Positive

 

·        Responds positively to a students’ answer.

 

·        Works with individuals who do not understand.

 

·        Explains clearly.

 

·        Has Group work.

 

·        Repeats what is said by illustrating it on the board.

 

·        Relates to things that students may know more about.

 

·        Eye contact.

 

·        Enthusiastic.

 

·        Other:

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

Negative

 

·        Reads through the

text without explaining.

 

·        Doesn’t keep eye contact

 

·        Doesn’t show any interest in subject

 

·        Doesn’t listen to the students.

 

·        Makes the subject more difficult than it already is.

 

·        Negatively responds to students

 

·        Doesn’t explain clearly.

 

·        Other:

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

Timetable

 

•       Friday, 27^th November – In the morning we both will be observing Ms Hamilton and Ms Smith’s classes, one at 9:00 and the other one at 9:40.

 

•       Friday, 4^th December – We will be observing Ms O’ Brien’s class either at 9:00 or 9:40.

 

•       Friday, 4^th December – We will be starting our poster.

 

•       Tuesday, 8^th December – We will be teaching Ms Hamilton’s class.

 

•       Friday, 11^th December – Maeve will be teaching Ms Smith’s class, and Rebecca will be teaching Ms O’Brien’s class.  After we have taught the two classes we will take a selected number of students and ask them questions.

 

•       In between those dates and over the Christmas holidays we will be getting more information, and preparing our folder.

Nutrition Effects Learning

New research shows that even mild under-nutrition can prevent learning. Malnutrition can even affect learning before slowing down growth. Here are some facts about poor nutrition and learning: Under-nutrition increases how often and how long a child may be sick. In addition to being absent from school, illness limits learning as sick children do not interact well with others. Under-nourished children lack things that make healthy children successful. Poorly nourished children tend to be less physically active, less curious, less attentive, less independent, less responsive socially, and more anxious. These traits keep them from developing reading, verbal, and physical skills, among others. Iron deficiency and anemia occur among large numbers of children. Anemic children do not do well on math, reading, vocabulary, problem-solving, or psychological tests. Even mild iron deficiency causes fatigue and a shortened attention span. Feeling hungry, perhaps from missed meals, affects learning. Hungry children tend to be irritable, disinterested in learning, nervous, timid passive, and unable to concentrate. Tips for Parents Be flexible. For variety substitute different foods from the same food pyramid group. If your child prefers carrots, or peaches to apricots that is great. All fruits and vegetables provide vitamins and minerals (a variety is important however so that a variety of vitamins and minerals are eaten). Keep offering different fruits and vegetables, even if they are rejected at first. Usually a child will try a new food if they are served without them being forced to eat it. Encourage your child to experiment with different tastes and textures. Children learn about foods by tasting, touching, and smelling. Offer your child different shape, sizes and textures of foods to stimulate interest. Let the child help fix foods into a variety of sizes or shapes. Do not worry about how much your child eats at a single meal or even in a single day. Over a week, the choices should even out - and provide a balance of nutrients that best meet his or her needs.

 

Positive Reinforcement – Steps on how to use positive reinforcement in the classroom.

 

Warnings

It is essential to not reward students with sweets or other novelties.  Mainly, because an enthusiastic, genuine praise is the only thing that students desired.

Teachers have to try not to praise the same students regularly, because then the teacher has a negative affect with the other students, because the students feel they are not being appreciated.

 

1.      It is vital for a teacher upon entering her class, not to be cross.  The teacher should be joyful and comment on how the class is tidy and that the students are all in their seats, because, chances are that the next time the teacher will come into the classroom, it will be tidy and all of the students will be seating in their seats. 

2.      It is key for the teacher not to be over praising, because the students will think that the teacher is just saying it for the sake of saying it. 

3.      When the teacher is praising a student or a group, the teacher should praise them in a loud clear voice; therefore all of the other students hear and understand what the teacher is saying.  Then, the students will mimic the behaviour of the praised group.

4.      The use of visual aids such as posters, 3D projects, this makes the students more interested in the class.  This also makes the class more enjoyable. 

5.      When the teacher sets out to praise the class, the teacher must do so immediately, because delayed positive reinforcement does not reinforce anything. 

6.      The teacher must accentuate the good things not the bad, because drawing more attention to the bad things might make students to the bad things again and again, because they like to get attention.

   

 

Negative Reinforcement and Positive Reinforcement.

 

The concept of negative reinforcement is notoriously difficult to understand.

