Many people view learning as a process of trial and error. In some respects it is but the key element according to social cognitive theory is observational modeling. So what exactly is social cognitive theory?
“Social cognitive theory favors a model of causation involving triadicreciprocal determinism. In this model of reciprocal causation, behavior, cognition and other personal factors, and environmental influences all operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally.”
Bandura, A (1989)
The above definition is from Albert Bandura who is considered the father of social cognitive theory. He is quick to point out that although all of the influencing factors mentioned (behavior, cognition, environmental influences) are related bidirectionally this doesn’t mean they are all of equal strength. This stresses the importance of diverse social practice and teachings due to the multitude of factors that may or may not hit home for some students.
Modeling
Modeling is a prime example of a teaching strategy that incorporates social cognitive theory. Now a model can be a multitude of things as described by Denler, Wolters, and Benzon.
“Live demonstrations of a behavior or skill by a teacher or classmate, of course, typify the notion of modeling. Verbal or written descriptions, video or audio recordings, and other less direct forms of performance are also considered forms of modeling.”
Denler, H., Wolters, C., & Benzon, M. (n.d.). Articles. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/social-cognitive-theory/
Bandura summarizes observational modeling into four main parts: Attention, Retention, Production, and Motivation.
Let’s look at a hands on model to dissect these four processes. For example, let’s say a classroom is working on a community garden. The attention process starts when the students notice something about their environment (a plant is sprouting, it’s sunny outside, the soil is dry). This then piggybacks on to the retention process where a student remembers what they noticed (my plant was greener yesterday after it rained, my plant doesn’t look as good because I forgot to water it). These connections to observations are the basis of retention. The production process is when students use their retention skills to emulate a desired result (I’m going to water my plant everyday so it’s healthy, I’m going to move my plant into the sun to encourage growth). The motivation process is the understanding of why the students want to care for their plants and utilize the things they’ve retained (I want to have the biggest plant in the class, I want to see it flower).
Now many of you are probably saying so what, it’s easy to do observational modeling when you’re teaching science, but by breaking it down into these four parts it makes it a lot easier to construct a model that is relevant to your classroom. After all that is the art and beauty of teaching.
Modeling Behavior
Classroom etiquette is a tool for modeling behavior. Bandura touches on this by stating, “In the transactions of everyday life, behavior alters environmental conditions and is, in turn, altered by the very conditions it creates. The environment is not a fixed entity that inevitably impinges upon individuals.” (Bandura, 1989) For example, when a student talks out of turn the teacher may scowl at the student which alters the environment and lets other students know that talking out of turn is unacceptable behavior. Based on Bandura’s definition modeling doesn’t have to be a tangible object and therefore can be subjected to students in a number of ways which includes molding behavior.
One interesting study sampled four schools and focused on modeling sustainability. The teachers served as active role models to encourage sustainability habits among their students. Some of the behaviors are listed here in this excerpt from the study.
“Behaviors engaged in by teachers and staff included (a) driving a hybrid car, carpooling, hiking, or walking to school; (b) eating organic, local food with minimal disposable packaging; (c) wearing second hand clothes; (d) participating in community service; (e) composting, recycling, and reusing; (f) picking up litter; (g) turning off lights when leaving a room; (h) promoting democratic, equitable classroom environments; (i) using appropriate conflict-resolution strategies; and (j) encouraging diverse and divergent opinions. Although teachers did not always engage in these behaviors exclusively for the purpose of modeling sustainability, their actions nevertheless served as models for students.”
Amy, L. H., & McMillan, V. M. (2006). Teaching through modeling: Four schools’ experiences in sustainability education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1), 39-53.
The schools themselves also created a culture of sustainability by making their facilities more green as well as sponsoring environmentally friendly activities outside of school. The students also served a crucial role in promoting a sustainable environment which is described here:
“Neither school employs custodial staff. Instead, the students and faculty serve as school caretakers, cleaning, collecting trash, recycling, tending gardens, composting, preparing food, and caring for school animals. Students at both schools are responsible for about 30 min of chores per day, as well as longer work projects that involve ongoing maintenance, building construction, and gardening.”
Amy, L. H., & McMillan, V. M. (2006). Teaching through modeling: Four schools’ experiences in sustainability education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1), 39-53.
The researchers attributed observational modeling for the change in students’ behavioral approach to maintaining a sustainable lifestyle.
Hands on Learning in the “Real World”
Looking at how most companies operate it is safe to say that most use observational modeling as their essential training tool. No electrical company (hopefully) is going to throw a new employee out into the field and say, “Figure it out!”, no instead, they require on-the-job training and job shadowing prior so that the new employee can use observational learning to understand their role. So if this practice works so well then why isn’t it being used in schools? It is but there are some subjects that make it a little more challenging to be hands on. That’s why it is important as educators to look for opportunities when lesson planning to utilize hands on experience if able to, which is explained in this video by Sean Rice.
