Experiential education

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Education by direct experience is a central part of clinical training such as surgery. Surgeons at Work.jpg
Education by direct experience is a central part of clinical training such as surgery.

Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. This concept is distinct from experiential learning, however experiential learning is a subfield and operates under the methodologies associated with experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". [1] The Journal of Experiential Education publishes peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical academic research within the field.

Contents

Foundations

The philosophy of experiential education is closely linked to numerous other educational theories, but it should not be conflated with progressive education, critical pedagogy, youth empowerment, feminist-based education, and constructivism. The development of experiential education as a philosophy has been intertwined with the development of these other educational theories but there are differences between them.

John Dewey was the most famous proponent of hands-on learning or experiential education, [2] which was discussed in his book Experience and Education, published in 1938. It expressed his ideas about curriculum theory in the context of historical debates about school organization and the need to have experience as a fundamental aspect. Dewey's fame during that period rested on relentlessly critiquing public education and pointing out that the authoritarian, strict, pre-ordained knowledge approach of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge, and not enough with understanding students' experiences. [3]

Dewey advocated that education be based upon the quality of experience. [4] For an experience to be educational, Dewey believed that certain parameters had to be met, the most important of which is that the experience has continuity and interaction. Continuity is the idea that the experience comes from and leads to other experiences, in essence propelling the person to learn more. Interaction is when the experience meets the internal needs or goals of a person. Dewey also categorizes experiences as possibly being mis-educative and non-educative. A mis-educative experience is one that stops or distorts growth for future experiences. A non-educative experience is one in which a person has not done any reflection and so has obtained nothing for mental growth that is lasting.

Dewey's work influenced dozens of other prominent experiential models and advocates in the later 20th century, including Foxfire, [5] service learning, [6] Kurt Hahn and Outward Bound, [7] and Paulo Freire, who is often cited in works on experiential education. [8] Friere focused on participation by students in experience and radical democracy, and the creation of praxis among learners.

Development in Asian countries

Experiential methods in education have existed in China for over two thousand years, since the time Confucius began promoting the educational style. [9] John Dewey was in China in the early 1900s and his ideas were extremely popular.

Established in 1973, Breakthrough in Hong Kong was the first non-profit organization that applied the concepts of experiential education (though primarily conceptualized in terms of outdoor adventure education) in youth works. Since then, development in experiential education has proceeded in Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, and some large cities in China.

Experiential education started in Qatar in 2010 through AL-Bairaq, which is an outreach, non-traditional educational program that targets high school students and focuses on a curriculum based on STEM fields. The idea behind AL-Bairaq is to offer high school students the opportunity to connect with the research environment in the Center for Advanced Materials (CAM) at Qatar University. Faculty members train and mentor the students and help develop and enhance their critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills, using a hands-on-activities approach. [10]

Starting in the twenty-teens, experiential education organizations in Asia begin gaining accreditation by the Association for Experiential Education, which had historically primarily served a North American audience. Outward Bound Hong Kong was accredited in 2011, followed by Chadwick International in Korea in 2019 and the Hanifl Centre in 2020. [11]

Change in roles and structures

In addition to the notions raised by Dewey, recent research has shown that experiential learning does not replace traditional methods of learning but supplements it to offer additional skills, perspectives, and understanding of relationships. [12] Students participating in authentic activities can experience real consequences as they are meeting learning objectives. [13] The experiential approach aligns with Armstrong's claims that students, rather than teachers, should be responsible for their learning. [14] Proponents claim that an experiential education mindset can change the way teachers and students view knowledge as learning becomes active and transacted within life or lifelike situations. Experiential education can also link traditional scholarly priorities (e.g. formal knowledge production) with improvement of professional practice. [15]

Whether teachers employ experiential education in the form of laboratory and clinical learning, cultural journalism, service learning, environmental education, the approach involves engaging students in active roles for the purpose of learning. Experiential education can involve various tools like field work, policy and civic activity, and entrepreneurship outside of the classroom along with games, simulations, and role plays. In these activities, students may establish group goals, practice decision-making skills, and develop leadership skills, which can also enhance student motivation and confidence. According to Ernie Stringer, "Action learners move through continuous cycles of this inquiry process to improve their understanding, extend their knowledge, or refine their skills." [16]

Besides changing student roles, experiential education requires a change in the role of teachers. The approach requires teachers to position themselves as facilitators of experiences and learning that may take students outside of the classroom. Because action precedes attempts to synthesize knowledge, teachers generally cannot plan or implement a curriculum unit as a neat, predictable package. [17] Yet, a well-planned curriculum is still necessary to ensure experiential learning results in meaningful student learning. Teachers may become active learners, too, experimenting with their students, reflecting upon the learning activities they have designed, and responding to their students' reactions to the activities. With less dependence on prescribed curriculum, teachers may come to view themselves as more than just recipients of external curriculum decisions.

