This paper describes and illustrates a typology of verbal instructional tasks for advanced classr... more This paper describes and illustrates a typology of verbal instructional tasks for advanced classroom instruction and inservice training. The typology is based upon functional definitions of elementary and conceptual behavior, and incorporates the kinds of goals and objectives that surveys and research have shown to be important for experienced learners. The typology's metastructure is B. F. Skinner's (1957) verbal behavior classification system. This paper describes Skinner's system as a context for understanding and selecting instructional tasks for experienced learners. This paper also discusses rate of response as an important dimension of proficiency or mastery, and procedures for selecting proficiency criteria of tasks in the typology are also described. Results of the first of a series of validation studies indicated that high agreement between typology designer and subjects' classification of tasks can be attained after a short training session. The typology is discussed as a vehicle for standardizing instructional research and practice, and as a basis for research on transfer of control across classes of verbal behavior. Implications for research on building fluency of adult performance, and efficiency in instructional design are also discussed.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1985
Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal rel... more Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal relations. These relations involved definition, exemplification, and example identification questions. The experimenter presented the questions, the subject answered them in writing, and the experimenter provided specific corrective consequences. After completing the training on a concept, the subject immediately received a test on the concept. The test included novel questions similar to the kind used in training (extension tasks) and question types that were not used in training but which were also considered intraverbal relations (transfer tasks). Training results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification tasks and slow, accurate responding on exemplification and definition tasks. Test results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification extension tasks; slow, accurate responding on exemplification extension tasks; and slow, errorful responding on definition extension tasks. In testing, differential responding occurred on transfer tasks as a function of the kind of intraverbal training received, and substantially lower levels of performance were obtained on transfer tasks than on extension tasks. It appears that the intraverbal can be subdivided into more specific categories of operants.
This study compared grade point level, silent contextual reading fluency, and perceived digital r... more This study compared grade point level, silent contextual reading fluency, and perceived digital reading ability of 1,206 South Korean video game players and nonplayers in grades 9 through 12. The findings strengthen results reported in the literature while also contributing new information. Nonplayers had better grades, a finding that supports previous research showing that gameplay can negatively influence academic performance. Nonplayers were better readers, a finding in disagreement with studies showing that Internet use, to include video game play, can help with reading performance. While players held higher views of themselves regarding their digital reading ability, these perceptions were not aligned with their grades and reading test scores as well as their online activities when compared to their nonplayer counterparts.
This paper focuses on a subset of the practices that have created the powerful learning technolog... more This paper focuses on a subset of the practices that have created the powerful learning technology developed and disseminated by Morningside Academy in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. We briefly describe this technology, known as the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, and tell how it builds on the selectionist approach of B. F. Skinner and the pragmatic approach of John Dewey. We also describe the critical role Precision Teaching plays at Morningside Academy and its dependence on findings from the science of learning and the science of instruction, including placement of learners, task analysis, content analysis, instructional protocols, and principles of instructional design. Last, we acknowledge the symbiotic relation between effective Direct Instruction programs that teach skills to accuracy levels and Precision Teaching, which takes these accurate repertoires and systematically turns them into high frequency performances that take on the character of fluent repertoires. Over time, using Precision Teaching across multiple and successive repertoires also creates more agile learners.
school and outreach to schools and agencies throughout the United States and Canada through its p... more school and outreach to schools and agencies throughout the United States and Canada through its partnership with Mornto our current technologies.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1985
Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal rel... more Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal relations. These relations involved definition, exemplification, and example identification questions. The experimenter presented the questions, the subject answered them in writing, and the experimenter provided specific corrective consequences. After completing the training on a concept, the subject immediately received a test on the concept. The test included novel questions similar to the kind used in training (extension tasks) and question types that were not used in training but which were also considered intraverbal relations (transfer tasks). Training results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification tasks and slow, accurate responding on exemplification and definition tasks. Test results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification extension tasks; slow, accurate responding on exemplification extension tasks; and slow, errorful responding on definition extension tasks. In testing, differential responding occurred on transfer tasks as a function of the kind of intraverbal training received, and substantially lower levels of performance were obtained on transfer tasks than on extension tasks. It appears that the intraverbal can be subdivided into more specific categories of operants.
