Learning Theory and Design

Learning Theory & Design 

Constructivism 

We decided to choose Constructivism as our main learning theory as it coincides well with our learning outcomes and how we decided to teach health and wellness. Constructivism is described as a learning theory that promotes deeper understanding by actively building on their own experiences and incorporating new knowledge into existing ideas. This supports a learner centre approach, where individuals take an active approach and role in the learning environment on top of this constructivism emphasizes collaboration, reflection and real-world discussions about topics and issues which is something that is at the foundation of what we’re trying to teach. as learners actively construct their understanding.  Students are more likely to retain information and develop lifelong habits that support their wellbeing. This approach contrasts with passive learning models, where information is simply memorized and often forgotten. To support this we will have peers work together to cooperatively design meal plans, encouraging them to share and reflect on experiences and ideas. Additionally some peer feedback will be given to introduce cognitive conflict and give the group a perspective from outside. 

Rationale

Initially, we considered a behaviourist approach, which emphasizes structured learning through reinforcement and repetition. However, after reviewing our learning objectives, we realized that behaviourism would not fully capture the complex and personalized nature of health and wellness. Health decisions are not just about following a set of rules but require critical thinking, self-reflection, and problem-solving—all of which are better supported by constructivism. One of the primary reasons for selecting constructivism is that health and wellness are highly personal and dynamic fields. Everyone has their own unique experiences, beliefs, and practices when it comes to their health. Constructivism provides an opportunity for learners to draw from their personal lives, past experiences, and challenges, enabling them to relate new information to what they already know.

Learning design

For our learning design we chose experiential learning and inquiry-based learning, as this aligns well with the constructivist framework and our assessment strategies including article analysis and a meal plan creation.

  • Experiential Learning

    Experiential learning is essential for engaging students in real world incorporation of health and wellness which is our main goal, since our course involves meal planning, a hand on approach ensures that students are actively engaging with nutritional concepts rather than just memorizing information to be forgotten later. By creating their own meal plan, Students apply their understanding of balanced nutritional factual diets and making sustainable choices. This process reinforces learning by encouraging reflection, revision, and application. In our course this is deepened by a structured self reflection on there past relationship with food and health with three prompts they will need to answer. This will help them examine any conflicts they might have with health right now. 

  • Inquiry Based Learning

    Inquiry based learning encourages students to explore misconceptions about nutrition and evaluate a diet using evidence based research, this is a big part of our second assessment and they will need tools given to them by inquiry based learning to successfully complete our article analysis assessment where students will write 100~ words on three articles showing that they can use the research and knowledge they have gained from this course to successfully debunk factually incorrect statements. We will provide scaffolding and structured prompts to guide students into critically engaging with the material. 

  • Design Thinking

Design thinking encourages students to cooperate and build from past experiences- an approach we use for our meal plan creation. This method helps students engage in a human centred problem solving mentality. Students first gather data from their partners meal plan, provide constructive feedback back to their partners, generate ideas and solutions, prototype a revised version of their meal plan, and then present their final prototype back to their partner. This iterative process is key to design thinking, which fosters critical thinking, empathy and communication inside of our learning course.

References 

University of Victoria. (n.d.). Learning motivation and theory. EDCI 335: Learning Design for Technology-Mediated Environments. https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/category/learning-motivation-and-theory/

University of Victoria. (n.d.). Learning design I. EDCI 335: Learning Design for Technology-Mediated Environments.

https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/category/learning-design-i/​edtechuvic.ca

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (March 10 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

 Editing done by (Open AI, 2025)