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Skinner Teaching Machine

Skinner Teaching Machine

Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted: 11/5/2008

From the 1920s, psychologists have explored ways to automate teaching. In the 1950s, the psychologist B. F. Skinner of Harvard University suggested that techniques he had developed for training rats and pigeons might be adopted for teaching humans.


National Standards

United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)

Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

1: The economic boom and social transformation of postwar United States
 
2: How the Cold War and conflicts in Korea and Vietnam influenced domestic and international politics
 
3: Domestic policies after World War II
 
4: The struggle for racial and gender equality and the extension of civil liberties
 

World History Standards (Grades 5-12)

Era 9: The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes

1: How post-World War II reconstruction occurred, new international power relations took shape, and colonial empires broke up
 
2: The search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world
 
3: Major global trends since World War II
 

Historical Thinking Standards (Grades 5-12)

Historical Thinking Standard 4: Historical Research Capabilities

4B: Obtain historical data from a variety of sources.
 

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Related Artifact

Image of B.F. Skinner's orange nose cone of a pigeon-guided missle
B.F. Skinner's Nose Cone of a Pigeon-Guided Missile

During World War II, the U.S.

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Keywords

history, twentieth century, 20th century, 1900, 1950, education, teaching, technology, innovation, invention, machine, Skinner, B. F., computer, learning, school

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