Applying Learning Theory to a Classroom Intervention
A teacher wants to reduce off-task talking in a Year 11 class. Currently she reprimands students who talk, which she says draws attention to them and sometimes makes the talking worse. She designs a plan: students who remain on task for a 10-minute block receive a token, and 10 tokens can be exchanged for a homework pass. She also begins ignoring minor talking where possible. After three weeks, off-task talking has decreased from an average of 14 incidents per lesson to 5. One student, Jonah, continues to talk and receives no tokens, but his talking increases when the teacher reprimands him.
1. Explain the intervention using operant conditioning principles, identifying the reinforcement schedules and the role of the reprimands.
Read the worked answer
The token system is a form of positive reinforcement: on-task behaviour is followed by the addition of a token, which increases the likelihood of that behaviour recurring. The token is a secondary reinforcer because it acquires value through its association with the homework pass, which is the primary reinforcer. The schedule is a fixed-ratio schedule, since a set number of tokens, 10, is required for the reward, and tokens are earned on a roughly continuous basis for each 10-minute block of on-task behaviour.
Ignoring minor talking is extinction: if talking was previously maintained by teacher attention, withholding that attention should gradually reduce it, which is consistent with the drop from 14 to 5 incidents.
The reprimands act as positive reinforcement for Jonah if the attention they provide is rewarding, which would explain why his talking increases after reprimands. Alternatively, the reprimand may function as an aversive stimulus that he escapes by continuing to talk, which would be negative reinforcement. Either way, the reprimand is maintaining rather than reducing the behaviour, so the teacher should minimise it and ensure on-task behaviour receives attention instead.
2. Evaluate the claim that the token system caused the reduction in off-task talking.
Read the worked answer
Several features support a causal interpretation: the behaviour changed after the intervention was introduced, the target behaviour was defined and counted, and the mechanism is theoretically coherent with reinforcement principles. However, the design is a simple before-and-after comparison without a control group or baseline stability check, so alternative explanations cannot be excluded.
Maturation or novelty: the class may have settled as the term progressed, or the novelty of tokens may have produced a temporary effect that fades.
Teacher attention: the teacher may have increased positive attention generally, so it is unclear whether tokens or attention caused the change.
Measurement: incidents were counted by the teacher, who was not blind to the intervention and may have expected improvement, introducing observer bias. The definition of an "incident" may also have shifted.
Confounding with extinction: the teacher changed two things at once, the token system and ignoring minor talking, so their separate effects cannot be identified.
A stronger evaluation would use a baseline period, an independent observer, and a reversal or multiple-baseline design. The evidence is consistent with the token system working but does not prove it was the sole cause.