Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

A–14

(This article was prepared under U.S. Office of Education Research Contract SAE–8417 #691. This is a preliminary version of a forthcoming book chapter.)

Yesterday, October 16, was the official publication date of the book Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning which Dr. Lumsdaine and I have edited, and which you have received for this seminar. It is indeed true that this book would never have been conceived without the well-known and perhaps undying work of Professor Skinner, and I would like to take this opportunity—what I consider to be a rather momentous occasion for both Art Lumsdaine and myself—to present Fred with a copy of the book at this time. It is largely through Professor Skinner’s work that all this theory and excitement about teaching machines and programmed learning has come about. (Presentation to Professor Skinner). Most recently, and actually in the course of preparing this volume, I have completed or compiled what appears to me to be the major ideas being expressed in the field of teaching machines and programmed learning. The basic notions have been developed from research findings in the experimental study of learning and have been expressed by a number of men in the field, and to a large extent by the speakers at this platform. However, since the use of teaching machines is in its Kitty Hawk stage, and since the application of the science of learning to the development of a technology of training and education is also in its childhood, I should like to set these notions down for your consideration and discuss each point rather briefly.... Evoking Specific Behavior The essential task involved is to evoke the specific forms of behavior from the student and through appropriate reinforcement bring them under the control of specific subject matter stimuli. As a student goes through a learning program, certain of his responses must be strengthened and shaped from initial unskilled behavior to subject matter competence. Programming rules are concerned with how one goes about doing this. Our present knowledge of the learning process points out that through the process of reinforcement, new forms of behavior can be created with a great degree of subtlety. The central feature of this process is making the reinforcement contingent upon performances of the learner. (Often the word “reward” is used to refer to one class of reinforcing events.) By differentially applying reinforcement to relatively minute behavioral changes, it is possible to progress from the initial behavior of the learner in small steps through the development of more complex behaviors. This progression can take place by small enough steps so that the student’s progress and motivation is not jeopardized by frequent failures. Since a great deal of teaching and learning is needed for acquiring complex behavioral repertoires, such as a new language or calculus operation, the number of reinforcements and the subtleties of reinforcements required to establish such complicated behavior over-taxes the skill of the most efficient instructor, especially within the limits of his time and usual classroom organization. …The term “programming” refers to the process of constructing sequences of instructional material in a way that maximizes the rate of acquisition and retention, and enhances the motivation of the student.... Defining the Desired Behavior …The first step in programming is to define the field. This means that the programmer must outline precisely the behavior he wants the student to perform at the end of the program and must specify the kinds of stimulus material that a student will have available in the course of this performance. A primary purpose of instruction is to provide the student with a behavioral repertoire called knowledge of the subject matter....