As students and teachers take on more active roles, the traditional organizational structures of the school need adjustment. [18] For example, at the Challenger Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, service activities are an integral part of the academic program. Accommodating service learning requires large time blocks that necessitate specialized scheduling. At the University Heights Alternative School in the Bronx, the Project Adventure experiential learning program has led the faculty to adopt an all-day time block as an alternative to the traditional 45-minute periods. The faculty now organizes the curriculum by project instead of by separate disciplines.

At the university level, programs may be entirely field-taught on outdoor expeditions. These courses combine traditional academic readings and written assignments with field observations, service projects, open discussions of course material, and meetings with local speakers who are involved with the course subjects. These "hybrid" experiential/traditional programs aim to provide the academic rigor of a classroom course with the breadth and personal connections of experiential education.

Practice

The methodologies reflected in experiential education have evolved since the time of Hahn and Dewey. For experiential education to be an effective pedagogy, physical experience must be combined with reflection. [19] Adding reflective practice, allows for consolidation of key learnings. [20] Further, for the efficacy of experiential education, the learner must be given sufficient time to process the information. [19]

Experiential education informs many educational practices underway in schools (formal education) and out-of-school (informal education) programs. Many teaching methods rely on experiential education to provide context and frameworks for learning through action and reflection while others at higher levels (university and professional education) focus on field skills and modeling. Examples of specific methods are outlined below.

Examples

Centers in the US offering experiential education include Presidential Classroom, Global College, the New England Literature Program at the University of Michigan, the Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture, GoBeyond Student Travel, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Several Australian high schools have established experiential education programmes, including Caulfield Grammar School's five-week internationalism programs in Nanjing, China and Geelong Grammar School's Timbertop outdoor education program. [26]

At the professional school level, experiential education is often integrated into a curriculum in "clinical" courses following the medical school model of "See one, Do one, Teach one", in which students learn by practicing medicine. This approach is being introduced in other professions in which skills are directly worked into courses to teach every concept. These concepts include interviewing, listening skills, negotiation, contract writing and advocacy.

Methods

There are multiple ways in which experiential education is practiced. Examples of experiential learning methods used include:

Related Research Articles

Progressive education, or educational progressivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term progressive was engaged to distinguish this education from the traditional curricula of the 19th century, which was rooted in classical preparation for the early-industrial university and strongly differentiated by social class. By contrast, progressive education finds its roots in modern, post-industrial experience. Most progressive education programs have these qualities in common:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning theory (education)</span> Theory that describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning

Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a worldview, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.

Situated learning is a theory that explains an individual's acquisition of professional skills and includes research on apprenticeship into how legitimate peripheral participation leads to membership in a community of practice. Situated learning "takes as its focus the relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs".

Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop learner autonomy and independence by putting responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students by imparting to them skills, and the basis on how to learn a specific subject and schemata required to measure up to the specific performance requirement. Student-centered instruction focuses on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. Student-centered learning theory and practice are based on the constructivist learning theory that emphasizes the learner's critical role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedagogy</span> Theory and practice of education

Pedagogy, most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as an academic discipline, is the study of how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context, and it considers the interactions that take place during learning. Both the theory and practice of pedagogy vary greatly as they reflect different social, political, and cultural contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curriculum</span> Educational plan

In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals. A curriculum may incorporate the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. Curricula are split into several categories: the explicit, the implicit, the excluded, and the extracurricular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Experiential learning</span> Learn by reflect on active involvement

Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product. Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. It is related to, but not synonymous with, other forms of active learning such as action learning, adventure learning, free-choice learning, cooperative learning, service-learning, and situated learning.

