Describes a partnership between Zoo Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology in teaching the principles of operant conditioning to students in an experimental psychology class. Maintains that the positive training techniques used in zoos are models of applied operant conditioning. Includes a discussion of zoo training goals. (MJP)

One lemon, an assortment of other fruits and vegetables, a tennis ball, and a Galvanic Skin Response meter are needed to implement this approach to teaching about classical conditioning in introductory psychology courses. (RM)

Discusses using rat olympics in helping psychology students to overcome their reluctance to condition rats. Working in groups, students enter rats in a number of behaviors (events) which can be shaped using operant conditioning methods and which rats can perform with varying degrees of proficiency. (Author/KC)

Explains how a teaching method such as allowing students to raise gerbils at home can encourage students to gain experience with the fundamental techniques of operant conditioning which are otherwise generally unavailable to students in large introductory psychology courses. (DB)

Author discusses strong case for abolition of time-stressing English A-level examinations and offers alternative of one three-hour paper and a flexible range of examinations. (IR)

This report describes the introductory psychology demonstration showing conditioned taste aversion in rats based on those animals' inability to distinguish between safe NaCl and toxic LiCl solutions. Test results showed the established phenomena of classical conditioning. Included is a discussion of the experiments relevance to behaviorist…

An experimental psychology course which analyzes the broad probability of operant conditioning is described. (DE)

An easy-to-implement method for demonstrating classical conditioning in an introductory psychology course is described. (RM)

Contends that, although the operant approach to psychology is based on objective empirical observations, much of psychology is filled with subjective, interpretive terminology. Argues that such terminology produces confusion over the definitions of basic operant concepts. Suggests a solution that defines the concepts of positive and negative…

Discussion about teaching to psychology students the Watson and Rayner study in 1920 on fear of rats. (ND)

The development of the autoinstructional method of teaching is reviewed, including the underlying psychological principles. Various types of programs are described along with methods for writing them. (LBH)

Reviews an autobiographical account of Fred Keller's experiences, documenting how traditional methods of instruction failed him both as a student and as a teacher, and how this failure motivated his quest for alternative methods of instruction culminating in the development of a personalized system of instruction. (KS)

Discusses classroom demonstrations of classical conditioning and notes tendencies to misrepresent Pavlov's procedures. Describes the design and construction of the conditioner that is used for demonstrating classical conditioning. Relates how students experience conditioning, generalization, extinction, discrimination, and spontaneous recovery.…

It is argued that a behavioral objectives approach to dance education is dangerously limited because it is dominated by a particular view of theoretical psychology that attempts to understand skill learning in terms of conditioning and reinforcement. This approach is especially limited in the teaching of creative and expressive dance. (RM)

B.F. Skinner applied his concept of operant conditioning to education. Skinner believed that people acted the way they did because they had been reinforced for behaving in a certain manner. His orientation to pedagogy was predicated upon the notion that a student's behavior could be modified by guiding the student through the learning process…