Contract with a Student using Skinner!
Student Profile
A girl named A
in an IB school, grade 6 Maths. According to her data received from parents and
previous teachers, she has never been able to do any Maths.
My Observations and concerns
1.
She
sits very listless in the class.
2.
She
generally does not attempt anything.
3.
If
she does attempt anything, it is half a problem.
4.
If
I call out to her she shrinks.
5.
If
I move to her seat quietly, she just says “ma’am” in a tone that tell me “go
away”.
6.
Outside
the class she is very friendly. Whenever she sees me, she comes for a hug (very
common in India for students to seek hugs. Times are changing now though and
teachers are asked to be careful of physical proximity). Her hugs are very warm
and she holds me for a long time before letting go.
I am extremely
confused with her “inside negative and outside positive” approach. Plus, I can
see just how dainty she is emotionally inside the class and am very gentle
while approaching her. I don’t talk about maths outside the class for I do not
wish our relation to be affected. But I am worried. She is in grade 6 and
hasn’t learnt much.
Behaviour to modify
I use (Skinner, 1938) model “Through operant conditioning, an
individual makes an association between a particular behavior and a
consequence”.
The behaviour I
would her to develop to reach there is - start attempting the work assigned as
CW and HW – and not give up in the middle out of any reasons.
My planning and justifications
I notice her
love for colours and that gives me an idea. She carries in her bag everyday a
big box of colours and I saw her caressing it once and just checking the colour
pens. I have caught the behaviour that
can lead me to bring her to Maths. I also notice her love for being on her own
and that gives me a set of 2 reinforcers to work on her.
My
consequence(s) for her: (My plan before the contract)
For her work she
can use colourful pens. I will do away with the mandatory blue or black pens
inks. And I will also do away with my own red pen. We let her choose the colours
of her notebook. I will get the permission from the head of the school.
Keeping in mind that this may wear off its novelty after a time, I kept a schedule of variable reinforcements for her.
i.
Use
of colours for 1st 2 weeks
ii.
3rd
week, if she shows 80% progress, she can take a break in between the class and
walk around or draw or dream….
iii.
5th
week, if she shows 80% progress, she gets half a lesson free to be on her own.
I thought of
withdrawing my hugs, but then decided against it as that may collapse everything
and that is not the goal at all!
This
contingency reflects the Premack Principle of providing the opportunity to
engage in a more-valued activity (experiments) as a reinforcer for engaging in
a less-valued one (completing chapter questions). (Schunk, page 92)
Our contingency contract
The behaviour I
would like her to develop to reach there is - start attempting the work
assigned as CW and HW.
This behaviour
needs to be broken into several steps for her as it is too much to tackle
straight away.
Week 1: Try 1
problem in class and 1 problem at home, minimum.
Week 2: try 2
problems in class and 2 problems at home, minimum.
Week 3: Sustain
weeks 1 and 2
Week 4: Try 3
problems in class and 3 problems at home, minimum.
Week 5: Evaluate
and assess our aims and findings.
Keeping in mind
that this may wear off its novelty after a time, we also decide a schedule of
variable reinforcements for her.
i.
3rd
week, if she shows 80% progress, she can take a break in between the class and
walk around or draw or dream….
ii.
5th
week, if she shows 80% progress, she gets half a lesson free to be on her own.
iii.
The
focus is ‘try’. She may not get the right answer and that is ok.
And hence her 3 reinforcers are:
i.
Use
of colours in the class
ii.
Continued
unconditional support outside the class
iii.
A
chance to be on her own
The punishment
for not trying a single problem is that her box of colours stays closed. She
uses the mandatory blue and black and I use the red! It is up to her how to
spend the 40 minutes in the classroom.
Expected response (To be assessed by actual
responses)
This is to watch
out how the contract goes in order to evaluate with data in week 5.
She starts
solving Math problems on her own in the class and at home.
Schunk, D. H.
(2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson.
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