A didactic method is a teaching method that follows a consistent scientific approach or educational style to present information to students. The didactic method of instruction is often contrasted with dialectics and the Socratic method; the term can also be used to refer to a specific didactic method, as for instance constructivist didactics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constructivism (philosophy of education)</span> Philosophical viewpoint about the nature of knowledge; theory of knowledge

Constructivism in education is a theory that suggests that learners do not passively acquire knowledge through direct instruction. Instead, they construct their understanding through experiences and social interaction, integrating new information with their existing knowledge. This theory originates from Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project-based learning</span> Learner centric pedagogy

Project-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students learn about a subject by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, challenge, or problem. It is a style of active learning and inquiry-based learning. PBL contrasts with paper-based, rote memorization, or teacher-led instruction that presents established facts or portrays a smooth path to knowledge by instead posing questions, problems, or scenarios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outdoor education</span> Organized learning that takes place in the outdoors

Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors, typically during school camping trips. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses and group games. Outdoor education draws upon the philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education.

Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to take a critical stance or attitude towards one's own practice and that of one's peers, engaging in a process of continuous adaptation and learning. According to one definition it involves "paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight". A key rationale for reflective practice is that experience alone does not necessarily lead to learning; deliberate reflection on experience is essential.

Technology integration is defined as the use of technology to enhance and support the educational environment. Technology integration in the classroom can also support classroom instruction by creating opportunities for students to complete assignments on the computer rather than with normal pencil and paper. In a larger sense, technology integration can also refer to the use of an integration platform and application programming interface (API) in the management of a school, to integrate disparate SaaS applications, databases, and programs used by an educational institution so that their data can be shared in real-time across all systems on campus, thus supporting students' education by improving data quality and access for faculty and staff.

"Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as a tool to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting... Effective technology integration is achieved when students can select technology tools to help them obtain information on time, analyze and synthesize it, and present it professionally to an authentic audience. Technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions—as accessible as all other classroom tools. The focus in each lesson or unit is the curriculum outcome, not the technology."

Constructivist teaching is based on constructivism. Constructivist teaching is based on the belief that learning occurs as learners are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teacher education</span> Training teachers to develop teaching skills

Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school, and wider community. The professionals who engage in training the prospective teachers are called teacher educators.

Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios. It contrasts with traditional education, which generally relies on the teacher presenting facts and their knowledge about the subject. Inquiry-based learning is often assisted by a facilitator rather than a lecturer. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in small-scale investigations and projects, as well as research. The inquiry-based instruction is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking and problem-solving skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous education</span> Education that focuses on teaching within formal or non-formal educational systems

Indigenous education specifically focuses on teaching Indigenous knowledge, models, methods, and content within formal or non-formal educational systems. The growing recognition and use of Indigenous education methods can be a response to the erosion and loss of Indigenous knowledge through the processes of colonialism, globalization, and modernity.

Learning by doing is a theory that places heavy emphasis on student engagement and is a hands-on, task-oriented, process to education. The theory refers to the process in which students actively participate in more practical and imaginative ways of learning. This process distinguishes itself from other learning approaches as it provides many pedagogical advantages to more traditional learning styles, such those which privilege inert knowledge. Learning-by-doing is related to other types of learning such as adventure learning, action learning, cooperative learning, experiential learning, peer learning, service-learning, and situated learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning environment</span> Term in education

The term learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context, or physical setting in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to "classroom", but it typically refers to the context of educational philosophy or knowledge experienced by the student and may also encompass a variety of learning cultures—its presiding ethos and characteristics, how individuals interact, governing structures, and philosophy. In a societal sense, learning environment may refer to the culture of the population it serves and of their location. Learning environments are highly diverse in use, learning styles, organization, and educational institution. The culture and context of a place or organization includes such factors as a way of thinking, behaving, or working, also known as organizational culture. For a learning environment such as an educational institution, it also includes such factors as operational characteristics of the instructors, instructional group, or institution; the philosophy or knowledge experienced by the student and may also encompass a variety of learning cultures—its presiding ethos and characteristics, how individuals interact, governing structures, and philosophy in learning styles and pedagogies used; and the societal culture of where the learning is occurring. Although physical environments do not determine educational activities, there is evidence of a relationship between school settings and the activities that take place there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning space</span> Physical setting for a learning environment

Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical setting for a learning environment, a place in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to "classroom," but it may also refer to an indoor or outdoor location, either actual or virtual. Learning spaces are highly diverse in use, configuration, location, and educational institution. They support a variety of pedagogies, including quiet study, passive or active learning, kinesthetic or physical learning, vocational learning, experiential learning, and others. As the design of a learning space impacts the learning process, it is deemed important to design a learning space with the learning process in mind.

