PLE post #8

This is your first week as an educational interpreter at Brown Elementary School. One of your students, Luke, has completely shut down and is not engaged in learning. During instruction, he refuses to look at you for communication. He has not completed any assignments that would help him demonstrate an understanding of material and has, on several occasions, put his head down on his desk and gone to sleep. On the second day of school, you tried to talk to Luke between classes to find out if there was a problem and he walked away from you. Yesterday, when you attempted to facilitate communication with his math teacher, Luke crossed his arms and turned his back toward you. His math teacher got angry and requested that you contact his parents, who are both hearing, and set up a meeting to discuss Luke’s behavior.

Based on a behaviorists understanding of cognitive development, conditioning would be beneficial for this student, particularly positive reinforcement and removal punishment. Because the behavior is already occurring removal punishment, such as taking away time at an activity that Luke likes to do, would be effective. This could lead him to become more isolated, however, if that event is social in nature. For this reason I would think that positive reinforcement would work better over all. This could be done by finding out something Luke likes, such as candy or computer time, and giving that to him if he does actions like paying attention or staying awake. 

In contrast, from a constructivist understanding it would be helpful to alter the activities the student is doing. In the case study it says that Luke has shut down and is not engaged in learning. This could be because he is not involved in creating or constructing his own knowledge. This link contains ideas for constructivist lesson plans for various age levels. 

Behaviorism would be helpful in teaching the student the behavior that is desired, while constructivism would help engage Luke. In this case it may be easier and less disruptive for a teacher to employ a behavioristic model for changing behavior. The constructivist model would allow for Luke to be more integrated into the classroom. However, it would be much more difficult to do.