Reading about the different methods used for teaching and learning was very interesting. Many of the concepts were familiar to me; however, I appreciated how in-depth the article went into each of the concepts, as I was able to learn something new! Below, I have given some examples from my life in relation to learning through behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism.

Behaviourism: One of the clearest examples of behaviourist learning in my life was during high school field hockey. At the start of each season, our practices were very structured, and we focused on specific drills that we repeated over and over until they became second nature. Our coach would give us feedback immediately, and if we could not get the drill correct, we would repeat it until we did. We also were penalized with sprints at the end of practice if it did not go well, so we were extra motivated to do well, which is consistent with the behaviourist approach.

Cognitivism: A time that I experienced learning through a cognitivist approach was when I was learning French. A specific example is when we were learning too use irregular verbs in the passé composé. To help us remember which verbs required etre instead of avoid, we were taught the Dr & Mrs Vantertramp rule, which is a mnemonic device listing verbs like Devenir, Revenir, Monter, Rentrer, etc. This allowed us to organize the information that we were being taught into a structured pattern that made it easier to remember, which is a main focus of the cognitivist approach.

Constructivism: I think that constructivism is becoming more and more common in modern-day schooling. I can think of many examples, both during my own schooling and in the classes where I have been a student teacher, where the constructivist method is used. One example that sticks out to me is my grade twelve capstone project, which was essentially passion-based learning. We were encouraged to choose a topic that we were passionate about, research It independently, and then present our findings in a creative way. I have always loved baking, and I knew that I wanted to work with kids, so I decided to make a recipe book for parents to use with their children. I researched child-friendly snacks and meals, tested the recipes, and thought about how to present the instructions in a child-friendly way. This project also allowed me to work on my digital skills, as I created the layout using Adobe In-Design!