Behavioral Education in the 21st Century

Abstract

Behavior analysis significantly impacted education in the 20th century with many procedures for improving behavior, management, and instruction. Today, 21st century education is grappling with other goals that behavior analysis can also address, especially the need to broaden its focus from knowledge acquisition to real-world application, communication, and problem solving. Recent developments in flipped classroom approaches are ripe for behavior analysis technology, as are socially engaged approaches such as project-based learning. I outline a generative instruction approach to application and activity-driven education that improves social interaction, and thinking, reasoning, and problem solving in the classroom. Current interests in broader approaches to improving schools by addressing poverty and economic inequality with interventions that foster nurturing environments and prosociality also provide opportunities for applying behavior analysis, particularly community school experiments. We should hitch a ride on all these fronts to remain relevant and productive members of educational communities in the 21st century.

KEYWORDS:

• behavioral education
• generative instruction
• embodied cognition
• nurturing environments