B.F Skinner. Teaching machine and programmed learning

From B.F. Skinner experimental study of learning come devices
which arrange optimal conditions for self-instruction: the Teaching Machines

[@amplifire558]

Watching this while my wife is learning with the Duolingo app. What a visionary.

[@biblesceptic8199]

Skinner describes why I chose educational computer games for free play when I was a kid. The games weren't flashy like games today, but they were reinforcing because I was able to see immediately whether or not my response was correct. I didn't have to wonder for a week, while my teacher graded my paper, only to get the paper back after I had forgotten the assignment. With computers, I knew within seconds if I was learning accurately, and I loved it. Learning is fun, when confusion is reduced.

[@DamienNightmarish]

Just imagine what Skinner could do in our days.

[@TheKevhill]

You probably didn't watch the whole thing, from the end (with maybe some small transcription errors). @5:15 - "There is no magic about this. The teaching machine is simply a convenient way of bringing the student in contact with the man who writes the program. It is the author of the program, not the machine that teaches. He stands in the same position as the textbook writer except he is much closer to the student. He and the student are constantly interacting."

[@iawn]

Thanks for posting this - I think it shows how behaviourism leverages extrinsic motivation to lead students through 'learning' a topic by a series of tiny rewards. Sometimes 3 major schools (of behaviourism, cognitive and social) seem to overlap. Anyone trying to understand the differences between them would do well to consider how each treats motivation.

[@mrevansbusiness1033]

A clear learning pathway that supports all learners to their goals, immediate feedback on progress and the importance of repetition for retention.... and I thought Skinner was just rats and pigeons! But here he is talking about the learning strategies I try to employ today. Time for some humble pie!

[@rhetoricmonkey]

In a general reply to some folks here I'd like to say the following. All answers are correct, the ones that are reinforced are the ones that survive. Reciprocation isn't enough. In order to have a desired outcome the environment needs to be enriched in favor of the desired outcome. We operate on our environment, but it operates on us a lot more. In the grand scheme of things if it weren't for the environment, the organism would not exist.

[@syedadeelhussain2691]

Now the opposite holds true! Humans teach machines how to go their own way. Cognitive computing, machine learning and AI, Analytics has changed almost every discipline. Thanks for posting this. it is useful for both educational psychologists and technologists.

[@jestork1]

Couple this idea with modern technology and we could develop more universal and accessible education. We don't have to be mindless automatons pressing buttons for intrinsic food pellets. This style of education can be coupled with exploratory sessions to accentuate learning. The idea of learning through exploration is nice but highly inefficient: especially given the curriculum that has to be taught within the given time frame. There is much potential with this idea.

[@abijahdixon2771]

Reminds me of a machine I used in kindergarten, but it was like a word or letter repeated on a card that you insert into a machine. I think it moved like how the top of typewriter does. Miss the old days.

[@thismessismine]

I'm watching this for school, but holy shit. So many levels of spooky going on here.

[@MsATLVee]

Extraordinary intelligence!!!

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

I can (partially) agree with you. Skinner, however, had understood - one of the first - the importance of working on educational content. Anyway I think that it is necessary to know the past to build a (better) future

[@movingdragons]

That's really cool. I wonder if they are making something like that these days. I remember really liking "hooked on phonics". I learned reading pretty fast that way and it was pretty fun too.

[@snpy211]

It's meant to demonstrate how the "Teaching Machine" could be used; it's a sample problem that a student would have to answer - he has to fill in what he thinks the first half of the title is. That scene is showing the correct answer "Teaching Machine" on the left, and the student's write-in response on the right.

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

Hi Aurora 7207, I found this video some years ago on a web site that no longer exist. I use it with my students in a educational technology course. It is very interesting and usefull. I don't know who produce it, but if you'll find it I'll be very glad to add some more information. If you believe that some copyright is infringed I'll remove the file immediately.

[@bubbaloop574]

This video blew my mind!!!!

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

It is a historical document. Behaviorism defined learning as a practice to be supported and guided step by step. Skinner's proposal was already criticized in his years. Despite this, many apps still incorporate these ideas today ...

[@shyamalideb]

The first app discovered.

