In the scenario of a high school social studies teacher planning a class on climate change, the approach taken would be quite different depending on the lens taken. 

One lens would be behaviourism, which uses reinforcement and feedback to elicit specific responses to selected stimuli. The subject’s environmental conditions would need to be considered, along with the most effective reinforcements. Although it would be difficult to extend these conditions beyond their classroom, the high school teacher can still observe what motivates their students and school-oriented behaviours that could be reconstructed. For example, let’s say the teacher knows that their class is early in the morning and has noticed that their students bring caffeine to school. They’ve also observed that the class is motivated by their academic performance and are always eager to better their grades. Based on these observations, the teacher could begin giving bonus marks to individuals using reusable coffee cups. They could also encourage other sustainable practices, such as carpooling to school or not throwing away unwanted food during lunch.  

Cognitivism, on the other hand, looks for learning strategies that will connect new information to a learner’s prior understanding. Through a process of goal-setting and organising content in a meaningful and thoughtful way, cognitivists uncover the internal processing of information for a deeper reception. A social studies teacher using cognitivism might speak to a biology teacher and connect their lesson on climate change to a previous ecology unit. Using the student’s knowledge of the natural world, the teacher can elaborate on the societal causes and effects of climate change. 

Lastly, constructivism has learners build individual meanings and interpretations based on their personal experiences and interactions. While similar to cognitivists, constructivists differ in that presented information is connected to an individual’s unique reality rather than previous information they’ve learned. This learning strategy requires active participation in the presented content and could be implemented by the teacher with field trips to areas affected by climate change. Students could witness firsthand how climate change has affected their community and build a personal connection with the content matter. The teacher could design hands-on projects that require students to reflect on how the topic affects their individual lives. For example, students may be asked to describe somewhere important to their childhood and then envision how it’ll be changed by the changing Earth. 

In conclusion, these three different learning strategies require different tools but can be applied to a variety of teaching scenarios.