I chose to comment on Madison Carter’s blog post about planning a class about climate change from the behaviourist, cognitivist, and constructivist perspectives. I enjoyed how you structured this post by first defining each learning theory and then applying it to the provided scenario. I also agree with you that each perspective has its strengths and weaknesses in fostering student learning and therefore a combination is required. After reading your post, I had a couple of questions that came to mind out of curiosity.

  • You mentioned that during previous online courses, you participated in the cognitivist approach. How do you think this approach impacted your understanding of the material and engagement of the course? Do you think the online environment hindered or enhanced the experience?
  • When you were taught climate change in high school, what approach did your teacher use (behaviourist, cognitivist, constructionist, or a combination)? How did that choice affect your understanding of the content matter?
  • You mentioned that an effective learning design incorporates elements from multiple theories. In the same context of a class about climate change, how would you structure a class to incorporate all three learning theories (behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructionism)? Would you emphasize one learning theory over another in this context or use all three equally?