The Science of Learning and the Art of T

The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching Skinner (1954)

—> Does the success of theory-free machine learning in tasks such as natural language translation support Skinner’s behaviorist approach? 

Reinforcement in classrooms is too slow and too infrequent

Control over nature is a strong reinforcement      IoT is promising      Disempowering digital environments may be demotivating. 

“The whole process of becoming competent in any field must be divided into a very large number of very small steps, and reinforcement must be contingent upon the accomplishment of each step.”       —> Look at cognitive neuroscience finding: rehearsal is important. 

It is truc that thc techniqueswhich are emerging from the expcrimental rtudy of learning arc not designed to “aeneiofthe mind” oi to further lome vague “irndersranding; of yi marhematical relationships. They are designcd, on the contrary, to cstablish the very behavion which are taken to be the evidenccr of guch mental ltatcs or procelset

Central rhetoric: “Mechanical devicer will eliminate the more tirerome laborr of the teachcr but thcy will not nccorarily. lhorren the time during which rhe remainsin contactwith the pupil.”

There is a rimplc job to be done. The tack can be rtated in concrcte termr. The neceerarytechniquer are known, The equipment needcd caneasilybc provided. Nothing rtandsin thc way but cultural.inertia. But what ir more characteristic of America than an unwillingners to accept the traditional ar inevitable? We are on the threchold of an cxciting and revolutionary pcriod, in which the scientific study of man will bc put to work in man’r best interesr. Education must play itr part. It must acceirt the fact that a rweeping revirion of edu&tional practicerir posible and inevitable. When it har done thir, we may look forward with confidcnceto a rchool systemwhich ir awareo[ the nature of its taskr, rccure in itr methodr, and generoudy rupported by the in- formed and eftectivc citizcnr whorn education irclf will create.