One related study looked at the path to becoming a teacher and concluded that teachers’ effectiveness was mostly influenced by their placement with an effective mentor. This may seem like a no brainer but the study also looked at student teachers’ schools and specific factors associated with their place of study such as diversity, staff turnover, etc. The study was based on a sample of 1,000 student teachers in the Washington state area and they evaluated the mentors educational value prior to pairing the student teachers. They then followed the sample of 1,000 student teachers in the workforce and found a positive correlation between their students’ standardized test scores and the educational value of the mentorship they received. People tend to associate hands-on learning with trades, when in reality it can be utilized to enhance learning in all fields of study.
Another similar study looked at 30 different elementary schools and observed teacher performance (specifically in math and english) after they had received on-the-job learning from their colleagues. They shared what they concluded in this quote.
“Results suggest that formal professional development and on-the-job opportunities to learn are both significantly associated with changes in teachers’ instructional practice in mathematics and English language arts.”
Parise, L., & Spillane, J. (2010). Teacher Learning and Instructional Change: How Formal and On-the-Job Learning Opportunities Predict Change in Elementary School Teachers’ Practice
Now this study focused on teachers with all sorts of teaching experience as opposed to focusing on student teachers, which begs to question if their needs to be more observational learning for our teachers regardless of experience?
After researching social cognitive theory I also had some other questions, like where does behavioral modeling fit in with progressive education? Are the four schools that designed their culture around sustainability a model for what future schools will look like? If modeling is the future, then how do schools get parents and communities on the same page? Could educational video games or interactive simulation be a suitable resource for modeling? In your own experience what lessons stand out the most to you throughout your educational career and how can you relate them back to social cognitive theory? Feel free to discuss in the comments down below!
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Sources
Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development. Vol.6. Six theories of child development (pp. 1-60). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Amy, L. H., & McMillan, V. M. (2006). Teaching through modeling: Four schools’ experiences in sustainability education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1), 39-53. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.augsburg.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.augsburg.edu/docview/233055421?accountid=8430
Parise, L., & Spillane, J. (2010). Teacher Learning and Instructional Change: How Formal and On-the-Job Learning Opportunities Predict Change in Elementary School Teachers’ Practice. The Elementary School Journal, 110(3), 323-346. doi:10.1086/648981
Goldhaber, D., Krieg, J., & Theobald, R. (2019, May 20). Leveraging the Student Teaching Experience to Train Tomorrow’s Great Teachers. Retrieved June 14, 2019, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/05/20/leveraging-the-student-teaching-experience-to-train-tomorrows-great-teachers/
Denler, H., Wolters, C., & Benzon, M. (2014). Social Cognitive Theory: An Overview for Educators. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/social-cognitive-theory/
summeredublog 
Reading this really opened my eyes to the idea of observational learning. I would definitely say that I learn best by observing but it never occurred to me just how little that happens in educational settings. I also now wonder how do schools decide on who is a “great enough” teacher to place a student teacher in their class. Based on these results I think the most scrutiny should be given to those teachers and how they mentor student teachers vs. what the student teacher has learned while in their classroom.
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That’s a really good point, I think that student teaching shouldn’t stop with getting your teaching license. There should be more collaboration among teachers in schools so that like their students they can learn as a community and not as individuals.
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“A bored student is not a learning student.” – Sean Rice’s quote from the TED talk. I love that he said this, as it is not only relevant in the school system, but as mentioned in your blog, also in our workforce.
In every job position I’ve ever been in – I can wholeheartedly say that I finally grasped the specifics of the role through interactive, hands-on learning. In one particular office job, which I’ve had back in 2017, we were assigned a “training manager”, which I was excited about to be able to have a designated person that I can ask questions. Well, that person handed me a HUGE binder on my first day. I was told to read through it and try to refer to it whenever I have questions pop up. Let me tell you that I couldn’t get through the first page without dying of boredom (mostly because I haven’t had ANY hands-on experience at this point so I couldn’t relate any of the terms to anything, and the pages were very long with little text). While I understand that they were trying to get me to grasp the concepts before doing anything hands-on, this approached did not work for me. Needles to say, I skimmed through the binder, not retaining ANY information whatsoever. At this point in my life, I knew that I needed a hands-on approach, and I started to dive in to the job while making a list of questions to pester my training manager with.
I strongly believe that learning by doing is a fantastic tool for learners of all ages, and should be implemented as much as possible.
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I can relate completely with your experience. I was actually a mentor for new employees for a while and I had received no formal training on how to teach or what training new employees had received in the past. Luckily I had a good mentor who just sort of sat on the sidelines and was there for assistance while I completed tasks. That way she wouldn’t have to ask me if I had any questions, they would just come up naturally as I went through my day-to-day. I used the same method when I became a mentor and it seemed to really help with the learning process.
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I know the opportunities for observational learning in the special education programs are HUGE in my school district. In the EBD room we have a washer/dryer and stove and we teach the students how to use each one. We also help clean the cafeteria, wash windows, and deliver paper. The DCD room took care of a garden outside and ran a coffee cart in the morning where they learned how to manage money and be task oriented. And the ASD room at the high school brings students to Walgreens to stack shelves and help take inventory. I know that many classes in the elementary schools work on sustainability projects and I think all of these are important models for helping students and their futures.