[@vyrhem]

I had to watch this video for a class about how computers interact with society. It was far more interesting than I expected. The people who found this scary are kind of hilarious.

[@juancamilomartinezplazas9828]

SOMOS SERES RELACIONALES, NUNCA NOS SATISFACERA INTERACTUAR CON UNA MAQUINA QUE CON LAS PERSONAS DE LA MISMA MANERA. WE ARE RELATIONAL BEINGS, WE WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED TO INTERACT WITH A MACHINE AS WITH PEOPLE IN THE SAME WAY.

[@jw7196]

I don't know if you know but how would this work with programmed instruction textbooks, exactly? I have Holland's and Skinner's The Analysis of Behavior and there are multiple questions per page with the correct responses on the next page. Would you respond to all the items on one page, then turn to the next to see which items you responded to correctly, or would you respond to one at a time, turning to compare your response the the printed form after each item before return to the previous page to complete the next item due in the sequence? From the expositional sections of the book (before the exercises), I thought I understood that I should do each item on a page and then turn to compare my responses. However, in watching these students use the machines, it seems they may be responding to one item at a time before operating the machine to uncover the correct response.

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

In the teaching machine only one item at time was shown.

[@jw7196]

@@GiovanniBonaiuti Thanks. I want to be doing things as close to the way they were done in the Harvard and Radcliffe tests as possible.

[@aurora7207]

At 0:59, the original title is obscured. Anyone care to speculate?

[@MissSaneSun]

A very late answer, but the title is an example of the machine. The sentences at the top of the screen have a blank space. The student writes the answer in the spot in the lower right of the screen. Afterwards he checks if the answer is correct by opening the window in the lower left of the screen. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXe8o6iwjMp5rbM Here is a longer version of the title.

[@AsKyron]

Does anyone have a suggestion how to cite this is in APA-style?

[@ahmadmatalqah]

Bonaiuti, G. (2011, December 20). B.F Skinner. Teaching machine and programmed learning. *title italicised* [Video file]. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIWrZKKYZq6FfNE

[@MikeLi1019]

I just learned from a machine and I went at 2x the speed

[@MarcellaKerbein]

When was this recorded?

[@MuhammadKashifJamal-TCHRBSSK]

Video games have been different, I developed the attribute of being resolute and consistent

[@aurora7207]

Such a sad thing that all this material has not been preserved for posterity.

[@crowmaster9652]

Make way for the emotional SJWs

[@ashleybancroft7935]

Hello, Could I as for your permission to use this video as part of an online museum exhibition about the sounds of technology? Credit will of course be given if requested.

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

Hi. Unfortunately I am not the copyright owner of this video. I had saved on my PC the video from a site that was closed years ago. I don't even remember the name. I can't tell who the owner was. If someone claims the rights I am ready to take it away, but to date no one has done so. What to say? I believe that this important document is known (I use it with my students in "educational technology" courses at the University of Cagliari in Italy). Use it however you want

[@ashleybancroft7935]

@@GiovanniBonaiuti Thank you for your permission, and should the video be claimed at any point (although it would appear very unlikely at this point), I will seek to remove the video from the exhibition if the claimant requests it.

[@livy-jk4yz]

right this might be a stupid question ,but how does the machine know whether the answer is right or wrong? or is it just a case of the correct answer being shown and the student checking the answer thmeselves.

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

The second you said. They were mechanical machines that were not too interactive. The student opened a window to see the correct answer.

[@livy-jk4yz]

@@GiovanniBonaiuti thank you for the answer :)helped a lot

[@soussoune43]

Someone have the translation in French (it's for my studies) please !?

[@GiovanniBonaiuti]

Hi. I've try to translate it with Google translator from english to French. You can find the results here: goo.gl/ngY7Hc Unfortunatly I don't know french, so I don't know if it could be correct or not. If you revise it (the URL leads to a GoogleDoc that you can edit) I'll upload on the video. Thanks

[@soussoune43]

Giovanni Bonaiuti thank you very very much. You saved my life !

