Multiple trainers?

[Rmax]

I recently taught a course on operant conditioning in which my
students used flashlights as secondary reinforcers to teach bettas to
swim through a hoop. This was fairly successful. I am planning on
teaching the course again soon, this time with some modification. I
would like to incorporate the r2 target wand this time, and teach more
than one behavior.

I know that many trainers maintain that a given behavior should be
taught by only one trainer, at least until it is established, though a
different trainer can concurrently teach a different behavior. I
understand the principle behind this assertion: since animals do not
necessarily generalize in the same way that humans do, one behavior
taught by different trainers during the early phases can seem like a
different behavior altogether to the animal. Once the behavior is
fully established, it is easier to do. This all makes sense to me.

However, in my situation, I want each student to be able to
participate in the training. The students (due to pedagogical
requirements and space constraints, among other reasons) work together
in groups of four. One student trains, another assists the trainer
with 'wrangling' props and food, one films the training session,
another documents the training session in a written log. Obviously,
it is in the best interest of the students to rotate between these
roles. Do you think this will impact the training negatively?

The last time I taught this course, I had a very small class, with a
high ratio of fish to students, so switching trainers was not much of
a problem, though the fish occasionally had to have different
trainers. This didn't seem to interfere too much with the training
process.

Has anyone had any experiences with this?

Thank you,
Rus

[Dean Pomerleau]

Rus,

My son and I have taken turns training the same fish in the past. He was pretty young at the time, and had trouble getting the timing right. I think if you've got mature students, it shouldn't be a problem to have more than one student perform the role of trainer. Especially if you're using Bettas, which are reasonably slow and methodical.

Good luck, and be sure to share your students' videos!

--Dean

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