Post 5

Behaviorism is basically learning and behavior explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships (Ormrod 285). Successful mastery through the eyes of behaviorism revolve around the behavior. First there are experiences with environmental stimuli. Learning involves a behavior change (Ormrod 286). I think that a personal behavior change shows successful mastery of a concept. When a concept is taught, a person can say they understand. It is not until they truly understand a concept that their behavior changes. If they do not understand, then they would have no motivation to change any part of their behavior. For example, say a student is taught about a difficult math problem. They may not understand and just sit in class and do not raise their hand to ask questions or answer the teacher's questions. If they do understand, the student might not have a blank face, be more likely to answer the teacher's question, and have the ability to teach other people the concept.

This concept that behavior changes is very important in the music world. In teaching instrumental music, asking the student if they understand is not always an accurate depiction of their real understanding. They need to explain it back to me or show me on their instrument before I believe they truly understand. Unless the student can show me with their behavior that they understand, then we as teachers may not correctly understand if they have mastery of a concept.

Social cognitive theory is basically that people learn from observing others and assume control of their own behavior (Ormrod 323). A social cognitivist would say that successful mastery of lesson objectives comes once the student has controlled their own behavior and has self regulated their own learning. Self regulation is part of social cognitive theory and is the process of setting goals for oneself and engaging in behaviors and cognitive processes that lead to achieving goals (Ormrod 325). Successful mastery is put into the hands of the students. They have to set goals for themselves and work at attaining those goals and that will show their mastery of a concept. The teacher can teach but unless the student has their own goals, there won't be successful mastery of a concept.

In band, this example can be shown through learning to play with good tone. The teacher can teach how to play with good tone and coach the student, but the student must self regulate his/herself to actually reach good tone. Good tone is all about the player, their observations, and their environment from a social cognitivist viewpoint.