.” These are the students who need just a little push to move them to the next level.

I really believe that most teachers are reluctant to learn more about the different learning styles because they think they need to throw out everything they have been doing in the past. This is not he case, however. What we, as teachers, should be thinking is continue what we do wall, and make a few changes to appeal to more learning styles. I think we can reach more of those tweeners with a few small changes rather than a total overhaul of our lessons.

What are your experiences? What do you think? I would love to hear about your experiences both successes and failures.

References

Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The behaviourist orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm, Last update: May 11, 2009.