Classical Conditioning Theories And Its Uses In An Educational Setting

Classical Conditioning Theories And Its Uses In An Educational Setting In this paper, we will describe classical and operant conditioning theories and its uses in an educational or work setting. It will begin with differences between classical and operant conditioning, followed by specific examples and applications for each developmental level (infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, or early childhood). A discussion on the use of rewards from a philosophical and practical viewpoint will follow with different developmental and learning theories that can be applied in an educational or work setting. Finally, a brief summary of definitions and terms of the theory, discussing specific examples, benefits, and challenges while implementing this theory. Classical and Operant Conditioning According to Pavlov, learning begins with a stimulus-response which is classical conditioning (p.47). Learning should reflect a change in behavior. The stimulus and response noted within the working setting may not see a change in behavior. The classical conditionings in the work setting include: A customer service representative in a call center receives call quality scores via e-mail. The customer representative experiences anxiety each time the score(s) are given. The departmental potlucks create an atmosphere of food and fun. The departmental service level suffers because the customer service representatives are not adhering to scheduled breaks and lunches. The emergency room receives the charts daily. As the end of the calendar month approaches overtime is required to complete all work received. In operant conditioning, learning occurs because of rewards and punishment. Rice indicated, Satisfying consequences bring about changes in behavior (2001). Operant conditioning is often used in the educational or work setting. His or Her father gives them a credit card at the end of their first year in college because they did so well. As a result, their grades continue to get better in their second year. A professor has a policy of exempting students from the final exam if they maintain perfect attendance during the quarter. The professors policy showed a dramatic increase in his students attendance. Customer service representatives strive daily to meet the quarterly incentive. The adherences to break and lunch schedules are enforced. Examples of operant and classical conditioning are prevalent in the everyday lives of many and are seen in the educational environment. An example of operant conditioning during the infancy stage occurs when a caregiver is effective in comforting a crying infant, the infant stops crying. The removal of the unpleasant crying reinforces the caregivers comforting technique. The caregiver is apt to apply the same method of comforting the next time he cries. As an example of classical conditioning during the infancy stage occurs when a baby bottle is inserted in the infants mouth. This brings out a reflexive unlearned response of sucking. The infant can develop a conditioned to the baby bottle; the sucking occurs as soon as the infant sees a baby bottle. The following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the early childhood stage in an educational environment. As an example of operant conditioning during the early childhood stage, when a student raises his or her hand and waits to be called on to receive something good as a reward. The rewards come in many forms for example a reward is the student receiving a praise or a piece of candy for his or her good behavior. Another example of classical conditioning during the early childhood stage is, when a student calls a classmate an inappropriate name. The teacher may call the student with the inappropriate behavior aside and reprimand him or her. The teacher would have that student take a time out or write sentences as of why he or she should not perform the action of calling the other student inappropriate names (Tuckman, 2010). The following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage in an educational environment. As an example of classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage, when a student who seldom associates with other students is encouraged to associate with others, is given praise by the teacher. As an example of classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage, a student has a fear of test taking. In the past, the student has always performed poorly when taking a test. The teacher is aware the student knows the material. The teacher could work with the student by giving him or her series of tests the student could pass. The teacher would provide positive feedback to the student to reinforce the good grade. The student would associate the test taking with positive feedback, and then the student would no longer have a fear of taking test. The following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the adolescence stage in an educational environment. As an example of operant conditioning during the adolescence stage, when an above