6: Native Reactions and Acquired Reactions

James introduces this chapter by stating his belief that acquired reactions must be preceded by native ones, and the purpose of teaching is to train the student to control what reaction is emitted.  He illustrates this concept by describing a child who is presented with a new toy.  The child’s initial reaction is to snatch the toy.  It then becomes the responsibility of the adult to teach the child to ask for the toy.  Also in chapter six, James emphasizes that man has more instincts than other mammals.  He feels this is to an educator’s advantage in that it ultimately enables a student to be trained for specific behaviors. 

James maintains, “Every acquired reaction is, as a rule, either a complication grafted on a native reaction or a substitute for a native reaction, which the same object originally tended to provoke” (p. 20).  He goes further to state “The teacher’s art consists in bringing about the substitution or complication, and success in the art presupposes a sympathetic acquaintance with the reactive tendencies natively there” (p. 20).  Teachers often focus on the ideas and concepts that they want their students to know after the delivery of instruction.  The role of prior knowledge influences whether or not the student grasps the concept.  If a student’s prior knowledge is at odds with the presented material, the result of the learning experience may not be what the teacher had intended. 

Consider this situation: 

A teacher has 30 students in her regular Algebra 1 class. The lesson for the day is on solving 2-step equations.  To solve the equation, a student must understand the concept of variables and inverse operations as well as know how to perform calculations with integers.   Each student comes to class with their own comprehension of the knowledge types needed to solve the equation.  Some students are already aware and know how to use inverse operations while others struggle with integer computation.

How does the teacher ensure that all students leave the class knowing how to solve 2-step equations?

William and Hippo both
want Riette's milk.