This paper describes and illustrates a typology of verbal instructional tasks for advanced classr... more This paper describes and illustrates a typology of verbal instructional tasks for advanced classroom instruction and inservice training. The typology is based upon functional definitions of elementary and conceptual behavior, and incorporates the kinds of goals and objectives that surveys and research have shown to be important for experienced learners. The typology's metastructure is B. F. Skinner's (1957) verbal behavior classification system. This paper describes Skinner's system as a context for understanding and selecting instructional tasks for experienced learners. This paper also discusses rate of response as an important dimension of proficiency or mastery, and procedures for selecting proficiency criteria of tasks in the typology are also described. Results of the first of a series of validation studies indicated that high agreement between typology designer and subjects' classification of tasks can be attained after a short training session. The typology is discussed as a vehicle for standardizing instructional research and practice, and as a basis for research on transfer of control across classes of verbal behavior. Implications for research on building fluency of adult performance, and efficiency in instructional design are also discussed.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1985
Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal rel... more Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal relations. These relations involved definition, exemplification, and example identification questions. The experimenter presented the questions, the subject answered them in writing, and the experimenter provided specific corrective consequences. After completing the training on a concept, the subject immediately received a test on the concept. The test included novel questions similar to the kind used in training (extension tasks) and question types that were not used in training but which were also considered intraverbal relations (transfer tasks). Training results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification tasks and slow, accurate responding on exemplification and definition tasks. Test results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification extension tasks; slow, accurate responding on exemplification extension tasks; and slow, errorful responding on definition extension tasks. In testing, differential responding occurred on transfer tasks as a function of the kind of intraverbal training received, and substantially lower levels of performance were obtained on transfer tasks than on extension tasks. It appears that the intraverbal can be subdivided into more specific categories of operants.
This study compared grade point level, silent contextual reading fluency, and perceived digital r... more This study compared grade point level, silent contextual reading fluency, and perceived digital reading ability of 1,206 South Korean video game players and nonplayers in grades 9 through 12. The findings strengthen results reported in the literature while also contributing new information. Nonplayers had better grades, a finding that supports previous research showing that gameplay can negatively influence academic performance. Nonplayers were better readers, a finding in disagreement with studies showing that Internet use, to include video game play, can help with reading performance. While players held higher views of themselves regarding their digital reading ability, these perceptions were not aligned with their grades and reading test scores as well as their online activities when compared to their nonplayer counterparts.
This paper focuses on a subset of the practices that have created the powerful learning technolog... more This paper focuses on a subset of the practices that have created the powerful learning technology developed and disseminated by Morningside Academy in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. We briefly describe this technology, known as the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, and tell how it builds on the selectionist approach of B. F. Skinner and the pragmatic approach of John Dewey. We also describe the critical role Precision Teaching plays at Morningside Academy and its dependence on findings from the science of learning and the science of instruction, including placement of learners, task analysis, content analysis, instructional protocols, and principles of instructional design. Last, we acknowledge the symbiotic relation between effective Direct Instruction programs that teach skills to accuracy levels and Precision Teaching, which takes these accurate repertoires and systematically turns them into high frequency performances that take on the character of fluent repertoires. Over time, using Precision Teaching across multiple and successive repertoires also creates more agile learners.
school and outreach to schools and agencies throughout the United States and Canada through its p... more school and outreach to schools and agencies throughout the United States and Canada through its partnership with Mornto our current technologies.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1985
Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal rel... more Six college undergraduates received programmed concept training on three kinds of intraverbal relations. These relations involved definition, exemplification, and example identification questions. The experimenter presented the questions, the subject answered them in writing, and the experimenter provided specific corrective consequences. After completing the training on a concept, the subject immediately received a test on the concept. The test included novel questions similar to the kind used in training (extension tasks) and question types that were not used in training but which were also considered intraverbal relations (transfer tasks). Training results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification tasks and slow, accurate responding on exemplification and definition tasks. Test results indicated rapid, errorful responding on example identification extension tasks; slow, accurate responding on exemplification extension tasks; and slow, errorful responding on definition extension tasks. In testing, differential responding occurred on transfer tasks as a function of the kind of intraverbal training received, and substantially lower levels of performance were obtained on transfer tasks than on extension tasks. It appears that the intraverbal can be subdivided into more specific categories of operants.
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