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Facilitating Adult Education — The Behaviorist, Humanistic and Critical Paradigms
Behaviorist Paradigm
Behavioral learning theory, “assumes that the outcome of learning is change in behavior and emphasizes the effects of external events upon the individual” (Woolfolk, 1998, p. 205). The behaviorist orientation forms the basis for the traditional didactic orientation toward learning and teaching, emphasizing clearly defined, often progressive learning goals which are managed by the instructor in an evaluative capacity. The emphasis is on demonstrated performance of tasks determined to objectify learning goals. Inherent within this orientation is a distinctive and hierarchical separation of instructor and learner, whereby the more knowledgeable individual imparts expertise upon the less knowledgeable individual. This orientation is appropriate for concrete tasks or performance-oriented activities with definitive answers or measurable standards of achievement.
Based on the work of psychologist B. F. Skinner, the behaviorist model develops formal structured systems of learning progression which each student is passed through in the same manner. It is typically the most widely utilized and institutionally approved mode for delivery and assessment of learning. However, its critics argue that this approach inhibits rather that facilitates some of the fundamental…