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Based on some of the research I saw there’s definitely huge potential for hands-on learning for special needs and as you stated it looks like it’s already being implemented in a number of schools. Seeing and doing is the most basic form of learning and I think there’s a reason why everyone gravitates towards that type of experience. It’s much easier to digest information through doing and it seems to stay with you for longer.
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I like the connection you made between modeling and job training you see today in the work force. I was trying to recall a specific example and most of the ones I thought of were job trainings. I think of being paired up with an excellent employee to be shown what right looks like, not simply told the dos and don’ts. It is a pretty powerful tool and way to learn. Instead of being thrown into a situation and figuring it out, observation learning gives you a schema to work with and tailor to yourself.
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I agree completely, looking back at some of the on-the-job training I had and it was really easy to distinguish the good mentors from the bad. To me the big difference was letting you interact and make mistakes and then talking them over as opposed to strictly lecturing the whole time and expecting you to retain everything and put it to practice. It just seems like the more natural way to learn.
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Just as said before “A bored student is not a learning student.” in Sean Rice’s quote from the TED talk. This really caught my attention, just like you said not only in education but in workforce. How many mistakes are people making because we find our job boring? Do we not catch them because we arent paying attention or just flat out dont care because of how boring the job is? Observational learning has so many different routes it can be taken. Everyone has their own “learning style” and i think with observation learning is where it can start. Physically show the student, let them read, write, or do the project themselves. Showing them different ways to do one idea can be a huge door opener for children that have not tried other ways. I really like the whole blog you did a great job!
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Thank you, I’m glad you like my post! I really like the point you made on “learning styles”. I didn’t really think about it in that capacity but that is probably a huge reason why observational learning is so beneficial. Letting an individual use their own tools and methods to solve a problem instead of force feeding them a certain process really allows them to utilize their strengths and as a teacher observing that process too can be huge in knowing how individual students react to different problems.
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As someone who has researched “best practices” for clinical experiences in teacher education over the past few years, I was struck by all of the comments about student teaching, on-the-job training, and mentorship. A great mentor can make a world of difference for a beginning teacher. At the same time, schools are spread thin and it’s difficult for teacher education programs to access teachers that are also strong mentors. As you navigate field experience yourselves, I’m curious what you see being modeled in the field? In what ways have host teachers mentored you? What are the affordances and limitations to observational learning as a teacher candidate?
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I’d like to think that education is progressing to what we are learning in class about not only teaching the curriculum but setting up students to be contributing civic members and a lot of that comes from as a teacher being a role model yourself and giving students a variety of problem solving methods. My biggest takeaway from my educational career is that the teachers that made subjects that I didn’t deem important or beneficial were able to change my perspective and make the subject interesting and I think a big part of that is relating the subject to real life issues and expanding on that through hands on learning. I guess the biggest limitation to observational learning is resources. The affordance to me is using observational learning to illustrate how a subject can relate to everyday life. That’s always been the motivation for me to learn something and I think that rings true for most individuals.
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When I had my field experience in an ESL classroom last semester, I had to teach two mini-lessons. my cooperating teacher was such a great mentor, giving me feedback about what I did during that teaching experience. it was very detailed feedback about the whole teaching experience. some of the benefits of observational learning are that you can gain insight into one’s own strategies and techniques.
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I would agree that that having someone give you feedback is really helpful. When it comes from a mentor that you respect really makes feedback more relatable!
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It sounds like you are describing a couple of different approaches to modeling. One being the mentoring approach and the other is a carefully crafted school culture (the sustainability example).
Both of my children attend a public high school with upwards of four thousand students, and from my perspective, I think the school does a great job of, on the one hand, crafting a big picture school culture, but on the other hand, offering diverse mini-environments so the students can find their place in the much larger mega-environment. It’s a real balancing act because of the size of the school. That said, to comment on your question:
“If modeling is the future, then how do schools get parents and communities on the same page?”
My thought is this – modeling by carefully crafting a school culture (the sustainability example) is the right choice for some but is subject to scaling issues. Having all of the faculty AND all of the parents aligned with a particular ideology is difficult at best but try it with several hundred teachers and eight or nine thousand parents in a room.
A mentoring program, at least in my opinion is more amenable to a large school environment. I can picture both formal and informal programs, and I think the major benefit is that it is scalable within a large environment and offers the students choice. It can be offered as a program where (thinking beyond teachers) parents, community leaders, or specialists bring their talents or perspectives to the school.
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Love the thoroughness of your post. The questions at the end really got me thinking about how we can incorporate behavioral modeling into the education system.
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You mentioned educational games and videos as a form of modeling. One thing that this brings to mind for me is some of the reading apps that I see in use on elementary schools. They are great for motivating students, and I think they excel especially from a behaviorist perspective (motivating with fun lights, sounds, and messages, and letting students level up). But I’ve heard teachers point out that some of these apps do most of the reading for the students (observational learning). Unfortunately, the students don’t end up getting in as much of their own practice as they could.
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