Obe: The Restructuring Of American Society. :: essays research papers

OBE The Restructuring Of the Statesn Society.     There has been a concern for some time throughout America regarding thequality of public education. Students are graduating from highschool withoutadequate knowledge of the three Rs. Universities are recruiting a multitude ofincompetent pseudo-scholars. Employers dont understand why the new genesisof workers do not possess the basic skills to perform the job. It would appearthat Ameri washbowl students are not learning as much as their parents did. And yet,teachers are quieten teaching, taxes are still being paid, and more funds thanever are being appropriated for public education. Whats going on in Americasclassrooms?     Up until the 1980s most schools utilize a standards based curriculum. Inthe traditional classroom setting, educators focused on the input side ofeducation, teaching a specialized body of knowledge. Students were graded againstpredefined standards and passed or failed base d on their ability to meet thosestandards. This method of teaching produced a graduate with a well roundededucation, and prepared him for further development of career skills. With theexception of those who did not apply themselves, the system worked.     Today Americas educators take a new approach in the classroom. Thefocus of education has moved to measuring what students can do, rather than whatthey understand. This is the core principle of Outcomes Based Education (OBE).An outcome, by definition, is something that follows as a leave alone or consequence.So OBE then, is an approach to education where the end result is the mostimportant factor. This is very important in understanding what OBE is, and whatit intends to do. In the OBE classroom, every aspect of the curriculum is gearedtoward achieving a small group of specific goals. To gain an insight into OBE,it is necessary to learn something about its origins and those promoting it.B. F. Skinner, a psychol ogist and learning theorist, developed thetechniques of learning (operant conditioning) based on conditioning phenomenafirst analyzed scientifically by Pavlov. Skinner called his technique his"teaching machine." Skinner thus developed the principles on which "Mastery larn" was developed by Benjamin Bloom.Mastery Learning was the original name for the process known today asOutcome Based Education, also known as Performance Based Education, orRestructuring. educational theories used in OBE are based on Benjamin BloomsTaxonomy of Educational Objectives. A curriculum, according to Bloom, "...may bethought of as a plan for changing student behavior." (p 14 of Ron Sunseris bookOBE Understanding the Truth about Education Reform, Questar Publishers, P.O.Box 1720, Sisters, OR 97759) Bloom called it "Mastery Learning." Techniques forhis new style of education, based on Skinnerian behavioral psychology, focus on