Two years ago, when I studied at high school in Ontario, I faced a learning challenge: understanding Shakespeare’s Hamlet. At first, I was intimidated by the dense language and complex themes. I had no idea how I could approach Shakespeare’s works properly. The challenge can be seen from a behaviourist’s view. That means I needed to understand the stimuli and responses involved in learning the play. The language used in the play was archaic and difficult for me to understand, making it a challenging stimulus. I remember approaching the learning task by breaking it down into smaller, manageable pieces. Also, I set specific goals for myself, like reading a certain number of pages each day and taking detailed notes on the characters and plot.
However, putting on a thinking hat of a cognitivist, I realized that my prior knowledge and experience could help me understand the play better. I started by researching the play’s historical context and understanding the characters’ backgrounds. This step helped me build a schema, or mental framework, for understanding the events and relationships in the play. Moreover, I read the play translated into my first language, which also eased the learning process.
But, thinking along a constructivist mental set, I also reflected that authentic learning occurs when a person actively constructs their understanding. So, I decided to create my summarization of the play and its themes. This process helped me internalize the information and make it more meaningful to me.
These learning experiences are essential; however, those are not the whole story. I also worked with my classmates to act out scenes from the play. This move made the learning experience more interactive and fun and helped me understand the play from different perspectives.
At the end of the semester, I successfully understood and appreciated Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and overcame my learning challenge. It seems to me by combining behaviourist, cognitivist, and constructivist learning strategies,I was able to build a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the play.
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Hi Ziqi，
Thank you so much for sharing your blog. Your personal experience has also given me more insight into the different efficacy of the three main theories. I found that as you read Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you played the role of learning designer and learner. You experimented with each of the three major theories and recorded your learning outcomes. Every learning designer should learn from your spirit of experimentation. I also realized that when using the Big Three theories, learning designers need to fully understand the learners. That way, they can use educational methods that are best suited for different learners.
Thanks again for your blog!
Hi Ziqi,
Thank you for sharing your blog. I like your experience when you read Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Not only that, but you also list your experiences, results and your thinking with each of the theories. You look up the material and summarize the topic, and you had an immersive experience playing the part. You give yourself clear goals and you can take action against them. I also learned that framing, understanding, and setting goals when facing a challenge is helpful in understanding the plot. See you next blog!
Hi Ziqi,
Thank you for sharing. After reading this blog I can very much understand you in high school because literature can be really difficult for a high school student who speaks English as a second language. If I were to design a lesson plan, I would probably divide a book into parts, like our professors teach by chapters for your understanding. But anyway, you did it in your way and combined all three learning theories, which made me give out my praise.
Hi Ziqi! What a great story of learning! I still remember my struggles learning an opening speech by Prince Hamlet – “To be or not to be.” – You mentioned that “I remember approaching the learning task by breaking it down into smaller, manageable pieces. Also, I set specific goals for myself, like reading a certain number of pages each day and taking detailed notes on the characters and plot.” It’s a good cognitivism strategy, which is also suggested to be used when creating online learning experiences. In an online learning environment, focusing on small chunks of just-in-time content is important to avoid learners’ cognitive overload.