Classical Conditioning Case Study Essay

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In the case study, Jim Colbert, a third grade teacher, struggles to help a boy named Carlos. This Public School 111 was located in a metropolitan, run down neighborhood. The school was surrounded by drug dealers and trash. However, the inside of the school was bright and welcoming. Here the students were placed according to their abilities, and Jim had a 3-A class for the high achieving students. Jim had a routine that he followed every day. He would take the learning and apply it to the student’s lives with practical examples. To begin the day Jim would go through the homework with the students, and here he began to notice that Carlos was misspelling many of his words. Carlos comprehended the readings, but he was behind in his spelling. Jim talked with the other third grade teacher, Paul, about Carlos. Then, he talked to Carlos about the problem, asking him if he could get help at home. Here Jim discovered that Carlos would get little to no help at home. Jim sent home a dictionary with Carlos so that he could check his spelling, and he saw …show more content…

In this case study we can see a negative way classical conditioning occurred. During recess firecrackers went off near school, throwing the students to the group in fear. “Jim had stared in amazement at the yard of students lying on the ground, instinctively trying to protect themselves.” (Colbert, p. 52)This involuntary response was a natural instinct for the students because of the neighborhood they lived in. Gunfire was a regular occurrence, and the firecrackers resembled the sound of a gunshot. “To some degree, learners’ behaviors are influenced by the objects and events they are currently encountering.” (Ormrod ,p. 58)Specific events throughout your life can lead to certain behaviors. In this case study we saw that the gunfire they have heard causes them to fall to the ground. Classical conditioning had a negative effect on these

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