average child is receiving an average grade a parent could use monetary rewards if he or she receives As in school however, if the child receives an undesirable grade, the child would pay the parent as a means of punishment. During the adolescence stage, students enjoy working in groups on assignments and projects. As an example of classical conditioning during the adolescence stage, the teacher advises the students to work with the partner of choice if the class exhibits appropriate behaviors until that point in the lesson. If the class is not well behaved, the class does not get to work in groups. If the class exceeds the teachers expectations of appropriate behavior, the class is allowed to work in groups. The students behavior gives a definite response, w hich is a consistent reaction to the classes actions. Rewards Over the years punishment and rewards have been used to control behavior. The concern is that money, high grades, and even praises may be effective in a persons performance, but performance and interest can only remain constant as long as the reward is continuous. Rewards and punishments are ways of manipulating behavior. These two methods are used in our educational environment. These methods are saying to the child, if he or she does this, we will give him or her this, and if he or she does that, we will take away this. The question that arises is as teachers are we using these methods appropriately and is our children benefiting from the methods as a hold. What is the purpose of punishment? The purpose of punishment is to decrease certain responses. There are two types of punishments. Punishment I represents an appearance of an unpleasant stimulus, and punishment II removes the unpleasant stimulus. Punishment can be effective by immediate reasoning, or infrequent reasoning. The purpose of a reward is to let the student know that he or she has done an impressive job. The reward is used to increase the students ability to perform better or do more because his or her performance is already at or above level. This reward can cause a students desire to fail in his or her ability, and become disinterested because he or she has already reached his or her level of attainment. The purpose of reinforces is to increase desired responses and behaviors. We use these reinforces to receive a positive or negative response. The focal point is not principally on rewards and punishment. It is to create an atmosphere that increases motivation. Learning Theory There is no one perfect option in developing a strategy or theory of what would best to used in a classroom or workplace setting. The human mind has been studied for thousands of years, and there is not one study that can be reproduced exactly when it comes to human thinking. The classroom is set up based on the teachers experiences as well as educational knowledge. Starting with the learning focus model, the classroom is set up in the following way to enhance the learning environment. 1) Self- Regulated students are students who develop goals, monitor goals, practice met cognition, and use effective strategies. 2) Teacher Characteristics is expressed in personal teaching efficacy, modeling and enthusiasm, caring as well as a positive expectation of the students abilities. Promoting students motivation in the classroom involves instructional variables, instructional focus, personalization, involvement, and feedback. In comparing Piaget with Vygotsky, Piaget saw interaction primarily as a mechanism for promoting assimilation and accommodation in individuals. Whereas, Vygotsky developed his ideas based on learning and development, which arises directly from social interactions, which means individuals cognitive developments are a direct result of interactions with other people. The role of language is central to Vygotskys theory, and it plays three different roles in development (Eggen Kauchak, 2007, p.46). The first role is giving learners access to knowledge. Second, language providing the learners with cognitive tools that allows humans to think about their surroundings and resolve problems. The third role that language plays is helping the learner with regulation and reflection of his or her own thinking. According to Vygotsky, learning occurs when people acquire specific understanding, Thomas, 32(3), 656). In reviewing the research of the three different theories of motivationbehavioral theo ries humanistic theories and cognitive theoriesthe researcher has to study the development of the humanistic views of Charles Maslows hierarchy of needs. Looking at Maslows two-step processes, the first step is Deficiency needs, which includes survival, safety, belonging, and self-esteem. The second step, Growth needs, includes intellectual achievements, anesthetic appreciation, and self-actualization (Eggen Kauchak, 2007, p.303). This researcher believes that if the work environment or the classroom environment could combine Piaget, Vygotsky and Maslows theories in to one basic idea, one would have the closest thing to a perfect understanding of human physical and cognitive development.