 Reasons for this difficulty include:
surplus meanings associated with the terms negative and punishment, the fact that Skinner (1938, 1953) described two types of
reinforcement but only one type of punishment, the tendency that
most students have to view reward and punishment in subjective
terms, and Skinner’s (1938, 1953) conflicting definitions of reinforcement and punishment. Pointing out to students that
there are two types of punishment — positive and negative — as
well two types of reinforcement — positive and negative — helps
them learn that negative reinforcement is not a synonym for
punishment.

 

Surplus Meaning of Negative and Punishment

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines reinforcement

as “the act of strengthening,” clearly a behavioural definition. However, the dictionary also defines negative as “disagreeable” and punishment as “suffering, pain, or loss,” words

That appeal to inner feelings or emotions, rather than to
measurable behaviours. Little wonder, then, that most stu­dents (and some psychologists) believe that negative rein­forcement refers to the act of punishment — that is, to the
onset of pain or dissatisfaction — rather than an action that
strengthens a response by reducing or terminating an aver­sive stimulus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Types of Reinforcement but Only One Type of Punishment?

Although Skinner (1953) mentioned two types of rein­forcement — positive and negative — he described but one
type of punishment. Positive reinforcement is the technical
term he used in place of reward; however, he did not supply a
technical term to replace punishment.

Given that reward is a symbol for positive reinforcement
and that negative is defined as “something disagreeable,”
many students assume that negative reinforcement should
be the technical term that is synonymous with punishment. Had Skinner provided us with a technical
term for punishment, this confusion might not exist.

 

Feelings Rather Than Behaviours

To avoid discussing what goes on inside the organism
when reinforcement or punishment occurs, Skinner defined
these concepts in terms of their behavioural consequences.
He (1953) noted, for example, that organisms tend to ap­proach positive reinforcers and escape from punishers. How­
ever, it is difficult to convince most students that the orga­nism’s emotions do not mediate the behavioural changes that
Skinner spoke of. Indeed, one question students frequently
ask is, “But why does the organism approach or avoid the
stimulus?” They know full well that they like rewards and
dislike punishers and presume that their consequential behaviours are motivated by their feelings. Most students also
assume that other organisms feel and respond as they do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skinner’s Definitions

Most of the time, Skinner (1938, 1974) defined reinforce­ment as a behavioural consequence that increases the proba­bility that a response will be repeated in the future. He (1971) put it this way: “When a bit of behaviour is followed
by a certain kind of consequence, it is more likely to occur
again, and a consequence having this effect is called a rein­
forcer” (p. 27).

Most of the time, too, Skinner spoke of punishment in
terms of its behavioural consequences. Suppose an organism
is punished for making a certain response. The effects of this
punishment are threefold; he said: First, there is a time­
limited reduction in the rate at which the organism emits the
undesirable response; second, there is an increase in escape
or avoidance behaviours; and third, if the punishment is
strong enough, the undesirable response actually increases
in strength once punishment is terminated.

Use of Positive and Negative Reinforcement.

 

According to Skinner’s terminology, any form of incentives such as goals and rewards may be referred to as positive reinforcers.  The reward or the achievement of the goal is termed as positive reinforcement.  In positive reinforcement, a particular behaviour is strengthened by the consequence of experiencing a positive condition.

 

Positive reinforcement is affective.

The most powerful technique of positive reinforcement is motivation.  Thus, some schools and business’ use it to increase good results, decrease absenteeism and accidents that may happen.  When positive reinforcements are used, the desired outcome is that the behaviour is reinforced.  When rewards are offered as a result of the desired behaviour, the students will tend to repeat their ‘desired’ behaviour, to reek in the rewards.

In the negative outcome, students may take the reward for granted.  They may repeat the behaviour with the attention of receiving more of the rewards and not understanding that the behaviour is desirable or they may deem the rewards as part and parcel of things.  That is that the education part has failed.

 

A negative reinforcer is a stimulus that a teacher would want to avoid.  The act of escaping or avoiding a negative reinforcer is termed as negative reinforcement.  Disincentives are punishers.  Sometimes, teachers put punishment under the wing of negative reinforcement.  Negative reinforcement is the strengthening of a particular behaviour by the consequence of experiencing a negative condition.  Punishment is the operant conditioning sense is to weaken a particular behaviour by the consequence of experiencing a negative condition.  Negative reinforcement is commonly used for education and/or reform.  The use of fines and/or detention are examples of the use of negative reinforcement to warn of the negative consequences of associating with social ills.  Skinner, preferred the use of positive reinforcement to encourage good behaviours and to do away with the social use of punishment altogether.  Advantages of the use of negative reinforcement would the cultivation or strengthening of a desired behaviour after receiving the negative reinforcer.  Disadvantages of using negative reinforcement, would be when the desired behaviour is not achieved.  That is a negative outcome. 

