What Easter Island’s colossal stone statues teach about the dangers of modern school reform EASTER ISLAND, CHILE: A tourist walks behind a platform with seven huge statues (moais in Rapa Nui language), the only ones facing the sea, in Ahu Akivi in Easter Island, 3700 km off the coast of Chile, 12 February 2005. The Chilean island, located in the Polynesian archipielago, has many archeological sites and its Rapa Nui National Park is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list since 1995. AFP PHOTO/MARTIN BERNETTI (Photo credit should read MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images) Eastern Island is a remote volcanic island in Polynesia that is a territory of Chile and known worldwide for its colossal statues — more than 800 — that were created by early inhabitants during the 10th – 16th Centuries. The carved statues, known as moia, humans with huge heads, sometimes sitting on platforms of rock called ahus. By Yong Zhao The stone statues on Easter Island (Diamond, 2005) have a lot to teach us about education. The race was costly. Test Scores as Education’s Stone Statue Auerswald, P.
Guide to Social & Emotional Development - Parent Toolkit Social and emotional intelligence involves understanding your feelings and behaviors, as well as those of others, and applying this knowledge to your interactions and relationships. The term “emotional intelligence” was coined in 1990 by Peter Salovey Self-awareness is knowing yourself. It’s about knowing your emotions, strengths and challenges, and how your emotions affect your behavior. How Parents Influence Early Moral Development | Greater ... Parents: Do you want to raise a child with a strong sense of right and wrong? You might want to start by cultivating your own morality—as well as your own empathy. A new study from the University of Chicago suggests that parents’ sensitivity to both other people’s feelings and to injustice may influence early moral development in their children. Developmental neuroscientist Jean Decety and his colleague, Jason Cowell, brought a group of one year olds into the lab to test them on their reactions to moral situations. The seventy-three toddlers watched animated videos in which characters engaged in helping and sharing (prosocial) behaviors or pushing, tripping, and shoving (antisocial) behaviors while the researchers monitored the toddlers’ eye movements and measured their brain wave patterns using an electroencephalogram, or EEG. Prior to the experiment, the children’s parents filled out questionnaires measuring their values regarding empathy, justice, and fairness. Jean Decety
How To Use An Effective Reward System ... “I have a ten-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome who is high functioning. We are consistent with making him aware of what is socially unacceptable and why. It seems to go in one ear and out the other though. For instance, at meal time we always tell him to eat with his mouth closed. He will do as we say for 20 seconds and then he’s right back to chewing with his mouth open. This can be a “Catch-22” situation because, even though you want your son’s behavior to change in a positive manner, it might become more resistant or rigid if he is confronted or forced to behave in a manner that he finds disagreeable. In this case, giving your son rewards might have better results than imposing punishment. An effective economic-reward system is based on consistency in enforcing it and keeping the list of rewards/penalties attainable and short. A structured reward system works well with Asperger’s children because they do extremely well with structure, consistency, and clarity.
Rewards | Consequences | Essentials | Parenting Information Behaviors are more likely to happen again when followed by a positive consequence like a reward. This is true for all behaviors, even those you don’t want to happen again. Rewards are important for many reasons: Rewards can encourage your child’s good behaviors.The way you respond right after your child’s behaviors makes the behavior more or less likely to happen again. Rewards can help increase self-esteem.Toddlers and preschoolers hear the words “no,”, “stop,” and “quit” many times during the day. Rewards can improve your relationship with your child.When you give a reward to your child, you and your child are both happy. Types of Rewards There are several types of rewards. Examples of Social Rewards Affection – includes hugs, kisses, a high five, a smile, a pat on the back, or an arm around the shoulder.Praise – Praise happens when parents say things like “Great job,” “Way to go,” or “Good boy/girl.” Reward Programs Want to help creating your own reward program?
Rewarding behavior is key to parenting teens, study suggests Parenting is hard, and parenting teens brings about an entirely new set of challenges, from keeping their rooms clean to getting them home before curfew. But, a new study suggests parents who want their teenagers to keep their grades up could have better success if they focus more on rewarding good behavior and less on threatening to punish the bad. According to the report, published in PLOS Computational Biology, British researchers have found that adolescents focus well on positive incentives, but have difficulty staying motivated to avoid penalties. The study shows that teens and adults learn in different ways, according to the study’s lead author Stefano Palminteri, a researcher with the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. “Rewards give them something they want to think about,” Allen said. RELATED: Getting teens to do chores can be a chore for parents "When people go to work they get paid.
