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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper examines the behaviorist model and Thorndike's contribution. How his theories can be applied to the classroom is discussed. Intelligence testing is a concept included as well. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA448T.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
(Palincsar, 1998). Thorndike in fact would postulate that learning would take place through the strengthening of bonds that occurred between situations and actions (1998). Teaching had become a matter
of shaping responses to come from the learner and this occurred when utilizing instructional procedures like demonstration, modeling, and the reinforcement of closer approximations to targeted responses
(1998). From such a perspective, academic tasks had been analyzed in order to determine their component parts, and curriculums had been sequenced to make sure that students were adequately acquiring
the necessary prerequisite skills prior to the introduction of advanced materials (1998). The instructional model which most accurately reflects tenets of behaviorism is viewed as direct instruction teaching
(Palincsar, 1998). The hallmark of direct instruction is the active as well as directive role assumed by the teacher, who will maintain control of the pace, the sequence,
and the content of a lesson (Baumann 1988 as cited in Palincsar, 1998). Direct instruction is an effective means in respect to teaching factual content; also, there is not
a good deal of evidence that the instruction transfers to cognitive skills like reasoning or problem solving (1998). Also, there is no sufficient evidence that direct instruction teaching would result
in flexibility that is needed for students in order to target strategies in novel contexts (1998). Yet, whatever one wants to say about the behaviorist model, one can say that
the contributions of Thorndike are debatable in respect to his work regarding this body of knowledge. Overskeid (2000) claims that Thorndikes research on instrumental learning is "pioneering". However,
the author claims that Thorndike was really not a part of the behaviorist movement (2000). Rather, the theorist considers himself a "connectionist," and through Watson, the advent of
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