IMPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIORISTIC LEARNING THEORY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL STUDENT LEARNING

Abstract

According to behavioristic theory, learning is a change in behavior and overall student personality. At the elementary school level both SD / MI, one of the apparent learning successes is the change in student behavior. Elementary / MI students have several characteristics such as: (1) full of inquiry or curiosity, (2) spontaneously responding (paying attention) to various aspects of the world around them, (3) active in doing anything even though small things, and so on. Students at the elementary school level will be more motivated to learn by giving reinforcement (reinforcement) by the teacher in the form of rewards, rather than providing motivation in the form of motivational sentences. Behavioristic theory is seen as one learning theory that has positive implications in the learning process. This is because behavioristic theory emphasizes the existence of stimulus and response, thus making the role of the teacher here very vital. The teacher acts as the center of learning activities. Before the teacher carries out learning, the teacher makes a learning plan by taking into account indicators of learning success, identifying learning objectives, conducting learning analyzes and identifying student characteristics. Then in implementing learning, the teacher provides stimulus to students in the form of motivation, reinforcement, assignments and so on. After that the teacher gives feedback at the end of learning. In addition to having positive implications, this behavioristic theory also has weaknesses in its application in the learning process, because this theory emphasizes more on what can be seen, namely behavior and not paying attention to what is happening in the mind because it cannot be seen. Thus the behavioristic learning process is considered more as a mechanical and automatic process without discussing what happens in students while learning.