 

Authority figures .e.g. a school principal would use positive reinforcements encourage repetition of the desired behaviours.  While, others would use negative reinforcement to discourage behaviours that are not in line with their policies.  Schools tend to use negative reinforcements on rule breaking students as a method to educate them.  They would use punishments such as verbal reprimands, being sent out of classrooms, detentions ect.  There is an element of shame within these punishments, which is intended the students to allow the students to discover how to behave well.  In schools, the use of positive reinforcement is to increase punctuality of the students and reduce absenteeism.  When positive and negative reinforcements are applied strategically can be affective in strengthening a desired behaviour.  

Methodology.

 

The experiment we have chosen to do for the Bt Young Scientist is ‘Does Your Teacher Affect your Grade?.’  Basically, our experiment is about the affectiveness of  teacher’s reinforcement towards a subject and how this affect s the students of information on this subject.  We are looking at both positive and negative reinforcement.  We plan to show that positive reinforcement helps the students to learn better, that negative reinforcement. 

 

Ÿ        Firstly, we plan to observe the teachers - (x, y, and z).  Teaching a theory class.  We are going to have a sheet with the characteristics of positive and negative reinforcement on it and tick the boxes, when the teacher displays cretin  characteristics for all three classes.

 

Ÿ        We will converse with the teachers involved to find a common topic for us to teach the classes.

 

Ÿ        Once we have our topic we will then begin our class plan and decide what to do to represent positive and negative reinforcement in the classes. Our lesson plan will include our aims and objectives, a intro, developments and conclusion.

 

Ÿ        We will then prepare our classes and anything needed for them. Including all questionnaires, tests and posters.

 

Ÿ        Once we are fully ready we will start our experiment, and teach our classes.

 

Ÿ        Once our classes are taught we will give; a random picked; focus group a questionnaire on their reaction to the experiment.

 

Ÿ        We will then compile all the information we have collected and represent it on posters to display at our booth.

 

Ÿ        All through this we will continuously up date our literary report.  

  

Rebecca O’Halloran,

81 Glenbrook,

Old Singland Road,

Limerick.

 

13^th November, 2009.

Sir/ Madam,

Marlborough Street,

Dublin 1.

 

 

Dear Sir / Madam,

 

            My name is Rebecca O’Halloran and I am attending Laurel Hill Secondary School Limerick.  I Have entered the BT young scientist, along with Maeve Guilfoyle.  Our project is on the affect positive and negative reinforcement has on the students intake of information. 

           

            We were just wondering if you have any input on this topic.  If you have any research and/or information booklets we would appreciate if you could send them to us.

           

            We both would greatly appreciate it, if you give us any information and your own view on these topics, because it is a vital part of our project to get the views and the opinions of the Department of Education and Science. 

 

 

 

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

                                   Rebecca O’Halloran.                                      

_____________________________.

 

 

Maeve Guilfoyle.

_____________________________.        

this is not our observation sheet anymore!!!!!!

teachers tone of voice:

 

 

teachers facial expression:

 

 

teachers techniques of communication with the students:

 

 

 

students reaction to the teacher:

 

 

 

teachers gestures:

 

 

 

teachers method of communication:

 

 

 

time spent on each topic:

 

 

 

extra activities:

 

 

 

extra sheets:

 

 

other odservations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

5’November’2009
Dear Ms O’Brien/Ms Hamilton/Ms Smith,

This is a letter for permission to use your first year science class, for our experiment, for which has been entered into the BT Young Scientist competition.
       Our project is on positive and negative reinforcement in the classroom and how it affects the students’ ability to attain the information that was taught. Our goal in this project is to prove that positive reinforcement can influence a positive reaction in the students’ intake of information.
We are writing to you to request your permission, to use your class in our experiment. This would entail:
1. On the 6th of November, we both will observe one theory class taught by you the teacher.
2. We are hoping to take one single class of yours on a date to be conformed after observation, in that class we will teach them either positively or negatively or as a control.
3. We would like to take a selected five students from your class on theday of or after our experiment. To record their reaction to our experiment.

We would like for you to make a list of five topics, that we could teach your class and that you will be happy with us to teach. We will gather all of the topics picked by the other teachers and take the most common topic, that we will teach.

Thank you, for taking your time in reading this letter.

Yours Sincerely,
____________________                               ___________________
Rebecca O’Halloran                                             Maeve Guilfoyle