A Detailed Lesson Plan in Behaviorism: Classical Conditioning vs Operant Conditioning

I. Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. identify what is classical and operant conditioning
2. differentiate classical conditioning into operant conditioning; and
3. apply these classical and operant conditioning into real life situation

II. Subject Matter

Behaviorism: Classical Conditioning Vs Operant Conditioning
Reference/s: https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-vs-operant-conditioning-
2794861 and https://simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html
Material/s: PowerPoint Presentation, Laptop and Projector
Values: Cooperation and Creativity
Strategy Used: Cooperative Learning

III. Procedure
 Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity
Preliminaries

(Greetings/ Checking of Attendance)

“Before we start our new lesson, let’s have a (One student will raise his/her hand and
short review. Who can tell me what we answer the question)
talked about last meeting?” “Last meeting, we talked about behaviorism
ma’am”

“Yes, very good! Who can tell me what is

behaviorism? (One student will raise his/her hand and
answer the question)
“When we talked about behaviorism, it is
also known as behavioral psychology, a
theory of learning that states all behaviors
are learned through interaction with the
environment through a process called
conditioning. Thus, behavior is simply a
response to environmental stimuli.
“Very good! Are there any question with our
previous topic?”
“Excellent! We can now proceed to our next “None, ma’am!”
lesson.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Motivation

“But before I introduce our lesson for today,

let’s have a short activity, it is called “Show
Me and I Will Tell You.” I have here two sets
of pictures. What you are going to do is to
observe it properly and I will ask questions
after the said observation

“Are the instructions clear?”

“Yes, Ma’am”
“Let’s start!”
First picture: (The teacher will show the
picture)
 “What can you observe on this picture?” (One student will raise his/her hand and
answer the question)
“Ma’am, there’s a food, dog and a bell. On
the picture, they presented a food to the dog
and it generates salivation. On the second
picture, they presented a bell on a dog and
the dog did not salivate. While on the third
picture, the dog associates the ringing bell
with food. For the last pic, the ringing of bell
“Very good observations! Let’s have the triggers the dog to salivate.
second picture”

Second picture:(The teacher will show the

picture)

(One student will raise his/her hand and

answer the question)
“Ma’am, there’s a food and a rat. If a rat was
“Who wants to try?” able to pressed the lever, the rat will be
rewarded. On the other hand, if a rat was not
able to turn off the lever, it will produce
electric shock and it will be punished”

(One student will raise his/her hand and

answer the question)
“Good job! Thank you everyone for “Ma’am, it is somehow connected with our
participating. So, what can you observe about previous topic”
the short activity?

“Ma’am, it is all about observable behaviors”

“That’s right, what else?”

(One student will raise his/her hand and

“So, what do you think is our topic for answer the question)
today?” “Ma’am, I think our topic for today is all
about conditioning
“Very good! Our topic for today is all about
Classical and Operant Conditioning”

Introduction
“Our topic for today is all about Classical and (Students will look at the screen presented in
Operant Conditioning.” front of them)
“Kindly look at the screen which is presented
in front of you”

Discussion

“What is Classical and Operant Conditioning?

Kindly read the definition?” (One student will read what is on the screen)

“Thank you. Let us have the Classical (One student raise his/her hand and answer
Conditioning first. When we talked about the question)
Classical Conditioning, it is first described by “He is a Russian psychologist best known for
Ivan Pavlov. Can anyone of this class know his research in conditioned reflexes”
who is Ivan Pavlov?

“Very good! Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was

a Russian and Soviet experimental
neurologist and physiologist best known for
his discovery of classical conditioning
through his experiments with dogs

“Now let’s dig deeper on the meaning of

Classical Conditioning. Like many great
scientific advances, Pavlovian conditioning
(aka classical conditioning) was discovered
accidentally. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849– (One student will raise his/her hand and
1936) was a physiologist, not a psychologist. answer the question)
“It’s about a dog, bell and a food”
Can you tell me again what do you observe
on the first picture that I’ve shown you a
while ago?”
 “That’s awesome! During the 1890s, Pavlov
researched salivation in dogs in response to
being fed. He inserted a small test tube into
the cheek of each dog to measure saliva
when the dogs were fed (with a powder
made from meat). Pavlov predicted the dogs
would salivate in response to the food placed
in front of them, but he noticed that his dogs
would begin to salivate whenever they heard
the footsteps of his assistant who was
bringing them the food.”

“The classical conditioning process involves

pairing a previously neutral stimulus (such as
the sound of a bell) with an unconditioned
stimulus (the taste of food).
This unconditioned stimulus naturally and
automatically triggers salivating as a
response to the food, which is known as
the unconditioned response. After
associating the neutral stimulus and the
unconditioned stimulus, the sound of the bell
alone will start to evoke salivating as a
response.
The sound of the bell is now known as
the conditioned stimulus and salivating in
response to the bell is known as
the conditioned response. A dog doesn't
need to be trained to salivate when it sees
food; this occurs naturally. The food is the
naturally occurring stimulus. If you ring a bell
every time you presented the dog with food,
an association would be formed between the (One student will raise his/her hand and
food and the bell. Eventually, the bell alone, answer the question)
a.k.a. the conditioned stimulus would come “Excited for recess “
to evoke the salivation response.
 “Can you give me another example of (The student will elaborate his/her example)
Classical Conditioning?” “The bell used to indicate the beginning of
recess is neutral, if not even a little negative if
“How can we say that it is one of the it's too loud or harsh. It can even hurt our
examples of Classical Conditioning?” ears! But, as that recess bell accurately
predicts the beginning of recess, we may get
really excited and happy each time you hear
it. Even outside of school, when we hear a
similar-sounding bell, we may well up with
the same positive emotions.”

