Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping experience and transforming it.
If you are a member of the education community, you probably know there is no shortage of learning theories to read, ponder, and implement in our teaching. It can be a lot to sort through and make sense of (see the infographic above from Holistic Approach to Technology Enhanced Learning for a quick overview). Each one offers different affordances and constraints. Some are widely accepted, while others are more controversial in the academic community. Today, I want to focus in on the experiential learning theory created by David Kolb and how it can be applied to your context.
Experiential learning can be summarized as: learning through reflection on doing. It exists as a part of the hands-on learning movement, but it takes it a step beyond. There must be reflection of the learning in order for it to be experiential. The process is best summed up as a cycle (demonstrated in the infographic on the right.) First you interact with something - most likely physically but could be mentally as well. This is the concrete experience portion. Then, it is time for you to reflect on your observation. What did you notice? What did it tell you? What could you learn? After reflecting, it’s time to generalize or conceptualize. What does this mean for me? What can be done about it? How can I interact with or affect this time? Once you’ve conceptualized, it’s time to put it into practice. Now, you can experiment or apply that knowledge. Create something. Interact with something. Solve a problem. Once you’ve experimented or applied, you are ready to interact with that solution or experience again. This starts the cycle over.
Let’s go through an example of experiential learning to make it feel a little more understandable in the context of a classroom. You walk past a garden in the park by your house. You stop for a moment and interact with the plants. You observe the layout of the garden and begin to reflect, wondering why certain vegetables are next to each other, thinking about what is missing, how the level of light is affecting them. You go home and begin to conceptualize your own garden. What would it look like? What is the ideal layout for a garden? How do you best grow things? So, you implement your thinking into an experiment. You design the layout and plant your vegetables. You keep an eye on your garden over the next few months, until things are beginning to grow. You notice that the tomatoes are growing faster than the cucumbers and begin to reflect why the cucumbers aren’t growing. You theorize that it’s because they don’t have enough light, so you decide to water them more often than the tomatoes. You implement this, and then you begin to notice that they are growing better. As the garden grows, you continue to observe, reflect, conceptualize, experiment, interact, observe, reflect, etc.
We often participate in this cycle without realizing the deep learning that is taking place. You are becoming a better gardener through your experience. Creating a garden and forgetting about it would be a hands-on learning experience, but reflecting on it and continuing the cycle is what sets experiential learning apart. So, now that you have an idea of what experiential learning is, what are you going to do about it?
Reflect on what you are already doing. I want you to pause and think for a second about how you are already (consciously or unconsciously) implementing this in your own context. You might already have projects and units that take advantage of this cycle, or you might notice students doing this independently during play or work time.
Integrate it naturally into your context. Do you already have a makerspace? Do your students already do science labs? There might be areas that are close to completing this cycle of learning, but they are missing that key ingredient of reflection. Find areas that could benefit from student reflection, and add that step into what you’re already doing. Maybe let them do a second round of prototyping/experimenting to flush out their ideas even more.
Create new project-based learning for your students. You might be new to the maker movement and might be ready to integrate this cycle into your learning for the first time. Check out resources like Teacherspayteachers and Pinterest if you’re struggling to think of ideas.
Do more research. This short blog post only gets at the tip of an iceberg of experiential learning and all the things that go along with it. Simply Psychology has a great overview of this learning theory to help you dive a little bit deeper, or Institute for Experiential Learning has so many great resources.
Experiential learning. (2022). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Experiential_learning&oldid=1092330835
Experiential learning | Kolb Experiential Learning | Experiential Learning Theory. (n.d.). Institute for Experiential Learning. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://experientiallearninginstitute.org/
Learning Theory v 6. (2013, April 30). https://cmapspublic3.ihmc.us/rid=1LGVGJY66-CCD5CZ-12G3/Learning%20Theory.cmap
McLeod, S. A. (2017, October 24). Kolb - learning styles. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Smith, M. K. (2001, 2010). ‘David A. Kolb on experiential learning’, The encyclopedia of pedagogy and informal education. [https://infed.org/mobi/david-a-kolb-on-experiential-learning/. Retrieved: 2022]