Two learning theories have played vital roles in the creation of The Lost Treasure of

Captain Reilly Nefarious. The first of these two learning theories is constructivism

which claims that knowledge is created by individuals actively based on their

previous knowledge and experience (Wang and Ha. 2013. pp.222). The primary

elements of constructivism that are visible within the quest are active learning and

situated learning. The second learning theory that was used in the quest is

behaviourism, with the quest using positive reinforcements and operant conditioning

during each of the four lessons.

Constructivism puts emphasis on the relationship between active involvement of the

learners and their learning (Wang and Ha. 2013. pp.223). One of the main key

objectives when the lessons were being developed was to make the activities in the

web quest be as hands on as they could be. This is something that can be seen in

various activities within the quest, such as in the interactive PowerPoint game and

the treasure hunt which both depend on students actively engaging with the activities

for them to learn. The reason for this focus was to ensure that active learning

resulted in higher amounts of knowledge retention by the students. According to

various authors, by actively engaging the students, the desired outcome is that they

will be able to learn better as opposed to having them recite and memorise content

(Wang and Ha. 2013. pp.223; Sullivan, 2011. pp. 34).

The next key point of constructivism that can be seen within the web quest is

situated learning. Situated learning is providing learning opportunities to students

within situated context (Keengwe, Onchwari, & Agamba. 2013. pp.895). That is to

design the learning on the students background and contextual knowledge.

Instinctually, this would imply that lessons should be based on the real-life situations

that students are living through, e.g.: designing lessons around relevant events
occurring within the local community. However, students are also highly imaginative

as such imaginary situations can also from part of their situational context (Kloehn.

2009. pp. 41).

Because of this a pirate theme was chosen as by year three, students would have

knowledge of pirates from movies such as Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and

books such as Treasure Island. Further to this, movies such as Pirates of the

Caribbean could result in some of the kids dreaming of becoming pirates. As such a

pirate theme is well justified and can be used for situated learning.

Although, operant conditioning is not an element of constructivism, operant

conditioning can also be seen within this web quest. Operant conditioning consists of

using positive and negative reinforcements to help motivate students (Sawsan,

Amal, Aljaam, & Saleh. 2015. pp. 367). Positive reinforcements were used at the end

of each of the lessons by giving the children some form of reward for their efforts

during the class. Rewards included: treasure chests, a letter, or chocolate coins.

Negative reinforcements were not used, so as not to ridicule the students. The

exception to this is the day 3 activity Fight for the Chests which used negative

reinforcements in the form of the students character taking damage if the student

answered incorrectly. This was so that avoidance response, a form negative

reinforcement; would motivate the student to answer correctly (Myers. 2008. pp.222).
References

Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G., & Agamba, J. (2013). Promoting effective e-learning

practices through the constructivist pedagogy. Education And Information

Technologies, 19(4), 887-898. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10639-013-9260-1

Kloehn, L. (2009). Imagination and Learning: Students Living "Real" Lives during the

Civil War. The English Journal, 99(2), 37-41. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.murdoch.edu.au/stable/40503357

Myers, David G. (2008). Exploring Psychology. New York, New York: Worth. p. 222.

Sawsan Saad, Amal Dandashi, Jihad M. Aljaam, & Moataz Saleh. (2015). The

Multimedia-Based Learning System Improved Cognitive Skills and Motivation

of Disabled Children with a Very High Rate. Journal of Educational

Technology & Society, 18(2), 366-379. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.18.2.366

Sullivan, P. (2011). Teaching mathematics (1st ed., pp. 32-39). Camberwell, Vic.:

ACER Press.

Wang, C. & Ha, A. (2013). The theory of planned behaviour: predicting pre-service

teachers' teaching behaviour towards a constructivist approach. Sport,

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2011.558572