Investigating Ratios of Areas and Volumes

Investigating Ratios of Areas and Volumes In this portfolio, I will be investigating the ratios of the areas and volumes formed from a curve in the form y = xn between two arbitrary parameters x = a and x = b, such that a < b. This will be done by using integration to find the area under the curve or volume of revolution about an axis. The two areas that will be compared will be labeled ‘A’ and ‘B’ (see figure A). In order to prove or disprove my conjectures, several different values for n will be used, including irrational, real numbers (? , v2). In addition, the values for a and b will be altered to different values to prove or disprove my conjectures. In order to aid in the calculation, a TI-84 Plus calculator will be used, and Microsoft Excel and WolframAlpha (http://www. wolframalpha. com/) will be used to create and display graphs. Figure A 1. In the first problem, region B is the area under the curve y = x2 and is bounded by x = 0, x = 1, and the x-axis. Region A is the region bounded by the curve, y = 0, y = 1, and the y-axis. In order to find the ratio of the two areas, I first had to calculate the areas of both regions, which is seen below. For region A, I integrated in relation to y, while for region B, I integrated in relation to x. Therefore, the two formulas that I used were y = x2 and x = vy, or x = y1/2. The ratio of region A to region B was 2:1. Next, I calculated the ratio for other functions of the type y = xn where n ? ?+ between x = 0 and x = 1. The first value of n that I tested was 3. Because the formula is y = x3, the inverse of that is x = y1/3. In this case, the value for n was 3, and the ratio was 3:1 or 3. I then used 4 for the value of n. In this case, the formula was y = x4 and its inverse was x = y1/4. For the value n = 4, the ratio was 4:1, or 4. After I analyzed these 3 values of n and their corresponding ratios of areas, I came up with my first conjecture: Conjecture 1: For all positive integers n, in the form y = xn, where the graph is between x = 0 and x = 1, the ratio of region A to region B is equal to n. In order to test this conjecture further, I used other numbers that were not necessarily integers as n and placed them in the function y = xn. In this case, I used n = ?. The two equations were y = x1/2 and x = y2. For n = ? , the ratio was 1:2, or ?. I also used ? as a value of n. In this case, the two functions were y = x? and x = y1/?. Again, the value of n was ? , and the ratio was ? :1, or ?. As a result, I concluded that Conjecture 1 was true for all positive real numbers n, in the form y = xn, between x = 0 and x = 1. 2. After proving that Conjecture 1 was true, I used other parameters to check if my conjecture was only true for x = 0 to x = 1, or if it could be applied to all possible parameters. First, I tested the formula y = xn for all positive real numbers n from x = 0 to x = 2. My first value for n was 2. The two formulas used were y = x2 and x = y1/2. In this case, the parameters were from x = 0 to x = 2, but the y parameters were from y = 0 to y = 4, because 02 = 0 and 22 = 4. In this case, n was 2, and the ratio was 2:1, or 2. I also tested a different value for n, 3, with the same x-parameters. The two formulas were y = x3 and x = y1/3. The y-parameters were y = 0 to y = 8. Again, the n value, 3, was the same as the ratio, 3:1. In order to test the conjecture further, I decided to use different values for the x-parameters, from x = 1 to x = 2. Using the general formula y = xn, I used 2 for the n value. Again, the ratio was equal to the n value. After testing the conjecture multiple times with different parameters, I decided to update my conjecture to reflect my findings. The n value did not necessarily have to be an integer; using fractions such as ? and irrational numbers such as ? did not affect the outcome. Regardless of the value for n, as long as it was positive, the ratio was always equal to n. In addition, the parameters did not have an effect on the ratio; it remained equal to the value used for n. Conjecture 2: For all positive real numbers n, in the form y = xn, where the graph is between x = a and x = b and a < b, the ratio of region A to region B is equal to n. . In order to prove my second conjecture true, I used values from the general case in order to prove than any values a and b will work. So, instead of specific values, I made the x-parameters from x = a to x = b. By doing this, region A will be the region bounded by y = xn, y = an, y = bn, and the y-axis. Region B is the region enclosed by y = xn, x = a, x = b, and the x-axis. The formulas used were y = xn and x = y1/n. The ratio of region A to region B is n:1, or n. This proves my conjecture correct, because the value for n was equivalent to the ratio of the two regions. . The next part of the portfolio was to determine the ratio of the volumes of revolution of regions A and B when rotated around the x-axis and the y-axis. First, I