Importance Of Experiential Learning

Students engage in experiential learning and co-curricular activities that take abstract ideas and anchor them in real-life problems. (Coye 20 [9])

[3] Infed - (2010) David A. Kolb on experiential learning [Online] Available from: http://infed.org/mobi/david-a-kolb-on-experiential-learning/ [12/01/15]

When you picture a classroom, what do you think of? You more than likely picture a chalkboard, desks for all the students and teacher. A new way of teaching has developed that removes students from the stereotypical environment and places they in a new and engaging environment. This is experiential education.

Experiential learning however is closely related to vocational education in that it relies on learner’s ability to apply knowledge to situations that they have a personal interest in. In doing this, it creates opportunity for valuable learner involvement and significant learning (Beard and Wilson, 2006)

As an experiential cognitivist I delineate the process of learning through experience, and learning through

For my classroom, I think that is it important to create student experiences because they may not be able to do so in their home life. So, being able to expose students to different situations in the classroom will prepare them for future situations that they may encounter. This can be associated to “project based learning” (McTighe & Wiggins, 2012, p.30). While reading this article, it shows me that curriculum is what drives instruction. It is those teachable moments for students to see in the classroom that allows them to understand a subject matter. Then, they are able to use that moment to guide them in every way they need in order to successfully complete a task on their

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate my experiential learning of personal and social adjustments when confronted with life-changing events and the mechanisms utilized to effectively cope from traumatic experiences. The components supporting this piece include: confronting the problem, learning to adapt and cope, cultivating self-worth, the importance of a support system and over time change influencers. To support my understanding of personal and social adjustments, I will use the content of this paper to speak as evidence of my experiential learning derived from confronting a long-term spiritual abuse situation and process of unraveling and coping from its affects.

To do this, you always find other ways of doing things based on our must think of a particular moment in time, ponder over it, learning from previous experiences. We will go back through it and only then will you gain new insights into different aspects of that situation. According to Kolb Building up experience is a gradual process. The student (1984) reflecting is an essential element of learning. This is will develop reflective abilities during the course of their shown through an experiential learning cycle illustrated learning on placement.

David Kolb developed a learning theory that involves concrete concepts which learners process experience. Kolb’s theory is based on intentions that learning takes place through four linear cycles based on experience and the personal changes that occur throughout that experience. As Kolb (1984) states, “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (p. 38). Similar to other scholarly theories of learning, Kolb has many critics. I will discuss Kolb’s theory and summarize some of the critics to this theory. Also I will use Kolb’s theory and the critic’s comments to improve my approach to teaching.

Kolb states that learning is best conceived as a process, not in terms of outcomes but rather all learning is actually re-learning requiring the resolution of conflicts along with a holistic process of adaptation to the world. Learning results from synergetic transactions between the person and the environment, this is the process of creating knowledge (Kozak

Throughout this semester we have done two class exercises, Bafa Bafa and Team Ring Toss. Throughout this paper, I am going to go into detail about how both of these exercises can be incorporated into various management concepts and theories that we as humans use every day. I will break both exercises down and elaborate on the four stages of Kolb’s Model of the Learning Process, which are the Concrete Experience (feeling), Reflective Observation (watching), Abstract Conceptualization (thinking), and Active Experimentation (doing).

Although this limitation can become a barrier for the experiential learning theory Rogers’ developed, it is possible for this to overcome this with patience. As the main purpose of this theory is to allow personal growth within the student, we must note that personal growth appears differently for each individual learner. The role of the facilitator is to help engage all types of students in self-motivated learning to help them improve their overall growth from significant information.

The Society for Experiential Education defines service learning as, “any carefully monitored service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience” (Staton 1). Service learning is a great opportunity to get extra learning experiences while also experiencing the community around the universities campus. “Service learning allows students to apply what they are learning from their instructors, peers, and readings to genuine tasks that occur outside the four walls of the classroom while simultaneously helping others” (Staton 1). Universities are using service learning to expand beyond the classroom and provide students with experiences that will

Kolb’s experiential learning cycle is a theory that argues that we learn from our experiences of life on a daily basis. Cognitive ability is the way people learn and Kolb believed from an early age we begin to develop a sort of instinctive preference as to the way we process information and use it. Kolb (1984) believes that the process of learning follows a pattern or cycle. Kolb’s cycle is made up of 4 stages; the first stage is concrete experience and Kolb believes that life is full of loads of different experiences that everyone can learn from and whether you are at home, work, school or even out shopping that there was experiences everywhere within those sectors and that it was a way for us to start the learning cycle. The concrete experience is the doing stage, the stage where you have the experience. We then have stage two which is reflective observation, this stage involved looking back at our experiences and reflecting on them. Stage three is the abstract conceptualisation which is

In the reading Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development by David Kolb (1984), he proposed that learning is a cycle process in which individuals learn through their own experiences in life. This notion of the learning cycle in which he was influenced by the ideas of three other theorists (Piaget, Dewey, and Lewinian) called it Experiential Learning Theory. Kolb’s theory was based on how people learned by imputing information and processing the information. Within this two abilities, there are four steps in which Kolb’s believe the learning process occurs. The first one he calls “concrete experience”, in which one actually does the learning right then and now. The second one is “reflective observation” when the learner thinks about what they did as a reflection of the experience. The next step is the “abstract conceptualization”, where the learner makes a generalization of the experience. The last step is “active experimentation”, where the learner puts to practice his/her understanding and adapts to it. The learner does this by taking all the first three steps of the learning cycle and seeing the results (pg. 30). Learning is a process in which individuals learn through trial and error. This process can then be reused with our prior experience to strengthen the outcome of our first experience. It is shaped as a cycle in the way we process information cognitively. This is how I understood of the reading on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory.