Behaviorism in Online Teacher Training

This research involves the study of Behaviorism in Online Teacher Education. Behaviorism theories were included in an online course in cognition and critical thinking in education as foundational psychological frameworks to apply to educational practice. Participants applied theoretical frameworks in instruction and learning design in the form of analyses, lessons and projects. Analyses were group discussions over the readings and their application to practice. Lesson Designs were full-length lessons for inclusion with applications of theory. Project Designs were group projects incorporating theory into an educational resource. Analyses, lessons and projects were analyzed for understanding and application of theory.


Introduction
The California School of Education at Alliant International University has included a course in Critical Thinking for Teaching and Learning in a sequence of courses designed to prepare current and future educators to develop thinkers. A previous paper (Kaplan, 2017) describes the course. Included in the course were overarching frameworks guiding design, core relevant content, poignant and significant assignments, and meaningful communication. Course skill and learning outcomes include critiquing psychological theories in teaching and learning and applying theories in education.
Behaviorist theories, including those of Pavlov (Liddell, 1936;Clarke, 2004), (Thorndike, 1927;Waters, 1934), Watson (Gewirtz, 2001), and Skinner (1963), have informed many disciplines on methods of influencing behavior, including providing valuable insights for teaching, training, and learning in education How to cite this paper: Kaplan, D. E. (2018). Behaviorism in Online Teacher Training. Psychology,9,[570][571][572][573][574][575][576][577] https://doi.org/10. 4236/psych.2018.94035 D. E. Kaplan (Tomic, 1993;Bitterman, 2006). The theories describe how behavior can be conditioned through varying techniques shaping the environment of a human. Classical conditioning formalizes treatments in which stimulus is provided to induce a particular response. Operant conditioning defines conditions where reward and consequences are issued to reinforce behavior. Theories about conditioning offer wonderful suggestions for how to design instruction to support learning and are important in the training of teachers.
The overarching objective of this research is to continue foundational understanding and application of Behaviorist theory in the training of teachers. A further objective is to develop the online instructional technologies to accomplish this goal. This paper describes the participants, instruments, analysis and results of applying Behaviorist theory in teacher training.

Study participants included Alliant International University California School of Education Credential and Master of Education students enrolled in Critical
Thinking in Teaching and Learning over the course of several Terms over two years. Twenty-one of sixty students volunteered to include their work in the study, five male and 16 female. The participant body is made up of teachers and teachers in training of multiple ethnicities on intern and student teaching tracks in special education, single subject in varying subject areas, multiple subject credentials, and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL). Those who agreed to participate were made up of two Multiple Subject candidates, fourteen Single Subject candidates including two in Math, two in English, three in Physical Education, two in Science, two in Language, two Educational Specialists, four undeclared, and one TESOL candidate. Selection was determined by required participation in the course and volunteering for the study. The volunteers were representative of the course participants and teacher candidates in the University. reading into projects to improve critical thinking.

Analysis
Student constructions were analyzed for theory understanding and referencing and application of theory in education. Theory discussions and analysis noted whether they acknowledged and noted theory and what they found relevant in the theory. Lesson analysis involved accounting for and describing referencing to theory and application of theory in lesson design. Projects were analyzed for theory referencing and application in project design.

Behaviorism Module
Module 2

Theory Analysis and Application
All of the participants referenced Thorndike, Skinner, Pavlov and/or

Applications in Lesson Designs
All of the participants discussed conditioning in applying conditioning techniques in their lesson designs. One participant discussed and applied conditioning by creating a welcoming environment, rules and expectations set with a culture of encouragement and consistent encouragement in understanding math and angles.
Several participants mentioned and applied Skinner's principles of controlled and planned input, reinforcement, practice, feedback, motivation and reward, for example in a fun engaging project based learning unit in history on an adventure travel. Several participants mentioned behavioral analysis as fundamental in teaching.
Several participants mentioned stimulus response theory. One participant, discussing Watson, advocated the importance of a stimulating environment in encouraging learning, noting more stimulation will lead to more engagement.  Table 2 shows a number count for whether Behaviorist theories were referenced and applied in Lesson Designs out of twenty-one participants. Some participants applied one or both sets of theories.

Applications in Project Designs
All but two projects referenced Behaviorist theories presented as a

Conclusion
Behaviorism Theories of Psychology are of benefit to support instruction and learning. This course was successful in inspiring teacher candidates to analyze and apply Behaviorist theory to instruction. Upon reading theories in behaviorism, teacher education candidates referenced and applied theories in strategic ways to develop behavior involved in study and learning in discussions, lesson designs, and final projects. Strategies from the theories, which arose as beneficial to teaching, included creating a positive environment with positive stimuli and reducing negative stimuli, analyzing the environment and social dynamics for positive and negative stimuli, rewarding desired behavior, discouraging undesired behavior with negative consequences or being ignored, praising desired behavior, and repetition. The results of this study suggest Behaviorist theories should be included in the teaching of teachers in developing their repertoire of knowledge and skills needed to shape student development.
Results show participants were able to understand and reference the theories and it is highly likely this is a result of the reading resources and experiencing the discussions in the course. However, there was no pretest to test prior understanding to experiencing the course readings and module, or proof their understanding