bandura's social learning theory and its uses in the classroom first of all it is important to note that albert bandura's social learning theory emphasizes the importance of observing modelling and imitating the behaviors attitudes and emotional reactions of others in other words for bandura most human behaviors are learned through observation modeling and imitation this made bandura's social learning theory different from other learning theories such as behaviorist learning theories which look at learning as a direct result of conditioning reinforcement and punishment and cognitive learning theories which take into account psychological influences such as attention and memory in what follows i will briefly sketch bandura's social learning theory and its uses in the classroom to begin with it is important to note that for bandura believe the behaviorists didn't have a complete theory that social learning required and neither did the cognitive models according to bandura they didn't take into consideration how social variables influenced behavior this explains why for bandura there is a disparity in most models learning theories that didn't consider the effect of the social environment on learning new behaviors bandura then revises this model because it didn't incorporate and explain all behaviors this led him to his famous bobo doll experiments as we can see bandura's bobo doll experiments helped him make the connection between social observation and new behavior responses from individuals who had not learned the behavior before bandura's social learning theory main idea in his social learning theory bandura describes how people can learn something new by observing the behavior of other people and applying rational mental behavior in fact for bandura observational learning is the first step in the social learning process the famous bobo doll experiment supported the social learning theory of observational learning the results of the observational learning experiment according to bandura showed that kids mimicked the behavior of the adults they observed follow-up results also showed that the children were more likely to learn the behavior where they saw the adults were rewarded for aggressive or non-aggressive actions than those that were punished for their aggression during the experiments bandura noted that the children preferred repeating actions of the models who gained approval by being rewarded they are also more likely to continue the behavior that results in positive consequences the negative consequences when kids imitate a model it may be one type of behavior they reproduce kids may also identify with multiple models in their environment models could be parents teachers siblings friends peers cartoon characters or celebrities they identify with these people because they have talents abilities or qualities the child wants to possess when they identified with a model they were more motivated to adopt various behaviors of that model than just mimicking one behavior as we can see bandura's social learning theory is based on three main ideas first people learned through observing role models here bandura identified the three types of models in his experiment namely one a live model physically demonstrating an action two a live model using language to display a behavior verbally and three a symbolic model showing behaviors in online media movies television programs and books second internal psychology influences the learning process this means intrinsic reinforcement satisfy the psychological needs like a sense of accomplishment satisfaction a form of success or pride and third learning a behavior doesn't automatically mean the person will execute it changing or applying a new behavior must be a value to the person to want to apply what they've learned four steps in social learning theory it must be noted that there are four steps in bandura's social learning theory namely one attention two retention three reproduction and four motivation on attention first off the learner needs to pay attention if they are distracted this will influence the amount or quality of learning that occurs i don't think anyone disagrees with this statement we have all gotten distracted and know that it affects our learning and quality of work additionally the more interesting or unique the model or situation is the more fully the learner will attend to the learning this explains why you might not be able to put down a good book or give up on any one of your passions no matter the obstacles you encounter on retention how one can store the information learned that is retention is important let's face it we have all learned so much content throughout our years of schooling but how much do we retain maybe you can remember the more significant learning in a certain way through any number of memory techniques for example mnemonic devices writing it down repetition and the like or maybe you applied the learning to a real life situation which aids in retention on reproduction reproduction relies on the first two steps namely attention and retention after completing these steps the learner may move toward performing the observable behavior then with further practice the learner will undoubtedly improve and sharpen her skills the adage practice makes perfect applies here on motivation the last step is motivation to have the most success for any observational learning one needs to be motivated enough to imitate the behavior that was modeled in this step both reinforcement and punishment impact motivation if a student sees someone being rewarded they are more likely to continue the behavior likewise if they see someone punished or ignored they may extinguish the behavior how can teachers use social learning theory in the classroom perhaps the better question is is there any aspect of the school experience where social learning does not apply from classroom management and collaborative learning to gamification and providing feedback bandura's theory is widely applicable let me briefly sketch them below on managing the classroom teachers can use positive and negative reinforcement to motivate students to perform certain behaviors for example verbally praising a student who is staying on task participating or showing up prepared to learn on a consistent basis on making transitions or clarifications teachers can use physical and or verbal cues to elicit student attention for example initiating a call and response using a hand signal or pointing to an object on planning for instruction teachers may incorporate multimodal learning to help students retain new information for example presenting new content through visual auditory kinesthetic modes on supporting intrinsic motivation teachers can use rewards and reinforcement to help students develop confidence self-efficacy and a love for learning for example offering verbal praise or constructive feedback in regard to progress tracking and goal setting on incorporating collaborative learning teachers can create time in each lesson for students to practice and learn with diverse students that is models in low stakes activities we know that students pay more attention to their friends and peers than to other adults on trying a flipped classroom model in this model students watch a video or lesson at home and observe others behaviors during the learning activities in the classroom through reinforcement students can apply observations to their own learning on applying the principles of gamification to lessons gamification naturally creates rewards and reinforcements for positive behaviors therefore increasing student motivation on a last note one needs to remember that when educators have a comprehensive knowledge of how social learning works they can use to integrate its four principles in all areas of the classroom to amplify positive outcomes for their students as teachers make conscious efforts to amplify social learning in their classrooms they should keep these four principles in mind as well as the four steps in social learning theory