12-8-08 Chapter 10 "Social Cognitivism"

What??

Today in class we learned about Social Cognitivism. Social cognitivists believe that children will exhibit behavior they have modeled. They define learning as "an internal process that may or may not lead to a behavior change." Social cognitivists also believe that people learn by observing others and, in the process, begin to assume control over their own behavior.



So What??

So, knowing that children may learn from observing others, I need to be more conscious of my behavior. Children are like sponges that absorb everything; they never forget if you say a bad word or don't keep a promise. It's important to make sure the behavior we are modeling, would be appropriate behavior for them to exhibit.

Now What??

Now I can use this concept to teach students about appropriate behavior. I could have scenarios that they act out where someone exhibits appropriate behavior (raising hand to talk, not talking out of turn, being respectful, etc), and ask the students why it is appropriate. If they are seeing classmates acting out desirable behaviors, it may stick with them and they will be more likely to exhibit the behaviors they have seen.