Blog C: Influential Educators

B.F. Skinner

Born in 1904 on March 20th, Burrhus Fredrick Skinner grew up in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He lived with his father, mother, and younger brother, who died at the age of 16. An industrious and active child, he was constantly building contraptions. B.F. attended Hamilton College, achieving a BA in English.

For graduate school, Skinner enrolled in the Psychology Department of Harvard. While studying there, he developed the theory of operant behavior, which states that “a behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future.” Skinner created teaching machines for student that used this manner of thinking. The machines would at first, break up the material into small steps, providing lots of help. As the student’s performance improved, less and less help was given, until no help was needed.

In 1990, on August 18, B.F Skinner passed away due to leukemia. Though a shade different, Skinner’s machines are still used today, through computers and the use of the internet. Skinner’s work has recently been used to make breakthroughs in helping children with autism communicate and learn effectively.

Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire was born on September 19, 1921 in Recife, a city in Brazil. His theories on education started to grow when he became a parent of three daughters and two sons. He abandoned his study of law in the University of Recife to become a welfare official and then the director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in Pernambuco. It was in this position that he established a report with the urban poor community, and developed a method for adult education.

Freire’s theory was based on dialogue. He believed that it was important to a student’s learning that a respectful dialogue was established, and that the teacher and student work together to achieve knowledge. He used this method to persuade the Brazilian peasants of the time to learn to read and write, in order to have a say in the political turmoil that Brazil was in at the time.

Freire was jailed and then exiled due to his methods, viewed as subversive and radical. Living in Chile, Freire worked with adult education programs, and therefore had a hand in the acknowledgement by UNESCO that Chile became one of top five nations that had best succeeded in overcoming illiteracy. He taught as a visiting professor at Harvard in the late 1960’s in the Center for Education and Development. Freire was invited to return to Brazil in 1979 to serve on the faculty of the University of San Paulo, and in 1988, and later became the Minister of Education for San Paulo.

Paulo Freire died at the age of 75 on May 2, 1977.




Sources:

B.F. Skinner

http://www.bfskinner.org/bio.asp
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhskin.html
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/skinner.html


Paulo Freire

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/scheurich/proj3/freire1.html
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm
http://www3.nl.edu/academics/cas/ace/resources/paulofreire.cfm