Learning through the power of story
Cognotion operates on the premise that there is narrative inherent in any teachable subject. We locate this narrative and craft it into an immersive storyline. The learner progresses through the story by drawing upon existing resources and synthesizing new knowledge. Emotional proximity is characterized as the “empathy and identification the learner feels for the characters in a program” and is established by developing characters with strengths and weaknesses, who change and grow as the program moves forward.
Learners recognize their own desires and concerns in the prototypical heroes, people with traits similar to their own, and people who learn to draw upon their own reserves of strengths (assets) for the greater good. This approach, grounded in research, is a good foundation for a sound program; but there are other tools we add to our pedagogical design to maximize likelihood of impact.
“The videos made me feel like, that’s me.”
“They had a lot of videos where people were asking similar questions to what I might have had in my mind, but never really asked or didn’t know who to ask.”
“The intervention sessions gave me a lot of insight. It gave me a chance to express my feelings about the reason I got the virus or how I think I got the virus. And I was seein’ some video in regards to some, the actors. Well, I don’t think they were actors, I think they was the real deal. And I began getting some feelings from behind seeing the movies.
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