“Now that you all understand what is Classical

Conditioning, let’s have the Operant
Conditioning” (One student will raise his/her hand and
answer the question)
“Operant conditioning was first described by “He was known for the most influential
behaviorist B.F. Skinner, which is why you psychologist of the 20th century.”
may occasionally hear it referred to as
Skinnerian conditioning. On Classical
Conditioning, Ivan Pavlov is the proponent of
the theory. Now can you tell me who is B.F
Skinner?”

“Thank you! B.F Skinner was an American

psychologist known for his impact
 on behaviorism.  He developed operant
conditioning for systematic study of how
behaviors are strengthened or weakened
according to their consequences. When we
say Operant Conditioning, According to B. F.
Skinner's theory of learning, our behaviors
are developed or conditioned through
reinforcements. He referred to this process
as operant conditioning, with operant
referring to any behavior that acts on the
environment and leads to consequences.

Operant behaviors (actions under our

control) differ from respondent behaviors.
Skinner described respondent behaviors as
anything that occurs reflexively or
automatically—such as jerking your hand
back when you accidentally touch a hot pan.

Skinner's idea of operant conditioning

influenced thoughts about child
development, or that a child's behavior could
be impacted through positive and negative
reinforcements. It also contributed to the
behavioral theory of personality, explaining (One student will raise his/her hand and
that we respond in certain ways based on our answer the question)
learned experiences.” “ Ma’am, I think positive and negative”

“In B. F. Skinner's theory of learning,

reinforcement plays a critical role in behavior
development. Reinforcement is any event
that strengthens a certain behavior and it can
be positive or negative in nature.”

“We have two types of reinforcement, what

do you think are those?”

“Very good! We have Positive and Negative

Reinforcement. Positive (Students will say)
reinforcement includes actions or events that “Punishment”
strengthen a response by providing a
stimulus for certain behaviors, such as giving
a child a reward or praise for cleaning their
room. Negative reinforcement also
strengthens a response, but by the removal
of an unfavorable outcome, such as the child
cleaning their room to avoid being
grounded.”

“If there is Reinforcement, there is also

Puni-”

“Very good! Punishment can also play a role

in the learning process, according to B. F.
Skinner. Punishment is described as the
application of an adverse outcome in an (One student will raise his/her hand and
effort to decrease or weaken a specific answer the question)
behavior. Punishment may involve presenting “Restricting students from using phones as a
a negative reinforcer such as a spanking, distraction
scolding, or the imposition of a prison
sentence which some refer to as positive
punishment. Or it can involve the removal of
a positive reinforcer, such as taking away a
favorite toy, also known as a negative “Yes, Ma’am!”
punishment.” “Yes, Ma’am!”

“Can you give me an example of Operant

Conditioning?”

“Very good!”

“Did you get it class?”

“Are we clear with that?”

Application
Group activity. “Now its your time to shine
because we will be having another activity
which I named as “Condition me “Yes, Ma’am!”
 unconditionally.” This time it will be by
group. Kindly group yourselves into five
groups. Your task is to apply the two kinds of “None, Ma’am!”
conditioning (Classical and Operant
Conditioning) and apply it on your real-life (The timer will start. Each group accomplishes
situation that is happening around you. You their given task)
have only 5 minutes to brainstorm and
conceptualize your given task and 2 to 3
minutes to perform.” “Yes, Ma’am!”

“Are the instructions clear?” (Students will have a 2 to 3 minutes role play
about a situation in their life that connects with
“Do you have any question with our our topic for today)
activity?”

“Your 5 minutes start now!”

“Okay, time’s up! Settle down now class. Is

(One student will raise his/her hand and
everybody ready?” answer the question)
“Operant Conditioning focuses on connecting
a voluntary activity and a reward, Classical
“Okay, let’s start!” Conditioning involves connecting an
automatic response and a stimulus.”

“Good work everyone!”

(One student will raise his/her hand and
answer the question)
Generalization “ Ivan Pavlov”
“Going back, can you differentiate classical
and operant conditioning?” (One student will raise his/her hand and
answer the question)
“ B.F Skinner”

“None, Ma’am!”

“Very good! Can you tell me who is the

proponent of Classical Conditioning?”

“Good! How about the proponent of

Operant Conditioning?”
 “Brilliant! It seems that you understood the
lesson. Are there any more clarifications that
you want to raise?”

IV. Evaluation
Direction: Match column A with the corresponding item in column B.

Column A Column B

1. Ivan Pavlov
2. Operant Conditioning
3. Classical Conditioning
4. B.F Skinner
5. Behaviorism 1.

2. was a Russian and Soviet

experimental neurologist,
psychologist and physiologist known
for his discovery of classical
conditioning through his experiments
with dogs.

3. a systematic approach to
understanding the behavior of
humans and other animals, based on
the idea that all behaviors are
acquired through conditioning, which
occurs through interaction with the
environment

4. was an American psychologist known

for his impact on behaviorism.  He
developed operant conditioning
for systematic study of how
behaviors are strengthened or
weakened according to their
consequences
 5.

V. Assignment
Direction: In an essay form, write your own experiences that falls into two categories; Classical
and Operant Conditioning and explain how these experiences change your life. Write it in a one
whole sheet of yellow paper.

Assignment for next lesson:

1. Who is Edward Thorndike

2. What are the 3 laws of learning in behaviorism according to Thorndike

Prepared by:

Kathlyn Sam E. Quito