| Abstract: Reflection, based on grounded theory and supported by research and the scientific method, is much more behavioral than constructivist. Despite this assertion, current priorities in teacher education posit that behavioral approaches are inadequate for defining the social and cognitive mediation necessary for teaching and learning in todays classrooms. Frequently, constructivist principles are advocated instead. In the second edition of The Handbook of Research on Teacher Education (Sikula, 1996), Constructivist Perspectives is one of eight subsections under Contemporary Conceptions of Learning to Teach. The others are Critical Perspectives, Teacher Reasoning, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Multicultural Teacher Education, Global Teacher Education, Human Development, and Cognitive Instruction. Behaviorism and Behavior Analysis comprises a separate, stand alone section of this same book. It is telling that constructivist perspectives is listed as one among many in the handbook, while an entire section of the book is dedicated exclusively to behaviorism. Without behavioral approaches to teaching, all the requisite skills that students and teachers need to reflect and reason, such as active listening, attending to appropriate cues, clarifying and extending questions, paraphrasing, etc., could never occur. Nevertheless, the confusion continues. The purpose of this address is to engage the audience in a semantic and functional analysis of behavioral and constructivist approaches to teaching and learning. |