Teachers’ Guidelines

1. Experiential Learning Module

Experiential learning is a method of educating through first-hand experience. Throughout the experiential learning process, the student is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating, experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative and constructing meaning. Skills, knowledge and experience are also acquired outside of the traditional academic classroom setting and may include internships, studies abroad, field trips, field research and service-learning projects.

Experiential learning engages students in critical thinking, problem solving and decision making in contexts that are personally relevant to them. This approach to learning also involves creating opportunities for debriefing and consolidation of ideas and skills through feedback, reflection, and the application of the ideas and skills to new situations.

The concept of experiential learning was first explored by John Dewey and Jean Piaget, amongst others. It was made popular by education theorist David A. Kolb, who, along with Ron Fry, developed the experiential learning theory, which is based on the idea that learning is a process whereby knowledge is created through transformation of experience. It is based on four main elements which operate in a continuous cycle during the learning experience:

• Concrete experience
• Reflective observation
• Abstract conceptualization
• Active experimentation

Experiential learning offers information and tools which help students understand cognitive concepts and processes, enabling interaction amongst practitioner, teacher and the group. The model suggested by D. Kolb consists of a sequence made up of 4 stages which cyclically repeat. Starting from a concrete experience (either a group one or an individual one) which may be connected to emotions, feelings, observations, the students builds up an image of that experience.

• The first stage – the student decodes the image of the experience by reflexive observation, having in mind questions like: „What happened?”, „Which are the results?”
• The second stage – the experience becomes abstract. At this stage the student already has theories, but there appear solutions to the problems due to lateral thinking about the matter.
• The student usually draws upon questions like: „What do these results mean?”, „What influences the result?”, „How have I influenced the results?”. At this stage the matter is more profoundly understood.
• The third stage – after building up ideas and solutions connected to the concrete experience, this step consists of placing the learning in a practical stage which will generate improved future actions.
• The fourth stage – it involves following out the ideas and the solutions found in the previous stages, this leading to a new experience which will carry on with the cycles of the experiential learning.

In conclusion, the experiential learning is represented in the form of a cycle, with four stages – Experience/Exploration, Observation/Reflection, Abstract conceptualization, Active experimentation. The learning processes are more efficient when starting from experiences, resulting directly from one’s own actions, as contrasted with learning from watching others perform, reading others’ instructions or descriptions, or listening to others’ instructions or lectures.

Online Resources

• Experiential learning cycleInformation about the experiential learning cycle and its use in activities.
• What is experiential learning?The definition of the experiential learning, theories and examples.