determined the ratio of the volumes of revolutions when the function is rotated about the x-axis. For the first example, I will integrate from x = 0 to x = 1 with the formula y = x2. In this case, n = 2. When region B is rotated about the x-axis, it can be easily solved with the volume of rotation formula. When region A is rotated about the x-axis, the resulting volume will be bounded by y = 4 and y = x2. The value for n is 2, while the ratio is 4:1. In this case, I was able to figure out the volume of A by subtracting the volume of B from the cylinder formed when the entire section (A and B) is rotated about the x-axis. For the next example, I integrated the function y = x2 from x = 1 to x = 2. In this case, I would have to calculate region A using a different method. By finding the volume of A rotated around the x-axis, I would also find the volume of the portion shown in figure B labeled Q. This is because region A is bounded by y = 4, y = x2, and y = 1. Therefore, I would have to then subtract the volume of region Q rotated around the x-axis in order to get the volume of only region A. In this case, the value for n was 2, and the ratio was 4:1. After this, I decided to try one more example, this time with y = x3 but using the same parameters as the previous problem. So, the value for n is 3 and the parameters are from x = 1 to x = 2. In this case, n was equal to 3, and the ratio was 6:1. In the next example that I did, I chose a non-integer number for n, to determine whether the current pattern of the ratio being two times the value of n was valid. For this one, I chose n = ? with the parameters being from x = 0 to x = 1. In this case, n = ? and the ratio was 2? :1, or 2?. After this, I decided to make a conjecture based on the 4 examples that I had completed. Because I had used multiple variations for the parameters, I have established that they do not play a role in the ratio; only the value for n seems to have an effect. Conjecture 3: For all positive real numbers n, in the form y = xn, where the function is limited from x = a to x = b and a < b, the ratio of region A to region B is equal to two times the value of n. In order to prove this conjecture, I used values from the general case in order to prove than any values a and b will work. So, instead of specific values, I made the x-parameters from x = a to x = b. By doing this, region A will be the region bounded by y = xn, y = an, y = bn, and the y-axis. Region B is the region enclosed by y = xn, x = a, x = b, and the x-axis. In this example, n = n and the ratio was equal to 2n:1. This proves my conjecture that the ratio is two times the value for n. When the two regions are rotated about the x-axis, the ratio is two times the value for n. However, this does not apply to when they are rotated about the y-axis. In order to test that, I did 3 examples, one being the general equation. The first one I did was for y = x2 from x = 1 to x =2. When finding the volume of revolution in terms of the y-axis, it is important to note that the function must be changed into terms of x. Therefore, the function that I will use is x = y1/2. In addition, the y-parameters are from y = 1 to y = 4, because the x values are from 1 to 2. In this example, n = 2 and the ratio was 1:1. The next example that I did was a simpler one, but the value for n was not an integer. Instead, I chose ? , and the x-parameters were from x = 0 to x = 1. The formula used was x = y1/?. In this example, the ratio was ? :2, or ? /2. After doing this example, and using prior knowledge of the regions revolved around the x-axis, I was able to come up with a conjecture for the ratio of regions A and B revolving around the y-axis. Conjecture 4: For all positive real numbers n, in the form y = xn, where the function is limited from x = a to x = b and a < b, the ratio of region A to region B is equal to one half the value of n. In order to prove this conjecture, I used values from the general case in order to prove than any values a and b will work. This is similar to what I did to prove Conjecture 3. So, instead of specific values, I made the x-parameters from x = a to x = b. By doing this, region A will be the region bounded by y = xn, y = an, y = bn, and the y-axis. Region B is the region enclosed by y = xn, x = a, x = b, and the x-axis. The ratio that I got at the end was n:2, which is n/2. Because the value of n is n, this proves that my conjecture is correct. In conclusion, the ratio of the areas formed by region A and region B is equal to the value of n. n can be any positive real number, when it is in the form y = xn. The parameters for this function are x = a and x = b, where a < b. In terms of volumes of revolution, when both regions are revolved around the x-axis, the ratio is two times the value of n, or 2n. However, when both regions A and B are revolved around the y-axis, the ratio is one half the value of n, or n/2. In both situations, n includes the set of all positive real numbers.

