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An Overview Of Experiential Learning

When you learn something by directly experiencing or doing it, you are involved in experiential learning. It is a theory in education that is related to experiential education, cooperative learning, and action learning. This theory is developed by David Kolb who got his theories from combining educations theories from Dewey and Piaget. This theory or method is very popular in adult education.

Kolb proposed four stages of learning with his theory. The first stage is concrete experience where the learners try to do something. Second stage is reflective observation where the learners looks back and reflects of what they have just done. Third stage is abstract conceptualization where they form an opinion or theory of his or her experience. The last stage is active experimentation where they make new action plan according to what they have learned.

Kolb thought that the learning process can begin from any stage. The most important thing is the learner will go to the next stage according to his proposed stages. His theory is usually presented in circular diagram to show that the learner may not miss a step or the learning will not be complete. An educator must guide the learners to learn through all these stages.

Kolb also proposed four styles of learning that a learner might adopt. There are assimilators, convergers, accommodators, and divergers. An assimilator will learn well if he or she knows about the theories before acting. Convergers prefer applications than pure theories. Accommodators learn well when they are doing something. Divergers prefer to observe first and collect information from the observation.

Each individual will have one prominent style over the others and should start the learning process with their preferred stages. An educator should know each learner's individual learning style. Then the educator should adapt the teaching so the learner can learn best. In a collective sessions when there are people from different learning styles, the educator should be prepared to guide the learner who has any trouble in each stage.

Experiential learning takes more time and effort. However, learning through this method allows the learner to directly implement what he or she has learned into practice. This is a suitable learning method to impart everyday skills. Some areas that will benefit from this method are leadership training, customer service training, or other vocational trainings.

You can combine experiential learning method with other methods. Outdoor trainings such as team work building activities also use this theory. Learning with this method is not only practical, but fun.

Experiential Learning

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