[@baikalatongaseal1146]

he couldnt know children would use machines in 2018 schools to play fortnite

[@Neilgs]

I did watch this seminal video several times, each time it brought a feeling of nostalgia, of a time which began the programming of children and education system as an horrendous and oppressive system of reductio ad absurdum par excellence. Sorry, my friend You do not want to make love with the person (automaton) who writes the program but REAL LEARNING, REAL DEVELOPMENT transpires not by efficiency of right vs wrong answers but rather by meaningful live affective reciprocal engagement, which

[@manuelillanes1635]

Dumb fuck

[@gcbisset]

Dont be afraid of programmed learning, it has been well established for 60 years. All he is saying is that basic information can be taught twice as quickly on $50 tablets. This frees up a great deal of teacher time for advanced learning of different types, Also the students tend to like this better than the usual classroom. Heres a link to the wiki article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_learning

[@squirrelXetiquette]

What's the difference?

[@5MinutePsychology]

Skinner is not spongy about animals like rats and pigeons. These rules also apply to people. All of us interested in psychology and education should get acquainted with the topic.

[@recynd77]

This isn't education, this is behavioral conditioning, like training an animal.

[@crowmaster9652]

Education equals a teacher who teachers for a year of information that nobody remembers unless it matters to their career in which case theres a ton of useless fodder.

[@manuelillanes1635]

Everything is ruled by conditioning, humans are animals just like any other species

[@user-tl6iu3ee3f]

we can't teacheing the machine we can just make systems and logical whit informations with what we want frome this machines

[@maryspencer3142]

Like Boom Cards! Google Boom Learning.

[@devourerofbabies]

Dear God, this is horrifying.

[@LaylaVaughan]

+devourerofbabies Not really, this is basically the pre computer version of a learning game for children. Except Oregeon trail was way better than this, haha

[@Neilgs]

Yes, but "educational content" is neither the core nor essence of emotional intelligence, learning and development. Novel ways of presenting "information" (data without reflection and social-emotional interaction/engagement with others) is but an artifice. It is quite frightening when a society, let alone an entire civilization forgets this! Novels ways replicating (or re-presenting) code does not produce life but a society (societies) of non-reflective, non-empathic thinkers!

[@crowmaster9652]

At this point that would be better than SJW hypocrites destroying the world as we know it

[@user-cb4rj3dy3w]

Great! an amazingly wise and precise answer! Tatiana, Russia

[@Neilgs]

encourage critical reflective thinking-pragmatic conversation in contrast to rote programming which fuels the funding of the "education system" and creates generations of automatons who do not know how to engage in empathic based, grey area thinking. The latter is not only critical to education but vital to the entire human race, which he (Skinner) did much in his "valiant" and terribly misguided attempt to smash!

[@user-cb4rj3dy3w]

Great comment! I am from Russia, but worked for 5 years in the US, as a teacher. It seems to me, that that mechanical approach has influenced the whole american system of education anyway, and now we here, in Russia are forced to use "electronic school application" which reminds me of that programmed educational method. A personality of a teacher is excluded from the process. And all human feelings and emotions are forcefully pushed out of the lessons... The world authorities including Putin are interested in producing speechless, submissive, fast to follow all their direction and instructions, meanwhile such qualities as compassion, empathy, kindness and human dignity (the latter was the very first thing to throw away from the ethics by Skinner) are not interesting for High Techs and all the politicians. Great respect to your point of view. Tatiana Manukovskaya, Russia (Ки Чанс, literary pseudonym)

[@manuelillanes1635]

What a retarded comment

[@crewcabconnection]

this guy has done more harm to education than any person in history.

[@crowmaster9652]

SJWs called they want that title.

[@manuelillanes1635]

What a retarded comment

[@percifax6932]

Im a boome and i agree

[@narolkr7463]

Wakanda nonsense is this

[@Neilgs]

Wonderful vintage material and Absolutely sickening! How to be an automaton. Anxiety, stressors, musing, pondering nuanced back and forth questioning, answering, etc. ARE all the core components of learning and development. He understood neither. He was par excellence the homonculous (little programmer) winding the pineal gland, spewing forth how generations can be good little efficient little robots, egregiously non-developmental and entirely non-empathic! Unfortunate and Disgusting!

[@crowmaster9652]

The emotional SJWs that infect everything says hi

[@percifax6932]

i am a boome and i agreewith this comment