2. Behaviourism

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1968) and Edward Lee Thorndike (1928) were the main proponents of behaviourism. They examined how behaviour is linked to experience and reward. 

Knowledge and skills are defined by behaviourism as observable and quantifiable behaviours. Learning is the act of forming connections between an external stimulus, an external response, and an external consequence (i.e., reinforcement or punishment) in order to accumulate information (behaviours or performances). 

For instance, if students answer correctly on their vocabulary quiz (an external stimulus) and receive 100% of the possible score, they receive a tiny reward (reinforcement). Recalling facts and automatically carrying out a particular task are two examples of behaviours that can be explained by behaviourism. These behaviours can be reduced to a small number of perceptual or motor skills (Nathan & Sawyer, 2022; Ertmer & Newby, 2013).

   
Video 2: Behaviourism by  Vanessa Monaghan et al.(2012) [4:32] 
The fundamental ideas of behaviourism are still widely applied in instructional design because they can successfully elicit the intended response in response to a stimulus. One kind of game-based learning that is built on incentives and repetition is one example. The fundamental component influencing whether learning (forming stimulus-response associations) is formed, developed, and sustained is the environment - that is, the arrangement of stimuli and consequences that could elicit the desired response (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). 

Among the behaviourist approaches to instructional design are:

  • Task analysis to determine the behavioral objectives, instructional sequence (progressing from simple to more complex levels of performance), and instructional cues (i.e., external stimulus and consequences);
  • Design of instructional cues and reinforcements for eliciting desired responses and strengthening correct responses with corrective feedback;
  • Learner analysis with pre-assessment to determine learners’ performance on prerequisite learning;
  • Design of practice situation that prompts the association of stimuli and response in diverse performance settings;
  • Design of assessment that examines learners’ reproductive rate of desired responses.

Nevertheless, behaviourism is limited in its ability to explain non-conditioned learning. Because behaviourism has its limitations, instructional designers should recognise this when higher-level learning outcomes are needed and emphasise that students are active agents of their own learning rather than passive recipients of conditioning. Other viewpoints provide a better explanation for this higher-level learning.