Experiential Learning

Refers to students learning by doing rather than by listening to the teacher or reading the textbook. Its many aspects include field trips, science fairs, wilderness encounters, apprenticeships in local businesses or service learning projects in local agencies. Teachers may also incorporate experiential lessons into the existing curriculum.

The experiential learning cycle typical includes:

Experiential Learning as Part of Learning to Teach:

Experiential learning theory, frequently associated with Dewey (1938), maintains that learning is most effective and likely to lead to behavior change when it begins with authentic experience (Sullivan & Glanz, 2013). At UVEI, this concept is translated to the idea that the best way to learn to teach is by teaching (or to lead is by leading). With the modeling and guidance of experienced mentor teachers – which allows the novice to gain access to the wealth of expertise embedded in the practice of experienced teachers (Haggar & McIntyre, 2000) – and with supervision and feedback from a UVEI faculty coach, UVEI interns engage in carefully structured apprenticeship(s) during their year in the program. Further, we draw on situated learning theory, which argues that learning is most effective when the learner is actively involved in the learning process, when it takes place as a collaborative rather than an isolated activity, and when it is in a context relevant to the learner (Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996).

The notion of learning through situated experience has also gained traction in teacher education. Research has found that extensive and intensely supervised clinical work, integrated with knowledge of teaching using pedagogies that link theory and practice, is a promising and vital approach to pre-service teacher development (Darling-Hammond, 2006b; R. P. Tompkins, 2011). Furthermore, research on deliberative practice has highlighted the importance of extensive and targeted practice, both in developing expert performance (Ericsson, Charness, Hoffman, & Feltovich, 2006) and in teacher development (Hammerness et al., 2005).

Over the past five years of survey data collected from participating interns from UVEI, and consistently confirmed through interviews, focus groups, and anecdotal feedback, these concepts have been affirmed. UVEI interns have consistently indicated that their placements and mentors are the strength of the program and are effective or highly effective in helping them learn to teach.

Despite this, however, UVEI understands, as Dewey stated, that “the belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative (Dewey, 1938).” Productively organizing professional education around the development of clinical skill requires multiple opportunities to practice and feedback throughout a preparation program. Some of this practice can occur productively in designed settings or simulations. Ultimately, however, novices need structured opportunities to gain experience in authentic settings of actual teaching practice (Pam Grossman, 2010). UVEI uses seminars and one-on-one coaching to frame and reflect on experience, usually organized around cycles of inquiry that connect experience with analysis, abstract reconceptualization, and active experimentation (Sullivan & Glanz, 2013); as well as opportunities for novice educators to see models and engage in approximations of practice (Pamela Grossman, 2011). These tools of inquiry, coupled with carefully developed routines, collaborative inquiry, and rubrics associated with the competencies and performance assessments, ensure that candidates are able to develop effective pedagogies even as they make sense of teaching practice in all of its complexity (Windschitl, Thompson, & Braaten, 2011). (For more on how UVEI uses seminars and coaching, see Facilitating Learning.)

Sources:

Darling-Hammond, L. (2006b). Constructing 21st-Century Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 300-314. doi: 10.1177/0022487105285962

Darling-Hammond, L., Newton, S. P., & Wei, R. C. (2013). Developing and assessing beginning teacher effectiveness: the potential of performance assessments. Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Accountability, 25(3).

Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., & Johnson, C. M. (2009). Teacher preparation and teacher learning: A changing policy landscape. In G. Sykes, B. Schneider, & D. Plank (Eds.), Handbook of Education Policy Research. New York: Routledge Publishers.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Ericsson, K. A., Charness, N., Hoffman, R., & Feltovich, P. (Eds.). (2006). The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Greeno, J., Collins, A., & Resnick, L. (1996). Cognition and learning. In D. Berliner & R. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Grossman, P. (2010). Learning to practice: The design of clinical experience in teacher preparation: Partnership for Teacher Quality.

Grossman, P. (2011). Framework for teaching practice: A brief history of an idea. Teachers College Record, 113(12).

Haggar, H., & McIntyre, D. (2000). What can research tell us about teacher education? Oxford Review of Education, 26(3).

Hammerness, K., Darling-Hammond, L., Bransford, J., Berliner, D., Cochran-Smith, M., McDonald, M., & Zeichner, K. (2005). How teachers learn and develop. In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sullivan, S., & Glanz, J. (2013). Supervision that improves teaching: Strategies and techniques, 4th Edition (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Tompkins, R. P. (2011). Mentor and intern teacher boundary practices: Integrating theory and practice in effective alternative certification programs. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Windschitl, M., Thompson, J., & Braaten, M. (2011). Ambitious pedagogy by novice teachers: Who benefits from tool-supported collaborative Inquiry into practice and why? Teachers College Record, 113(7).