Reviews for Operant conditioning in the classroom

The average rating for Operant conditioning in the classroom based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-03-11 00:00:00 Evan Gray I saw a quote from this book somewhere online (Dictionary dot com, perhaps?) that struck me as pithy, erudite and with an "enlightening" glow, which made me want to read it. The subtitle, "Essays for the Left Hand," takes the left hand as a metaphor for aspects of living that are intuitive, unconscious, and difficult to analyze and therefore control'such as creativity, early learning, myth, and the idea of fate. It is a collection of essays from different times of the author's life and development that, he writes in the introduction, he has edited somewhat to give them more thematic integrity. What I liked about On Knowing was exactly what I liked about the quote that drew me to the book: almost every sentence is pithy, erudite and with an "enlightening" glow. In terms of content, it's interesting in as far as it looks at what makes us modern. Although written in the 1960s, nearly everything that characterizes humankind in the 21st century was already worked out, so the fact that it is already 50-plus years old has little effect on its relevance. For example, I found the analysis of Darwin and Freud interesting in that he points out that although Darwin was revolutionary he could still be appealed to as having ratified the traditional view of humankind's supremacy by portraying humans as the most sophisticated product of evolution. However, Freud is posited as being even more revolutionary in that he undermined such self-assuredness by showing how mankind is subject to much the same drives that control the rest of animal life on the planet and, in spite of being so intellectually privileged, still cannot fully master his own fate. There are nuggets of insight like this throughout that provide interesting food for thought, but the problem with this anthology for me is that (a) it is too abstract (I am far more interested in narrative and commentary on specifics, with digressions where appropriate into abstraction) and (b) it is too all over the place (as is, I guess, inevitable with essays written for different purposes and audiences). There are one or two clear threads that somewhat hold the essays together: most notably the element of surprise as a defining factor of creativity, and the idea that a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to fully understand anything. But, apart from that, I had to work very hard all the way through to try and relate what I was reading to what I encountered in my everyday life and reading. Being a philosophy and psychology fan would surely help, but even then, the title "On Knowing" is somewhat misleading in that the mechanisms, subjects and objects of "knowing" aren't discussed as much as variously dabbled into. In the end, I came away with very little, especially since it is very difficult to remember insights into this and that from here and there when they're not very strongly held together. It's more a book for holding essay-by-essay discussions with like-minded ivory tower chums rather than a book which, after a sustained reading, you come away from feeling like you've been shown the world through a new lens. It's a collection of interesting and erudite tidbits that don't hold together as well as is advertised. Finally, there were several times when the On Knowing might as well have been recast as On Knowing All the Famous People I'm Friends With, as there is not a little name-dropping. Sure, he's a big name in psychology, but not exactly a household name, so it still came across as trying to claim a place based on the circles he's moved in.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-11-01 00:00:00 Brad Lott I do not know if David is left handed or not, let alone dyslexic, but I found that these two paragraphs of his own review, resounded with my own perspective of this book ... "Essays for the Left Hand," takes the left hand as a metaphor for aspects of living that are intuitive, [un]conscious, and difficult to analyze and therefore control'such as creativity, early learning, myth, and the idea of fate. It is a collection of essays from different times of the author's life and development that, he writes in the introduction, he has edited somewhat to give them more thematic integrity. What I liked about On Knowing was exactly what I liked about the quote that drew me to the book: almost every sentence is pithy, erudite and with an "enlightening" glow. In terms of content, it's interesting in as far as it looks at what makes us modern. Although written in the 1960s, nearly everything that characterizes humankind in the 21st century was already worked out, so the fact that it is already 50-plus years old has little effect on its relevance." Creativity - for an approaching three score years and ten, left handed dyslexic, whose propensity for mirror writing was 'corrected' by nuns at St. John's Primary School in the Archway, North London; as a result of being taught to write correctly with an Osmiroid 65 pen fitted with a left-handed italic nib - has forever been the driving force of my life. From my own particular perspective, however, the best review of Jerome Bruner's book, which addresses many of the points which David has made, has been written by Maria Popova. Entitled "How to Master the Art of "Effective Surprise" and the 6 Essential Conditions for Creativity", the piece can be found at her most revealing 'brain pickings' website.