Purpose: Consider the definition of learning offered by Hilgard and Bower: Learning refers to the relatively permanent change in a subject’s behavior to a given situation brought about by his (or her) repeated experiences in that situation, provided that the behavior change cannot be explained on the basis of native response tendencies, maturation, or temporary states of the subject (e.g., fatigue, drugs, etc.). Analyze and apply this definition to situations with both parrots and humans, and present your analysis to the class via slides and a short oral video explanation. This assignment will build your research, technological, and both visual and oral presentation skills.
Tasks: Build a short (4-6 slide) presentation on learning in both parrots and humans, and upload both your presentation (in PDF form) and a short video (recorded through GoView) of yourself explaining it to the class.
Parrots: Using the words and ideas from your chapter text (see term list below) what kind of teaching might be used to train the parrot in the video below? What kind of learning terms apply here? Explain in the first part of your slide presentation how teaching a parrot to ride a bicycle would work, and be sure to use (and define/explain) several terms in your explanation. If you have trained a pet or other animal, you can also write about their learning using these same terms to explain their unique, fun, or interesting behavior.
Humans: For the second part of your slide presentation, apply your explanation about parrots to how you might improve or “teach” yourself (or another student, if that’s easier to think about) to have better study habits. Explain your proposed step-by-step process. Are you using the same terms? Additional or different terms?
Feel free to include images on your slides to enhance your argument; don’t use any images with words or charts or such. Use the links in this submodule on building excellent presentations for how to distinguish what you should put on the slides vs. what you should reference in your oral video presentation. Save your presentation in PDF format.
Consider, for your oral explanation, how looking at one situation helps you looks at the other – how are they similar/different? Practice presenting/explaining this information, then record yourself through the discussion post and upload the recording along with your slides. IMPORTANT: watch this brief video for instructions on how to best record your video directly within the post using your computer’s webcam. Note you will need to make sure your browser (Chrome or Firefox) allows GoView access to record video. This method avoids long download times and protects everyone’s computer from infected files. I will not be downloading and you will not get credit for recordings made in other ways.
Respond substantively to at least two other classmates’ posts by the deadline via video, audio, or text.
Here is a partial list of useful terms related to learning that you can apply in your post. Be careful not to confuse the different types of learning and terms; you can give me a definition when you use the terms or make it crystal clear in your example that you understand the definition. Don’t just list them and assume I’ll make the connection; the point of this assignment is for you to show me you understand the terms and can apply them in real life.
Associative learning/Classical conditioning
CR, CS, UCR, UCS
Higher-Order or Second-Order Conditioning
Acquisition
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Stimulus Discrimination
Stimulus Generalization
Habituation
Behaviorism/Operant Conditioning
Positive and negative reinforcement
Positive and negative punishment
Shaping
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
Continuous and Partial Reinforcement
Fixed and variable intervals and ratios
Cognition and Latent Learning
Observational learning
Modeling
Cognitive Maps
Criteria on which you will be graded:
Your understanding and analysis of the topic.
You’ve included learning terms from the list above or elsewhere in your reading, and have used them correctly.
You’ve uploaded your slides and recorded your oral presentation to the Discussion by the initial due date.
You’ve substantively and respectfully responded to at least two of your classmates’ presentations via audio, video, or text by the due date.
Remember, do not use any sources outside of this GoView class for your answers (other than pictures for your slides), and correct spelling/grammar/punctuation/paragraph use is essential for a good grade. If you copy anything from a source, be sure to use proper APA style in your citation (quotation marks, page number, reference section, etc).
