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ABOUT THE BOOK: This volume, Skinner's only book on education, is a collection of essays, most of which had either been previously published or had served as texts for lectures over a period of twelve years. Four of the essays were written for this book. The content is wide-ranging from the etymology of teaching to teaching machines and programmed instruction, teaching thinking, ethical behavior and self-control, to classroom behavior management, and changes in the education establishment consistent with the new approach.Though not in his original plan, Skinner addressed this book to readers well experienced in the laboratory experimental analysis of behavior and its conceptual underpinnings, both explicit and implicit. His intent was to encourage if not coax sophisticated experimental behavior analysts into research and development in the instructional domain. Unabashedly he points out the weaknesses of education s approach to, if not disregard of, the effectiveness of teaching practices; all potentially fixable by those facile with the concepts and methods of experimental behavior analysis.The historical importance of this work is undeniable. It represented the first attempt to apply a scientifically validated conceptual methodological system to classroom instruction.Published originally in 1968. Reprinted by the Foundation in 2003. This book is from the Official B. F. Skinner Foundation Reprint Series (paperback edition).