References

  1. ↑ "What is experiential education?". The Association for Experiential Education. 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Trend, David (2010). The End of Reading: From Gutenberg to Grand Theft Auto. New York: Peter Lang. p. 52. ISBN   9781433110160.
  3. ↑ Neil, J. (2005) "John Dewey, the Modern Father of Experiential Education", Wilderdom.com. Retrieved 6/12/07.
  4. ↑ Dewey, J (1938). Experience and Education. Collier Books.
  5. ↑ Starnes, B.A. (1999) "The Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning: John Dewey, Experiential Learning, and the Core Practices." ERIC Digests – ED426826. Retrieved 6/12/07.
  6. ↑ Giles, D.E., Jr., & Eyler, J. (1994). "Theoretical roots of service learning in John Dewey: Toward a theory of service learning." Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall, 77-85. Retrieved 6/12/07.
  7. ↑ Gass, Mike (2003). "Kurt Hahn Address 2002 AEE International Conference". Journal of Experiential Education. 25 (3): 363–371. doi:10.1177/105382590302500323. S2CID   145229668.
  8. ↑ Bing, A. (1989) "Peace Studies as Experiential Education," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 504., pp. 48–60.
  9. ↑ Salama, Ashraf M. (9 March 2016). Spatial Design Education: New Directions for Pedagogy in Architecture and Beyond. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781317051510.
  10. ↑ "AlBairaq World | Welcome to Al-Bairaq World". Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "AEE Accredited Programs – Association for Experiential Education".
  12. ↑ J. Scott Armstrong (1977). "Designing and using experiential exercises" (PDF). Experiential Learning in Marketing Education: 8–17.
  13. ↑ Fletcher, A. (2005) Meaningful student involvement: Students as partners in school change Archived 16 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine . Olympia, WA: CommonAction. Retrieved 6/12/07.
  14. ↑ J. Scott Armstrong (2012). "Natural Learning in Higher Education". Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning.
  15. ↑ Young, Michelle D.; Crow, Gary M.; Murphy, Joseph; Ogawa, Rodney T. (2009). Handbook of Research on the Education of School Leaders . New York: Routledge. pp.  129. ISBN   978-0203878866.
  16. ↑ Stringer, E. (2008). Action research in education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
  17. ↑ Stevens & Richards, Peggy Walker & Anthony (March 1992). "Changing Schools through Experiential Education" (PDF). Eric Digest (ED345929): 3.
  18. ↑ Best practice: New standards for teaching and learning in America's schools. Archived 18 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde, 1998, p.8
  19. 1 2 Howden, E. (2012) "Outdoor Experiential Education: Learning Through the Body," New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. 134, pp. 43-51.
  20. ↑ Reynolds, Michael; Vince, Russ (15 November 2007). Handbook of Experiential Learning and Management Education. OUP Oxford. ISBN   9780191607615.
  21. ↑ Walsh, V., & Golins, G. L. (1976). The exploration of the Outward Bound process . Denver, CO: Colorado Outward Bound School.
  22. ↑ Rohnke, K. (1989). Cowstails and cobras II. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
  23. ↑ Furco, A. (1996) Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning, Florida Campus Compact.
  24. ↑ Bonwell, C. and Eison, J. (1991) Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. Washington, D.C.: Jossey-Bass.
  25. ↑ Palmer, J.A. (1998) Environmental Education in the 21st Century: Theory, Practice, Progress, and Promise. New York: Routledge.
  26. ↑ Tarica, Elisabeth (21 August 2006). "School of life". The Age.
  27. ↑ McInnerney J., & Roberts, T.S. (2005). "Collaborative and Cooperative Learning," In The Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Volume 1: Online Learning and Technologies. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing, pp. 269–276.
  28. ↑ Experiential Learning


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