By Deborah Becht-Buss, OSU-Cascades
Resilient teaching often means letting go of control—trusting students to find their own pathways to understanding. In my Abnormal Psychology course, this meant saying yes when a student asked, “Can I use Piglet to explain anxiety?” The result has transformed not only how my students learn, but how I teach.
The course typically reviews what is abnormal psychology (a difficult task in and of itself), followed by weeks of describing the main categories of mental illness ranging from depression to schizophrenia. Given this outline, I always worried that if I just lectured on the topic, even with amazing slides and a few videos, students would not engage in the topic to the depth I dreamed of. I wanted students to feel what it was like having a mental health diagnosis and recognize the challenges and strengths of that diagnosis. So, I developed an assignment to form a group of like-minded students who were interested in one of many different diagnoses. The group’s first task was identifying one aspect of a given diagnosis. For example, if students were interested in anxiety, they would have to decide if they wanted to present on generalized anxiety versus social anxiety versus phobias, etc. And then decide if they wanted to talk about children versus adults versus older adults, etc. They then had to decide what roles each group participant wanted to take on. One in the group would identify as being good at presentations, and another may identify as the researcher for the group, and so forth. A major part of the presentation was to demonstrate the symptoms of the chosen diagnosis to the class through role playing, playing a YouTube video, or presenting a case study.
The students began. One group chose general anxiety as their diagnosis and asked if they could use Piglet to demonstrate their chosen diagnosis, I’ll admit I was skeptical. They enthusiastically showed me the video clip they planned to use in their presentation. Five minutes into watching Piglet’s worry spiral about Heffalumps, complete with textbook symptoms and clinical commentary, I realized my students had found something I’d been searching for—creativity and empathy all in one little odd-shaped pig. This presentation was a definite hit for more than the group presenting. The class gave the group a standing ovation, and I gave a whooping “well done!”. The symptoms of generalized anxiety came alive.
Okay—this was cool, but was this evidence-based teaching? I decided to read to find out. This is what I found that research using fictional characters strategically increased learning in educational settings and stimulated theoretical understanding (Quinn, 2019). I also found that engaging with fictional characters enhances empathy and understanding of mental states (Richmond, 2019; Kidd & Castano, 2013).
So, that confirmed that my experience was real, and that others had also found benefits stretching beyond using just people to learn about people. I also discovered that Piglet does not mind if we use its name, so confidentiality issues were not an issue. Piglet did not even mind that we analyzed its symptoms and came up with a treatment plan (including exposure therapy to Heffalumps).
But the most important research finding wasn’t in the literature—it was in my classroom. What started as a creative assignment became a lesson in resilient teaching for me. I learned that when we trust students to bring their whole selves into learning, including their love of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, we create space for deeper understanding and genuine engagement. The presentations that followed Piglet were equally creative: students used Harry Potter to illustrate post-traumatic growth, SpongeBob to demonstrate mood disorders, and Bart Simpson to illustrate attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and impulsivity.
What started as a creative assignment became a lesson in resilient teaching for me. I learned that when we trust students to bring their whole selves into learning, including their love of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, we create space for deeper understanding and genuine engagement.
Deborah Becht-Buss
Resilient teaching isn’t about having the perfect lecture or the most polished slides. It’s about designing assignments flexible enough to meet students where they are—whether that’s through academic articles, YouTube clips, or beloved childhood characters. It’s about saying yes to the unexpected and trusting that students will rise to meet meaningful challenges in ways we couldn’t have imagined.
So the next time a student asks if they can use Piglet, or any other unconventional approach, I encourage you to pause and consider: What might we all learn if we just say yes?
References
Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science, 342(6156), 377-380. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1239918
Quinn, P. K. (2019). The role of fictional characters in psychological exploration: Personal experiences, emotional responses. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14350.43844
Richmond, K. J. (2019). Mental illness in young adult literature: Exploring real struggles through fictional characters. Libraries Unlimited.
About the author: Deborah Becht-Buss is a Senior Instructor for the Department of Psychology at Oregon State University-Cascades. She especially enjoys helping students pursue creative learning opportunities that align with their strengths and passions, and she actively cultivates a culture of care in her classes to help all students feel welcome and supported. In addition to teaching, she is a pediatric nurse practitioner and runs a small clinic in Bend, Oregon, serving children and families facing neurodevelopmental challenges.
Editor’s note: This is part of a series of guest posts about resilience and teaching strategies by members of the Fall ’25 Resilient Teaching Faculty Learning Community facilitated by CTL. The opinions expressed in guest posts are solely those of the author.
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