Fast Food Essay

Junk food is being blamed for causing many undesirable problems to children. It is referred to any food that is low nutritional value such as instant noodles, potato chips and chocolate bars. Takeaway foods, pre-packaging meals and sugary snack food are also included as junk food (Trab 2005). In response to the problem, I strongly believe that the sale of junk food should be banned. The first reason why junk food should be banned is because it causes behavioral problems in children (Caputo 2005). Most of them contain chemical additives to enhance flavor and colour and to increase shelf life. Furthermore, junk food has a lot of flavor as it is typically high in fat, salt, or sugar and commonly containing synthetic flavor enhancer (Smith 2005). These additives have been shown to cause the behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and pour concentration. Based on a research, it is proven that junk foods are often loaded with chemical additives which can trigger behavioral problems (Caputo 2005). Secondly, junk food is to be said as the major contributor to litter problems. The fast food packaging causes litter problems which is a safety and health hazard, increases cleaning costs and reflects bad image to our communities (Smith 2005). Cans, crisp packets, cartons and plastic container are among of them and are everywhere (Green 2005). By reducing the sale of junk foods, litter problem in schools can be redressed (Smith 2005) as many junk foods are sold in school canteen. As a result of the reduction, the school grounds man doesn’t have to spend so long cleaning and has more time to spend on maintenance projects that benefit the school (Green 2005). Lastly, junk foods need to be banned because they are unhealthy diet because they are lack in nutritional value (Health Foundation 2005). The nutritional value of food eaten by Australian children has been falling progressively over the past 30 years and this can be linked directly to the increased availability and consumption of junk food (Tran 2005). Examples of the junk food that is low in nutritional value are biscuits, cookies, chips.

Correlation Between Cities And Gangs - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1254 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/04/12 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Gang Violence Essay Did you like this example? The Cities affects with Gangs The recent unrest in Baltimore raises complex and confounding questions, and in response many people have attempted to define the problem solely in terms of insurgent American racism and violent police behavior. But that is a gross oversimplification. America is not reverting to earlier racist patterns, and calling for a national conversation on race is a clich that evades the real problem we now face: on one hand, a vicious tangle of concentrated poverty, disconnected youth and a culture of violence among a small but destructive minority in the inner cities; and, on the other hand, of out-of-control law-enforcement practices abetted by a police culture that prioritizes racial profiling and violent constraint. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Correlation Between Cities And Gangs" essay for you Create order First, we need a more realistic understanding of Americas inner cities. They are socially and culturally heterogeneous, and a great majority of residents are law-abiding, God-fearing and often socially conservative. According to recent surveys, between 20 and 25 percent of their permanent residents are middle class; roughly 60 percent are solidly working class or working poor who labor incredibly hard, advocate fundamental American values and aspire to the American dream for their children. Their youth share their parents values, expend considerable social energy avoiding the violence around them and consume far fewer drugs than their white working- and middle-class counterparts, despite their disproportionate arrest and incarceration rates. In all inner-city neighborhoods, however, there is a problem minority that varies between about 12.1 percent (in San Diego, for example) and 28 percent (in Phoenix) that comes largely from the disconnected youth between ages 16 and 24. Most are not in school and are chronically out of work, though their numbers are supplemented by working- and middle-class dropouts. With few skills and a contempt for low-wage jobs, they subsist through the underground econom y of illicit trading and crime. Many belong to gangs. Their street or thug culture is real, with a configuration of norms, values and habits that are, disturbingly, rooted in a ghetto brand of core American mainstream values: hyper masculinity, the aggressive assertion and defense of respect, extreme individualism, materialism and a reverence for the gun, all inflected with a threatening vision of blackness openly embraced as the thug life. Such street culture is simply the black urban version of one of Americas most iconic traditions: the Wild West. Americas first gangsta thugs were Billy the Kid and Jesse James. In the youth thug cultures of both the Wild West and the inner cities, America sees inverted images of its