Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Learning is acquired through reflection on this direct experience. It is learning by doing, putting the theory into practice. Experiential learning is any learning that supports students in applying their knowledge and conceptual understanding to real-world problems or situations where the instructor directs and facilitates the learning.

David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model emphasises a four stage cycle of learning. The first stage is concrete learning, where the learner encounters a new experience or reinterprets an existing experience. This is followed by the next stage, reflective observation, where the learner reflects on the experience on a personal basis. After this comes abstract conceptualisation, where the learner forms new ideas, or modifies existing abstract ideas, based on the reflections arising from the reflective observation stage. Lastly, the active experimentation stage is where the learner applies the new ideas to his surroundings.

Research

Experiential Learning Graphic

Image Source: Giulia Forsythe, www.flickr.com