Behavioural problems

The reasons for behavioural problems in the school

As the appearance of behavioural disorders is increasing dramatically, schools and families are conscious of the importance of student behaviour on teaching and learning. There are all sorts of reasons why children misbehave in schools. Student misbehaviour is a great problem affecting the schools throughout the nation and around the world. They misbehave not only to disturb their teachers, but also due to the peer pressure, sometime their friends might be dropouts from the school and they may influence others to do it. Many schools and educational bodies all over the world are trying to remediate and reform the problematic behaviour in students. (Giancola, 2006)

However, to develop successful programs it is very important to identify the causes of misbehaviour and what constitute student misbehaviour. Student behaviour might be affected by the influences of individual, familial, social and institutional reasons. Among all the researchers highlighted that the influence of an adolescent’s peers on his or her behaviour was the most important role throughout the school days. Moreover, while many researchers say that, ‘the school size and behaviour also have a linked; if the school size is lager the problems will be higher.’(Giancola, p. 1) 

Motivation

Motivation in teaching and learning

When we think about educational psychology. There are many different theories of motivation. In motivation we focused on learning rather than their behaviour. The main two types of motivations are intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within the student or from factors inherent in the task being performed. For example, students who love to read are intrinsically motivated to read - there is something about reading that they enjoy and that makes them want to do it even if there is no "reward" for it.

Extrinsic motivation comes from sources external to the student and the task. It can come through praise, recognition, or a system of rewards. For example, for students who do not enjoy reading, a token economy involving stickers or a class store may prompt them to read more often.

Constructivism

Teaching philosophy based on the concept that learning (cognition) is the result of mental (construction) students construct their own understanding by reflecting on their personal experiences , and by relating the new knowledge with what they already know.

Theorists:

• J.Paiget : Articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners. Through processes of accommodation and assimilation,individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences.

• D.A.Kolb : Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience, action learning adventure learning and cooperative learning.

• J.Biggs : constructive alignment, outcomes/objective, activities and assessments needs to be aligned.

• B.Bloom : Blooms Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives into three "domains":  cognitive, Affective and psycho motor.

Reinforcement and punishment

Differences between reinforcement and punishment

When we talk about reinforcement and punishment, most of the teachers confused about this two. Some times they confused about the negative reinforcement and punishment at most. But this two are totally different. So in this article I will try to clarify and give some examples that will help you to identify the differences between this two terms.

when we think about the reinforcement, there are two difference types of the reinforcements. They are positive and negative reinforcements. Both type of reinforcements can be used in different situations. Before using, it is very important to have the correct informations about it. Teachers should update their knowledge about it and school should take the responsibility of providing information through the professional development days.

Lets discuss in short:

Positive reinforcement:  This is giving a thing that is pleasant to the students.

If we give a positive reinforcement means giving them what they want from us. For example; 

• Teachers give starts when they complete the home works. 
• Mother gives a chocolate when they get an 'A' report. 

Students want starts from  teachers and chocolates from mother. So giving it is a positive thing to them. So it is a positive reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement:  This is removing a thing that unpleasant to the students.

If we give a negative reinforcement means removing them what they do not want to keep with them. For example; 

• Teachers do not give a home work if they work hard in class.  Students do not like the home works. If we remove home work , that means removing a thing unpleasant to them. So this is a negative reinforcement.

Punishment:  .Punishment means removing a thing that they want. 

For example:

• Not give a chance to participate in inter house football competition If they not behave well in school. 

students will be very interesting to participate in football competition. but because of their behaviour teachers remove it from them. So it is called a punishment.

-----------------------------------------------END-------------------------------------------------------