ITEC 800 @ SFSU

Experiential Learning

Lawrence Montgomery
800
Dr. Kim Forman

Experiential Learning
“Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand” (Confucius circa 450 BC)

This quote by Confucius could very well have been the inspiration for John Dewey’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and all EL theorists that followed. What is Experiential Learning and how can it be applied to the classroom? ELT is best described by the cycle of learning that Dewey, Kolb and other theorists prescribe to. The cycle begins with the Concrete Experience, continues to Observation and Reflection, then to Forming Abstract Concepts and finally Testing in New Situations. (Smith,2004) These four steps make up the Experiential Learning experience. “By engaging in these activities, learners construct meaning in a way unique to themselves incorporating the cognitive, emotional, and physical aspects of learning. (Chris, Oxendine, Robinson,Willson , 2004)

This model has been used extensively in the field of adult education. Numerous universities have ‘internship’ or ‘work study’ programs that utilize the ELT model. One of the most interesting examples I found was the “Experiential Learning in Universal Design’ program at Iowa State University. In there Department of Human Development and Family Studies they have a program that incorporates ELT in the study of designing homes that can be universally used, that is to say, used by anyone. They have an online PowerPoint presentation and very interesting research. They can be found @
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~suecrull/Teach/miller2000.htm

While ‘on the job’ experiences are an obvious choice for this theory’s application, classroom applications are not at all out of the question. In a paper Designing Learning, written at the Weatherhead School of Management, lessons were drawn from John Dewey’s latest book, Art as experience and the differences between artistic and scientific learning.
“The text driven approach of management education contrasts with the experiential learning process of demonstration-practice-production-critique that is used in most art classes. (Eickmann, Kolb, Kolb, 2004)
In my own classroom at SFUSD School of the Arts, as do other instructors in our department, use the experiential model as well. Even in lessons that are more text driven we try and incorporate or tie in some sort of experiential aspect. For instance when studying the history of painting from the Late Middle Ages the students will additionally be asked to experiment with the process itself and create a painting using the methods of the Bosch or Giotto. Today in my lesson on size and space variation in perspective drawing I had the class demonstrate through drawing exercises, both prescriptive and creative, the rules I demonstrated in my lecture. This process make for learning that I think is both practical and meaningful.
Our role as instructors is to insure the experience is beneficial, the students have the time to examine and transform the experience into meaning, and have the repeated opportunity to use the information again and again in new situations. As Dewey said “The belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative.”





Bibliographic Reference
Bibliography/
Web sources

infed, (2004). David a. kolb on experiential learning. retrieved Oct 18, 2004, from David A. Kolb on Experiential Learning Web site: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm.

Ebook, (2004). David a. kolb on experiential learning. retrieved , , from David A. Kolb on Experiential Learning-Ebook Web site: http://www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/elt.htm.

Eickmann, Kolb, Kolb, P. A. D. (2004). Designing learning. retrieved , , from Designing Learning Web site: http://design.case.edu/2002workshop/Positions/eickmannkolb.htm.

posted by lawrence @ 4:06 PM