Operant Conditioning Examples Operant conditioning is a type of learning where behavior is controlled by consequences. Key concepts in operant conditioning are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive Reinforcement Positive reinforcement is giving something pleasant after a behavior. This increases the probability that the behavior will continue. Examples are: Having a job and going to work every day to receive a paycheck.Receiving praise after a musical performance would increase the amount that you perform.A teacher complimenting students when they answer correctly will increase that behavior.At a gym, customers receive a discount if they work out a certain number of times and eat healthy.In the Skinner Box experiment, a rat got food as a reward for acceptable behavior, such as pressing a lever. Negative Reinforcement Negative reinforcement is taking away something unpleasant as a result of the behavior that is acceptable. Positive Punishment
What Is Operant Conditioning and How Does It Work? Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning, is a method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior. For example, when lab rats press a lever when a green light is on, they receive a food pellet as a reward. When they press the lever when a red light is on, they receive a mild electric shock. As a result, they learn to press the lever when the green light is on and avoid the red light. But operant conditioning is not just something that takes place in experimental settings while training lab animals. The History of Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning was first described by behaviorist B.F. Through the first part of the 20th century, behaviorism became a major force within psychology. Early behaviorists focused their interests on associative learning. Types of Behaviors Recap A Word From Verywell
Hitting kids: American parenting and physical punishment When Minnesota Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson was indicted for hitting his son with a ‘switch’ in September 2014, there was a public furor – with arguments on both sides, but a general sense that Peterson was in the wrong.[i] Quickly, however, the debate over corporal punishment, which was at a fever pitch only two months ago, died down: What explains this turnaround? Perhaps America lost interest because most Americans hit their kids, and most think that that is the way it should be. More than 70% of Americans agreed in 2012 that, “it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking.” Why do adults hit children? What are the longer-term consequences of physical punishment in terms of behavior? Spanking and Child Behavior Children spanked frequently and/or severely are at higher risk for mental health problems, ranging from anxiety and depression to alcohol and drug abuse, according to some research studies. Spanking and Child Skills Conclusions
The Violence around Us: How the Social Situation ... Learning Objectives Review the situational variables that increase and decrease aggression.Explain the different effects of reward, punishment, and modeling on aggression.Review the influences of viewing violent behavior on aggression and explain why these effects might occur. Although emotions and biology are critical, they are not the only determinants of our aggression. Of particular importance to social psychologists is the role of the social situation. Social Learning and Modeling: Is Aggression Learned? As would be predicted by principles of social reinforcement, if we are rewarded for being aggressive, we’ll likely aggress again, but if we are punished for our violence, we may subsequently curb our aggression. Some aggression is learned through modeling the violence that we see all around us every day (Bandura & Walters, 1959). Modeling is particularly problematic for children who grow up in violent families. Violence Creates More Violence: Television, Video Games, and Handguns
Advantages of the Use of Punishment to Shape Behavior | How To Adult There are advantages of the use of punishment to shape behavior. Punishment can be thought of as a consequence that occurs after an operant response, which reduces the tendency of that response from happening in the future. An operant response is defined as a kind of behavior that can be modified by its consequences, according to the University of Iowa. Punishment can either be positive punishment, or it can be negative punishment. Stopping Behavior One advantage of the use of punishment to shape behavior is that it can stop behavior from happening in the future, according to Shannon Wolf, M.Ed. Learning Opportunity Another advantage of the use of punishment to shape behavior is that it can stimulate learning, according to Wolf. Example to Others Other children can also benefit from the use of punishment to shape behavior. Deterrence Deterrence is used in death penalty cases to shape the behavior of other people who are thinking of killing a fellow human being.
8 Discipline Mistakes Parents Make You know the drill: You give your child an ultimatum—"Get dressed or we're staying home!"—and naturally she says, "Okay, we'll stay home!" Might as well plant a big "L" on your forehead. We all see our discipline efforts backfire on occasion (hey, you're tired!), and of course there are those battles just not worth fighting (no kid ever flunked preschool because his teeth were furry). But you do need to prove you're the parent at least some of the time. Way to Blow It #1: Tell a Big Ole Lie "My two-year-old daughter, Chloe, fights me about going to her babysitter's house every Monday," says New Jersey mom Gina Kane. A Better Way Little white lies are so tempting in a pinch. Way to Blow It #2: Back Down You want a surefire way to make sure your kids never listen to you? It's no fun to be the bad guy, but if a child acts out, there has to be a consequence. Instead, give a warning, and then, if your child does it again, give an immediate consequence such as a time-out. Getting Back on Track
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