Many ways to learn No.6:  Learning through scenarios.   

Scenarios place learners in meaningful situations where they have to interpret information, make decisions, act, and reflect on the consequences. The context might be a patient case, a workplace conflict, a business crisis, or a safety incident. What matters is that the learning comes from applying knowledge in context — not just recalling it. That's a fundamentally different cognitive experience, and a far more effective one. 

Lave and Wenger's theory of situated learning argues that understanding develops through engagement with knowledge in authentic, practical contexts — not through passive absorption of information. Scenarios bring that principle online.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press. 

Project profile:  Somerset county council     

Somerset County Council needed Domestic Violence Awareness training that would leave practitioners feeling genuinely confident and empowered to act.

We developed a series of video branching scenarios based on realistic cases including the kinds of common mistakes practitioners actually make. Learners had to respond in the moment: reading the situation, choosing their words, deciding what action to take.

When the scenario played out, a narrator reflected on any missteps and offered guidance on how things might have gone differently. Learners were encouraged to go back and try again to see how different choices led to different outcomes. We partnered with Magneto Films to cast, script, and film the scenarios with professional actors, ensuring the dramatisations felt authentic and accurately reflected the real dynamics between professionals and victims.

Tomorrow, our next #ManyWaysToLearn is learning in the flow of work.