Prompt: Share a story about your best learning experience (could be a formal course or something more personal). Why did you enjoy it?
I have been asked multiple times the same question, and my answer would always be the course I took in grade 11, entrepreneurship. I never could explain in short why I kept it as my favourite for such a long time, but acknowledging the theory of teaching clarified the why for my liking in that course. It was a course that challenged students to open up a fast-food restaurant within the school system. Students were tasked with learning the market of students, stocking up on inventory, keeping a good flow in the kitchen, and accounting for profit. All the planning and learning happen in the classroom; while students operate the restaurant outside of the classroom, it will be the real world they are facing. Without the assistance of an instructor, students’ learning is solely based on two things, one being experience, which includes, mistakes, achievements, progress, and numbers; two being inflexible knowledge, which is the learning within the homeroom. If that is not enough to make it a good course, students will get paid based on working hours, which could also contribute to the required working hours to graduate from high school.
Now for the second question, I liked the course for what it had to offer, and for how much I’ve learned and achieved. I felt like I learned a bit of everything, from cooking to business, from business to duty, and from duty to character. What made the course interesting was the utilization of the unique combination of all three learning theories, behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism, while organizing it to each designated learning property. For instance, behaviorism is seen in the workplace, where the quality of work, customer/peer reviews, and mistakes during operation would be rewarded or punished through payment and ratings. The idea of a healthy working environment is reinforced in learners’ brains. Cognitivism is seen through activities when learners are required to solve immediate problems, such as popular items out of stock, spillage of drinks, customer satisfaction, and interrupted restaurant flow. These surprises aren’t taught to learners, the learning process only happens when they occur. Lastly, constructivism is seen through teamwork, where the continuous friction between members will create the needed spark of success. Group work efficiency could never be mastered through anything but the experience. It is the unique combination of these three theories that made the course enjoyable and effective.
References
Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism
Hi Leo! What a great real-life learning experience about opening up a fast-food restaurant within the school system you’ve shared! Inquiry-based learning and learning by doing definitely help learning stick, as well as the combination of all three learning theories, behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism! Your example of cognitivism in relation to “activities when learners are required to solve immediate problems” may not reflect the key aspects of this theory, though. Cognitivism is about understanding how people learn and process information. It focuses on the mental processes that occur during learning, such as attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving. Something to think about.
You also used a reference at the end; however, I was not able to find any associated reference in the text. Please clarify where in the text you used ideas from the reference.
I agreed with the cognitive, behavioral, and constructive theories more because of your theory. This is because the organization policy in your working experience highlights all three theories. The transactional leadership in the government used the stick and carrot strategy to enhance the stimulation between behavior and standards. Therefore, this is strong proof of behaviorism.
I can also see the cognitivism in your post when you are facing instant problem-solving in a restaurant. In this scenario, you may have to use your knowledge to reflect on an emergency.
However, I could not see constructivism in your scenario as well. That is also why I believe constructivism is only suitable for novel knowledge application, informational analysis, and theory construction rather than instant problem-solving, job application, or knowledge memorizing. We can build up a theory using constructivism, but the working requirement does not require us to do that.
Sorry for the confusion:
The last sentence in the first paragraph should be “The transactional leadership in your restaurant organization (not government) used the stick-and-carrot strategy to enhance the stimulation between behavior and standards.”