An ideal classroom should be full of consistent interactions between the student and teachers. The students should feel at ease with sharing their insights with their classmates and teacher. The environment should be friendly and inviting. Willingham (as cited by Marlowe, 2006) stated teachers should consider elements that will make learning provocative, and meaningful to help increase the probability of students retaining information over time. Marlowe (2006) also stated that the quality of teacher and student interaction is as important as the ideas that are explored. A teacher can create a perfect classroom by integrating the behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic learning theories to create a rich learning environment for the students.
The first element a teacher must consider when creating a perfect classroom is the classroom rules and procedures using the behavioral learning theory. The classroom rules should be short and focus on the positive. The rules and set consequences should be state prominently and repeated on a regular basis. Procedures should be practiced on a consistent basis until the students are comfortable completing the tasks on their own. By repeating and reinforcing the rules a teacher is using the behaviorism theory. The teacher is using the behaviorism theory to reinforce the desired behavior from the students by providing positive and negative reinforcement to increase the probability of a repeat of the behavior (Mcleod, 2007).
The second element is creating lessons that are meaningful and engaging. Teachers can achieve this by understanding what motivates students to learn using the cognitive learning theory. Zimmerman and Schunk (1989) commented that students are constantly processing new information and how it relates to them. This is done by understanding how the student things and anticipating areas of difficulties and providing guidance through the thinking process by giving students “ques” that trigger thinking when they are working independently (Denler, Walters, & Benzon, 2014).
Finally the perfect classroom should have opportunities to learn from each oother. This is best achieved by providing students with projects that are meaningful and allow them to take ownership for their learning using the humanistic approach. Huitt (2009) argues that students learn best what they want and need to know. In the perfect class room the teacher is facilitating learning by providing students with skills to complete projects that students have developed based on what they find important. The teacher will guide the students in creating their own solutions and providing guides through the self-evaluation process. In this environment students should feel free to explore their possibilities in a non-threatening manner (Huitt, 2009). Students would be evaluated by the depth of the research.
Integration of the humanistic, cognitive, and behavioral learning theories will provide students with a well-rounded approach to learning. The teacher can use aspects of each learning theory to motivate and shape a positive learning experience for each student. Each learning theory will help the students retain the information learned in this classroom because of the meaningful interactions with the teacher and ideas the students have developed through their own inquiry.
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Zimmerman, B., & Schunk, D. (1989). Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement Theory, Research, and Practice. New York, NY: Springer New York.