Psychology of Teaching: Operant Conditioning for Secondary Plus Two Students

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING
PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING
As opined by Blackman (2017), the psychology of the students plays a pivotal role in
their ability to learn new things which are being taught to them in the classroom. McHugh,
Sandoz and Hooper (2016) are of the viewpoint that the teachers or the professors are required to
take into account the psychology of the students for the education or the knowledge which is
being offered by them to the students. More importantly, as discussed by Connolly (2017), the
teachers are also required to take the help of various kinds of measures or adequate operant
conditions through which they would be able to encourage the students to participate in the
things which are being taught to them and also to derive the maximum amount of benefit from
the same. Furthermore, the concept of operant conditioning becomes especially important from
the perspective of secondary plus two students since by way of offering rewards and also
punishing the students who are not performing as per the desired expectation, the teachers have
the option to substantially improve the grades of the students and also help them to learn new
things in a better manner (Walker, 2017). This essay intends to suggest an operant conditioning
environment for Mr. Tan regarding the resolution of the difficulties that he is facing for
educating his secondary plus two students and also analyze the effectiveness of the same through
the usage of adequate learning theories.
The case scenario which had been provided reveals the fact that Mr. Tan is a secondary
plus-two teacher who is presently facing various difficulties for the purpose of imparting the
required education to his students. For instance, it is seen that the students are not paying
adequate amount of attention to the things which are being taught by Mr. Tan and even they are
completing the different homework or for that matter the assignments which are being given by
Mr. Tan to them. More importantly, it is seen that when different questions are being asked by
Mr. Tan regarding the lessons which are being taught by him the students simply keep a blank

2PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING
face and keep quiet. Thus, it had become very difficult for Mr. Tan to understand whether the
students are being able to understand the different things which are being taught by him or not.
In the face of these aspects, Mr. Tan had decided to take the help of the process of operant
conditioning to create the kind of classroom environment wherein the students would learn the
things which are being taught by him in a better manner and also be more responsive in the
classroom as well.
Aubrey and Riley (2018) are of the viewpoint that the operant conditioning theory states
that the students or for that matter the leaners are being able to learn new things or knowledge in
the best possible manner when the concept of reward and punishment is being used by the
teachers or the professors. As discussed by Harasim (2017), the teachers or the professors
through the adequate usage of this particular theory of learning have the opportunity to make the
desired correlation between the behaviors displayed by the learners or for that matter the students
with the consequences that they are likely to face on the basis of the same. Adding to this, Tracey
and Morrow (2017) have noted that the operant conditioning theory of learning is almost similar
to the transactional theory of leadership wherein it is seen that the leaders take the help of the
process of reward and punishment for the purpose of influencing the behavior or for that matter
the attitude of their followers. More importantly, it had been seen that the teachers or for that
matter the professors through the adequate usage of this particular theory of learning have the
opportunity to influence the learning behavior displayed by the students or the learners in the
best possible manner (Wilson, 2018). Moreover, the professors or the teachers by making the
students understand the repercussion of not effectively participating in the learning activities
have the option to positively influence the behavior or for that matter the attitude of the students
and thereby help them to learn new things adequately (Olson, 2015).

3PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING
Mr. Tan for the resolution of the issues that he is presently facing related to teaching his
secondary plus two students has the opportunity to take the help of the operant conditioning
theory. In this relation, it needs to be said that the adequate usage of this particular theory is
likely to offer various benefits to Mr. Tan. For instance, one of the most important issues that
Mr. Tan is presently facing can be attributed to the fact that the majority of his students are
unresponsive to the things which are being taught by him and even do not complete their
homework or for that matter the assignments that are being provided to them. Thus, it is likely
that through the adequate usage of this particular theory Mr. Tan would be able to make the
students understand the consequences of this behavior displayed by them. In this relation, it
needs to be said that through the usage of this theory Mr. Tan would be able to make the students
understand this kind of behavior displayed by them is likely to adversely affect their grades and
also their knowledge. More importantly, since the things that the students in the next semester or
for that the next year’s class would be linked to the things which are being taught to them in this
class so this rather than merely hampering their grades for this year would also take a toll on
their subsequent year’s grades as well. In addition to these, through the adequate usage of the
reward and punishment policy Mr. Tan has the opportunity to effectively reward or for that
matter appreciate the students who are taking an active interest in the things which he is teaching
or taking it serious and also punish the students who despite repeated requests are not doing the
same. Thus, it is advisable for Mr. Tan to create a “reward and punishment” culture within the
classroom setting for educating the children. This in turn is likely to help Mr. Tan to effectively
influence the behavior of his students and resolve the issues that he is presently facing related to
offering them education.