Learning, Knowledge and Human Development MOOC’s Updates
Fair reinforcement
One important key concept in behaviorism is reinforcement. Reinforcement could shape and guide people to behave in a certain way. Giving students reward or punishment could encourage students to learn more or try harder. However, in classroom settings, not every student participates learning activities explicitly. Although they may have intrinsic reinforcement, those may have low chance in receiving reinforcement by their teachers (extrinsic reinforcement). Therefore, if teachers believe that providing students reinforcement could encourage students to learn better, they should consider providing reinforcement to students those who show low engagement in classroom as well in order to provide fair reinforcement to their students.
The paper below mentions how teachers concern about creating fair reinforcement in their classroom.
Fitriati, S. W., Fatmala, D., & Anjaniputra, A. G. (2020). Teachers' Classroom Instruction Reinforcement Strategies in English Language Class. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 14(4), 599-608.
I like this idea of providing reinforcement to students who show low engagement. I see it as the same within children's play and activity - by having the child who is always picked last for teams because they aren't the best/most popular/shy it can intrinsically motivate them and change their mindset around the activity.