own most iconic values, one through rose-tinted glass, the other through a glass, darkly. While there is some continuity between the old Western and thug cultures learned through extensive exposure to the media, that of the urban streets originated more in reaction to the long centuries of institutionalized violence against blacks during slavery and Jim Crow. The historian Roger Lane has traced the roots of Philadelphias black criminal subculture all the way back to the mid-1800s; W. E. B. Du Bois found it thoroughly entrenched in his own study of Philadelphia in the 1890s. Its intersection with overly aggressive law enforcement was not random or inevitable, but rooted in a historical irony. As the political scientist Michael Javen Fortner documents in his forthcoming work Black Silent Majority, when Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York introduced draconian new drug laws in the early 1970s to combat the increasingly violent street life of New York City, he did so with the full support of black leaders, who felt they had no choice † their lives and communities were being destroyed by the minority street gangs and drug addicts. But it was not long before the dark side of this intervention emerged: Soon all black youth, not just the delinquent minority, were being profiled as criminals, all ghetto residents were being viewed and treated with disrespect and, increasingly, police tactics relied on the use of violence as a first resort. And yet it didnt work, at least in one important respect: Although the black homicide rate has declined substantially, it still remains catastrophic, with blacks being murdered at eight times the national rate † and, among teens, it has been rising again since 2002. In tackling the present crisis, it is thus a clear mistake to focus only on police brutality, and it is fatuous to attribute it all to white racism. Black policemen were involved in both the South Carolina and Baltimore killings. Coming from the inner-city majority terrorized by the thug culture minority, they are, sadly, as likely to be brutal in their policing as white officers. We see this in stark detail in the chronic violence of New Yorks Rikers Island correction officers, the leadership and majority of whom are black. We see it also in the maternal rage of Toya Graham, the Baltimore single mom whose abusive reprimand of her son, a video of which quickly went viral, reflects both her fear of losing him to the street and her desperate, though counterproductive, mode of rearing her fatherless son. What is to be done? On the police side of the crisis, there should be immediate implementation of the sensible recommendations of President Obamas Task Force on 21st Century Policing, including more community policing; making the use of violence a last resort; greater transparency and independent investigation of all police killings; an end to racial profiling; the use of body cameras; reduced use of the police in school disputes; and fundamental changes in officer training aimed at greater knowledge of, and respect for, inner-city neighborhoods. Accompanying this should be a drastic reduction in the youth incarceration rate, which President Obama can make a dent in immediately by pardoning the many thousands of nonviolent youths who have been unfairly imprisoned and whose incarceration merely increases their likelihood of becoming violent. In regard to black youth, the government must begin the chemical detoxification of ghetto neighborhoods in light of the now well-documented relation between toxic exposure and youth criminality. Further, there should be an immediate scaling up of the many federal and state programs for children and youth that have been shown to work: child care from the prenatal to pre-K stages, such as Head Start and the nurse-family partnership program; after-school programs to keep boys from the lure of the street and to provide educational enrichment as well as badly needed male role models; community-based programs that focus on enhancing life skills and providing short-term, entry-level employment; and continued expansion of successful charter school systems. The presidents My Brothers Keeper program, now a year old, is an excellent and timely initiative that has already begun the coordination and upscaling of such successful programs, as well as the integration of the private sector in their development. And finally, there is one long-term, fundamental change that can come only from within the black community: a reduction in the number of kids born to single, usually poor, women, which now stands at 72 percent. Its consequences are grim: greatly increased risk of prolonged poverty, child abuse, educational failure and youth delinquency and violence, especially among boys, whose main reason for joining gangs is to find a family and male role models. As one gang member told an interviewer working for the sociologist Deanna Wilkinson: I grew up as looking for somebody to love me in the streets. You know, my mother was always working, my father used to be doing his thing. So I was by myself. Im here looking for some love. I aint got nobody to give me love, so I went to the streets to find love.